Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:00a.m.
By Carly Flynn
One of the island nations to benefit from New Zealand aid is the Solomons. The New Zealand Government gives about $40 million a year, and some of that money is used to ensure all children get free primary education.
But then there's Unicef, a non-governmental agency doing its own work in the Solomons. Much of that involves building nearly 150 new schools to replace those destroyed by the tsunami of 2007.
For the children of Iriquila village, school has been a row of tatty tents since the tsunami swept away their classrooms.
"Working the tents is very hard, especially when the sun is hot," says principal Willie Henry. "The children cannot work well."
Unicef was one of the first aid agencies to arrive on the ground after the April 2007 tsunami, providing dozens of tents for what was meant to be temporary schooling. Now, more than two years later, it is finally time for some of the villagers to move back into better-built classrooms.
But it has been a big job. One hundred and forty-nine schools are being rebuilt, in a region where there is little infrastructure - limited power, no materials.
But now the job is well underway.
Hampton Pitu is the only person from his village to have studied at university - not in the Solomons, he had to go to Fiji. He realises the value of education in a country where just one in five students attend high school.
"We have some other kids already in high schools, and I hope one day they will follow my steps," says Mr Pitu.
It's not just the schools being rebuilt. Better housing is being provided to attract qualified teachers, and even toilet blocks - for the most unusual of reasons.
"If children were going into the ocean to toilet, then there was a risk of crocodiles," says Unicef's Dennis McKinlay.
Parents and teachers say in some ways, the tsunami has been a blessing. Without it they wouldn't have new schools, and that's something to have a song and dance about.
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