Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Vanuatuan Hearts are Big-country reaches out to stricken Australians Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
hardnosethehighway 06:26 UTC 11 Jan 2011 | Wonderful people the Ni Vans! Vanuatu helps Queensland's flood victims As a nation accustomed to receiving international aid, Vanuatu has shown it too can dig deep and return the favour when its neighbours are in dire straits. The tiny South Pacific nation has banded together to make a small but much-needed donation to Queensland's flood victims, who are experiencing one of the worst natural disasters in the state's history. After witnessing the heartbreak in Queensland while on a recent holiday, a tourism operator and his wife from Vanuatu's capital Port Vila emailed everybody they knew upon their return calling for community assistance to help with the recovery effort. Within 24 hours, the couple - businessman Bryan Death and his partner Val - had been offered a shipping container full of food, clothing, toys and household goods from the Australian and Chinese expatriate communities in Vanuatu for the people of Queensland. Mr Death arranged for a business associate from Emerald, one of the worst hit towns in Queensland, to receive the aid and distribute it among the most needy in his community. In a statement, Mr Death said as Vanuatu has been the grateful recipient of development and crisis aid from Australia in the past, it was glad to be able to help others now in need. As of January 10, more than $30 million in donations had been raised for the Queensland Premier's Flood Relief Appeal. |
Laszlo 17:37 UTC 11 Jan 2011 | container full of food, clothing, toys and household goods from the Australian and Chinese expatriate communities in Vanuatu So not quite from Ni-Vans. But I still think they have big hearts, too! ;-) | 1
pago 18:28 UTC 11 Jan 2011 | Gee, you'd think that country was big enough and rich enough to take care of it's own! | 2
Laszlo 18:38 UTC 11 Jan 2011 | An example of Ni-Van views of poor Australians | 3