Penisimani Po’uliva’ati Lepa, President of All Saints Anglican Youth in Fasi, was awarded the Commonwealth Point of Light Award [2] last Friday, 2 August.

The award, which is the continuation of the UK Prime Minister’s Points of Light program, recognizes inspirational volunteers throughout the Commonwealth making a change in their community.

Penisimani won the award after he was nominated for his role in leading his team to support their local community, before, during, and after natural disasters.

Highlighted in the nomination was the team's work when Tropical Cyclone Gita (Category 4) hit Tongatapu in February 2018.

Penisimani and his team were able to put a Disaster Management Plan together to prepare, recover, and reconstruct, after they received Community Integrated Vulnerability Assessment (CIVA) Framework and the QGIS Community Mapping Toolkit training.

They put their plan in practice up to 48 hours prior to TC Gita arriving. The team identified 22 homes in their community that were vulnerable to the cyclone, and also identified the homes of widows, elderly, and people with disabilities who were most likely to require help.

The team set to work securing houses, moving belongings, as well as evacuating families to safe shelters. They even raised $300 amongst themselves to buy basic supplies such as candles, matches, cracker biscuits, tuna cans, and water bottles, for families in need.

During the cyclone, the team camped in the church ready to help anyone who urgently required it. They were able to evacuate two families as the cyclone increased in strength and also assisted families in the church.

After the cyclone the team conducted a thorough assessment of the community, identifying damaged homes, and set to work fixing minor damages, cutting trees, cleaning up debris and transporting rubbish to the dump site.

The great work by the team was recognized by the Anglican Church and Penisimani was invited to present the team's work during TC Gita to the Archbishop of Canterbury last year in Suva.

He has also been invited by the Diocese of Lincoln, in the UK, to present the same story at the UK Climate Change Conference held in London, in August.