Congratulations to Transcend Oceania for being one of the nine recipients of the Fiji Women’s Fund to implement the continuous relief work for TC Harold and COVID19. The grant is to support women and communities with TO’s project on Trauma Informed Preparedness and Resilience. The other arm of this project includes the psycho-social support related to devastation post TC Harold and COVID 19. Transcend Oceania engages to support recovery work in Vusuya, Tailevu and Kadavu, where severe destruction happened as a result of TC Harold. TO acknowledges with appreciation all the work done by Fiji Government and other stakeholders offering immediate humanitarian assistance to those affected and wishes to support further the work surrounding psycho-social using a community integrated approach for trauma informed and resilient communities in Fiji. With skilled and experienced facilitators in the areas of peacebuilding and conflict transformation, Transcend Oceania (TO) uses an Integrated Community Trauma Awareness and Healing approach to build trauma-informed Fijian communities and help diverse communities explore culturally responsive and contemporary ways of coping and becoming resilient in the face of natural disasters such as TC Harold.
Traumatic experiences faced by those that have witnessed loss of loved ones, damage and devastations to homes, belongings and sources of livelihood can have lasting effects on individual wellbeing and community resilience in times of need, leaving them more vulnerable non-productive and dependent. Helping individuals most especially leaders to address their traumatic experiences will empower them to understand trauma effects and ways to effectively respond and cope in traumatic events as well as supporting community members in traumatic situations. Specifically these leaders will include; Turaga ni Vanua, Turaga ni Koro’s, Liuliu ni Marama, Liuliu ni Tabagone, Leader or representative of People Living with Disability, Leader or representative of LGBTQI community, church leaders and ministers, and any other leaders present in the communities. The villages chosen to be part of this program will equally share the number of leaders to attend the process,
Building resilient and trauma-informed Fijian communities is essential to improving well-being. Communities can be places where traumatic events occur, and they can also help keep us safe. They can be a source of trauma, or buffer us against the negative effects of adversity. Fijian communities collectively experience trauma much like individuals do, and they can be a resource for healing. Transcend Oceania is grateful to the Fiji Women’s Fund and the Australian government for their continuous support to implement this work.
