A total of 30 fishing boats, eight tractors and essential food has been gifted to Tonga by prominent New Zealand businessman Graeme Hart.
Prime Minister of Tonga attends ceremony to welcome the arrival of donated boats Photo: : Salote Sisifa/ATRC rep in Tonga
He has managed to source vessels that have already been built to send to communities severely impacted by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption and tsunami immediately with others being constructed in Fiji.
Tongan Olympic athlete Pita Taufatofua has donated eight boats paid for by a GoFundMe page he launched to raise money for the Tonga aid effort.
Both have been thanked for their support.
"This will go towards helping our community members who suffered during the 15 January event return to some form of normalcy as they will now be able to go out fishing," Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni said.
One of the boats has been taken to Nomuka island in Ha'apai, another has been given to Mango community representatives, who have been temporarily relocated to Nuku'alofa.
Sopu, Fasi, Patangata and 'Atata representatives have also been gifted vessels.
The support does not end there: 10 of the 81 containers sent to Tonga by the Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee are from Hart.
Photo: Otago Daily Times
They are packed with enough food to feed school children with one healthy breakfast each day, rice, flour and mixed food, Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee chair Jenny Salesa said.
"Graeme Hart has been able to secure, order and send eight tractors, four John Deere and four Massey Ferguson tractors, I understand that it left Ports of Auckland," Salesa said.
After seeing the news of the volcanic eruption and tsunami he contacted Salesa saying he wants to help.
"He called me 10 times", and then she connected him with Tonga's Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni who asked him why he was being so generous to his small country.
His answer was, he "loves the country, he loves Tongans, he's visited the country a number of times, especially Vava'u, and two of his most senior loved staff who have worked for him for a long time are Tongan," Salesa said.
Vasi Hehea Lino has been managing Hart's household for more than 20 years alongside his "right-hand man" Isi Tupou.
Tonga's Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni Photo: : Salote Sisifa/ATRC rep in Tonga
"He also must have watched, as the world did, the disaster unfolding, the tsunami. I think what touched him or moved him to assist was his deep connection to these two Tongans," Salesa said.
RNZ Pacific has requested an interview with Hart but he said he was a private person and he declined to be interviewed. But he told Salesa she could speak about his donation.
Tonga Netball chief executive Saloti Sisifa pivoted to support the Tonga relief effort.
She has co-ordinated the arrival and distribution of more than 60 shipping containers full of essential supplies from New Zealand.
"The Tonga Defence [Service], the police, together with Customs are together on this special operation," Sisifa said.
"This is the first time this many goods have been received and processed at Queen Salote Wharf. The first few days was kinda learning lessons for us, here in Tonga.
"All of the containers are arriving and there has been no time for us to spare in the process. The staff here start at 5:30am and kick off at 6pm and at times when the traffic is heavy they run until 10-11pm.
"The weather we're running at 28 degrees to 30 and at the same time the restrictions of Covid it is very hard," she said.
Her new title for now is Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee Coordinator on the ground in Tongatapu.
She said she had overseen the handover of boats donated by Hart, six of which had arrived.
Boats for Tonga donated by Graeme Hart Photo: : Salote Sisifa/ATRC rep in Tonga
Since RNZ started writing this article the amount of goods Hart has donated keeps rising.
It started with 20 boats from Fiji then another 10 in New Caledonia.
The prime minister of Tonga requested five tractors but he purchased eight, buying out all of the new tractors of that calibre in New Zealand, Salesa said.
There is hope the generosity will not stop here. "One of the things the PM of Tonga is hopeful for is that this is not the only shipment of food," Salesa said.
Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee has been packing the aid at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland but is shifting.
Executive member Pakilau Manase Lua said the committee had been granted approval by Auckland Council to utilise Gloucester Park. "The team will be operating out of there from 1 May," he said.
This will mark phase two of the aid effort, 'the rebuild process'.
Salesa thanked everyone for their generosity.
The prime minister of Tonga has thanked all the donors from New Zealand, Australia, China and the individual people, churches and aid agencies for their "continual support" at a number of his press conferences.