Elderly couple donate their walking aid to survivor

Waves swept Lemafa Atia'e more than 150m. Photo / Greg Bowker

An elderly Samoan couple living in New Zealand have donated a shared walking frame to an 84-year-old tsunami victim whose story inspired them.

Tuai Faiumu, 84, and his wife Fale, 85, of Snells Beach, were given the walker by the Warkworth-Wellsford Hospice because of respective problems with their legs, but they felt Lemafa Atia'e was more deserving.

On October 3, two days after the tsunami, the Herald told how Mr Atia'e had clung naked to a steel house post as the waves crashed over him.

The oldest person in the village of Utulaelae, on the southeast coast of Upolo, he had sat in his waterfront fale as the earthquake shook while his family begged him to follow them to higher ground.

But Mr Atia'e, who uses a piece of wood to help him walk, knew his brittle bones would prevent him from escaping a possible tsunami.

Within minutes, he was swept more than 150m from his home, hitting a power pole and a grapefruit tree before the house post broke his journey.

Sea and debris knocked him around and ripped off his lavalava - the only piece of clothing he had on.

The missing garment has become the joke of Utulaelae, bringing some humour to the villagers, who all escaped with their lives.

"When we read in the paper the story of this poor man, it really touched our hearts," the Faiumus' daughter Siona Ellis said.

"The reason he didn't want to leave his house was because of his bad legs. It reminded me of my dad. My family and I just wanted to do something for him."

Mrs Ellis, who came to New Zealand from Samoa in 1974, brought her parents over from the island of Savaii about two years ago when they became too frail to look after themselves.

As well as her parents' donating the walking frame, Mrs Ellis and two of her daughters busked outside New World in Warkworth, raising about $900 to send over to Mr Atia'e's village.

Samoan churches in the area and other residents have rallied around businesses in Auckland and Northland collecting food, tools, clothes, shoes, bedding and sewing equipment to send to tsunami victims in a container with the walking frame, which the hospice was happy to contribute.

The container was organised by a Methodist church in Otara and the items inside will be distributed to victims by one of the ministers.

Mr Atia'e and his family are unaware of what they are about to receive.

Mrs Ellis's brother Faiumu Tumua and his wife, Saili Faiumu, who donated $100 to bump up the raised money to $1000, are to visit Mr Atia'e around Christmas to see how the fundraising has helped him.

Mrs Ellis said the family had cut out the newspaper photograph of Mr Atia'e and had displayed it in their lounge.

"In Samoa, we love our parents very much, we look after them. We call this man 'Poppa'."