Sausage sizzle helps send school supplies to Fiji cyclone victims

Waving the flag for Fiji at the fundraiser last Saturday are (from left): Rangi Rawiri, Sia Bulisala, Kristoffer Lavasi'i, Tala Sooupu, and a hungry customer. Photo / Peter Tiffany

Hamilton woman Sianiti 'Sia' Bulisala is stoked by the local support for a campaign she launched to gather school bags and send them to cyclone victims in Fiji.

The appeal has brought in more than 100 of her target of 250 school bags, and an initial sausage sizzle has raised a large part of what is needed to send them to Fiji.

Cyclone Yasa swept through Sia's home province of Bua and the rest of the northern Fiji island of Vanua Levu just before Christmas, leaving many villagers with nothing.

While aid agencies responded with help for immediate needs such as food, clothes and temporary shelter, Sia is doing what she can to help children get back to school.

Her parents and siblings have launched their own drive in Fiji to gather school supplies to help children in the two Bua villages to which the family is connected - Navunievu and Nasau Navakasiga.

Sia Bulisala, who is the Pacific Student Success co-ordinator in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Waikato, is collecting school bags, and held a sausage sizzle at The Base shopping centre to raise money for freight costs to Fiji.

Sia said the support she received has been fantastic, they sold twice as many sausages as expected and many people dropped by to donate a school bag or make a donation.

Her parents - who are both secondary school teachers - live in Fiji's capital Suva, which was relatively unscathed by the cyclone. They will fill the bags with school supplies and transport them to northern Fiji.

"Any in excess of our target will be given to other affected villages in the province," Sia says.

Sia is now exploring costs of shipping the bags to Fiji and may be holding another sausage sizzle if necessary.

"While we would appreciate new school bags, we will also take used ones still in good condition and without any damage."

If you would like to donate a school bag or make a donation to the cost of sending them to Fiji email Sia at nakabea.sianiti@gmail.com to arrange a drop-off, she says.