'KETCHUP"-TOTALLY BACK TRACKING!

I cannot believe it's only been 7 months since I've blogged. It feels like it's been longer. Probably because of all the craziness that's happened in the last 7 months. Let's see...

-September 29th, American Samoa is hit by a TSUNAMI! I was 8 months pregnant and couldn't believe what was going on. We definitely felt the earthquake that caused the tsunami. At first I wasn't sure it was an earthquake though because our bed shakes pretty consistently through out the night, a result of Fasi's deep snoring (NOT KIDDING). It wasn't til Fasi got up and started saying...NO ONE move, it's an earthquake! It lasted for a while. It was just after 6:30 a.m. Naive as we were, we continued our morning preparing for school and work. Fasi's Grandma had stayed the night with us and so he was getting ready to drop her off at home after he dropped the kids at school. I was just about to start curling the last section of my hair, when I heard the car horn blaring as it got closer to the house. Seconds later Fasi was at the bathroom door telling me to hurry up and get in the car..."we're getting hit by a Tsunami. The radio DJ's are saying they were getting hit live on the air". HOLY CRUD! He was on his way home from dropping off his Grandma when he heard the DJ's crying on the radio saying the harbor was overflowing and that they can see cars and containers flowing near their building. He went right back to the kids school and picked them up and then stopped to pick up Puka, Sunni and myself. From there we went back to his Grandma's which was scary because she lives closer to the ocean than us. I couldn't help but feel for the people that were standing on the sides of the roads waiting for a bus or anyone to pick them up. You can tell that everyone was in panic mode. I cried quietly as we passed children and people of all ages walking somewhere...anywhere safe from the water. Traffic had ensued within seconds and then it was a waiting game. Were we going to get up a mountain fast enough? Which way should we go? Do all my children know how to swim? I wonder if anyone called Dad? Where was the rest of my family? Did my cousin pick up his children? Why do our telecommunication services suck so bad? How useful will I be in saving my children, with one still growing in me? WHY DID WE MOVE HERE? A ton of other questions and thoughts raced through my mind as well. We decided to drive up to Aloau to my cousin Va's home. It is VERY high up and we knew we'd be safe there. We were the first there. Within minutes though she had well over 30 people in her yard. She was such a gracious host! THANK YOU SOLOMONA'S! While there we heard a few stories of some villages being destroyed, but we had no idea if it was true and to what extent. From where we were the Ocean looked beautiful and calm. I managed to get onto my email and was chatting with my brother Gene, in Arizona. I asked him if he heard from any of my family here (our phone lines were not working at all this day) and he said they had. My family were all together on another mountain in our village Nu'uuli. I was happy to hear that since I couldn't get through to anyone. I cried while chatting with him, was thinking what if? what if? About 3 hours after we arrived at Va's we heard over the radio that the Tsunami advisory had been lifted and that it was safe to return to lower grounds. For the next few days and weeks we read in newspapers and watched on t.v. the damage caused by the tsunami that hit mainly the outer edges of our island. We heard sad story after sad story of death, injury, loss of home, missing persons, etc. But Samoans are a strong people, and so there was also an enormous sense of survival, harmony, and hope throughout the following weeks. How blessed our island home was also to receive aid from numerous organizations from the U.S. and other countries. American Samoa's one and only airport landing strip had never been so busy. Relief efforts and supplies arrived one plane after another!! Today, there are still villages without power, water, or any standing buildings. The only proof of life in them are the FEMA and RED CROSS tents that were distributed. You know in my Patriarchal blessing it states that I will witness many natural disasters and that as long as I live accordingly I need not fear. Hmmm...I've been through 2 hurricanes, an earthquake and a tsunami. I am not afraid of natural disasters, I'm afraid of losing my children and afraid of them losing me...

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