Transcript
ROBIN TUKU: When sending us to New Zealand we get money and when we come back it improves the standard of our living, especially at the moment it's very difficult for us since we left our own homeland and the projects we are working on. We depend entirely on the scheme.
SALLY ROUND: I understand that you not only have raised your own standard of living, but you also have made some investments on Ambae.
RT: Yes, Yes.
SR: What are they?
RT:We have a little canteen, a shop which I helped to earn money on. I sell groceries. But at the moment I left the island with my groceries left back in the island. I don't know, because I thought we were going back in a few week's time but from what we heard from the scientists, they say it's not safe to go home I think for maybe eight to 12 months. If we don't go back to Ambae I don't know where we stand now or where do we earn money or to work to earn another living.
SR: Do you know whether there's been any damage to your property with all the ash that's been coming out of the volcano?
RT: At the moment there's only, back in where we come from, on the western side of the island, we have plenty of ash falls. It's very unsafe. The government declared it's a no go zone where we come from, I mean from the sulphur and gas. I don't know what cost of damage it has caused to our village.
SR: What other investments have ni-Vanuatu who've been in New Zealand making money, what other investments have they made on Ambae?
RT: From where we come from we have formed an association. We invested in a water project. It's not quite complete yet. We work in Central Otago. We invested some of our money we earn in New Zealand as a benefit for the community, about 300 New Zealand dollars.
SR: This must be a big worry for you, because not only have you had to evacuate, but you've potentially lost all you've worked for over the last few years.
RT: Yes, that's it, that's right. Most of us at the moment, to be honest, they are speechless. It's like, I don't know how I am going to say it. It's like we just don't know. It's like us starting a new page in life. It's like everything we invested in, like house or whatever, a problem at the moment is that some of the workers they are depending on loans. They have loans for houses, small businesses. Most of them are in evacuation centres at the moment in Santo.
SR: So basically you're just waiting to hear when you can leave for New Zealand so that you can get back on your feet?
RT: Yes that's right. That's what we are hoping for. Because that's the only way we get our own money to earn a living.
