Wave of support gives a lift to tsunami victims

They had their passports and possessions swept away in the tsunami, but now a wave of support has given a group of Samoans a shot at rebuilding their lives.

More than 40 victims of the September tsunami have arrived in Hawke's Bay for the summer fruit-picking season, thanks to help from the region.

"They've all lost family – aunties, sisters, uncles, brothers," Community Foundation Hawke's Bay chairman Peter Dunkerley said yesterday.

"Any home close to the sea has gone."

The 45 workers from the coastal village of Poutasi, devastated by the tsunami, initially thought they would be unable to return to New Zealand this season because they had lost their passports and equipment such as boots and clothing.

However, Immigration New Zealand helped them with their documentation and the Community Foundation raised $17,000 to help cover other costs.

"I can't believe how generous people have been – it was just a matter of asking them for help," Mr Dunkerley said.

Yesterday, the Samoans put on a barbecue breakfast to say thank you to their supporters, before they started work in local apple orchards.

Although most speak little English, they are highly regarded by Hawke's Bay orchardists and vineyard managers.

"They are good workers and their discipline is very good," Mr Dunkerley said. "If they misbehave they are on a plane straight away and there is the shame and the fine. Samoan discipline is very stern indeed.

"One of the men got fined a cow and the chief of his tribe had to pay for the cow for him, and then the fellow had to work it off."

Last season nearly 7000 overseas workers, most of them from the Pacific Islands, came to New Zealand for seasonal jobs.

That number will be reduced this season as the Government wants to give those jobs to the increased number of Kiwis who are unemployed.