Cyclone Pam might have put an early end to Fineen Davis’s volunteer teaching job in a remote village in Vanuatu but she’s vowing to return.
The Bowen Island teenager has started a $5,000 crowdfunding campaign to send her back to the South Pacific island archipelago armed with more than just a desire to help.
The money will pay for her airfare, materials to rebuild a classroom and scholarships for two students who might otherwise not be able to afford high school.
Why should fellow islanders help her? “Why not,” she responds. “The people of Vanuatu have enough to worry about. We’re so fortunate here to have free education, food, and houses that won’t blow over. It should be everyone’s right to have that.”
Fineen had to leave Vanuatu after 250 kilometres winds blasted through the southern provinces, destroying 96 per cent of the food crops. Latitude Global Volunteering pulled half of its volunteers, including Fineen, out of the region because their presence was no longer viable.
“I was really disappointed but if I’d stayed I would have been a burden,” the 19-year-old says.
She spent a month in New Zealand where she and her other displaced volunteers raised $15,000 for supplies to send to Vanuatu. Now that she’s home, she’s continuing her fundraising efforts.
This September Fineen starts her French studies at the University of Ottawa. She plans to return to Vanuatu, armed with as many educational and rudimentary medical supplies as possible.
Her campaign is on YouCaring.com.
