The Cross of hope
The Red Cross logo – five red squares forming a cross on a white background – is one of the most recognized symbols in the world

The Red Cross logo – five red squares forming a cross on a white background – is one of the most recognized symbols in the world. It brings to mind images of blood donations, first aid training and such disaster relief efforts as those conducted on Aitutaki after the devastation caused by Cyclone Pat.
The Cook Islands Red Cross recently marked its 21st anniversary and a visit to its office in Ngatipa reveals a virtual hive of activity as the organization continues to expand and develop. Programme managers for the youth share space with a counsellor, a driver whose time is devoted to transporting people with disabilities, and a young man intent on alerting school children to the impact climate change can have on tropical islands.
Turama interviewed several Red Cross employees in an effort to better understand this worthwhile organization and how it’s adapted to the Cook Islands and its unique challenges of distance and population.
The Secretary General
While its humanitarian work on Aitutaki focused a lot of positive attention on the Cook Islands Red Cross, Niki Rattle is just as proud of the organization’s efforts that don’t always make headlines.
This includes lending a helping hand to single mothers, low-income families and the elderly who can’t always make ends meet.
“There’s a lot that goes on in the background that people don’t know,” says Rattle. “(For instance), when houses burn in Rarotonga, we provide the families with assistance.”
The Aitutaki project, Rattle says, is still ongoing, even as it fades from the evening news.
“It’s not yet completed,” she says. “We are following up with our branch there to see if there are people who still need assistance while they wait for their homes.”
One of the organization’s major goals at this time is to further develop its branches in the Outer Islands.
“We have a branch in every island, including Palmerston,” says Rattle. “Now, out of that, it’s making sure they have access to Rarotonga in times of emergencies and disasters, and so we have a satellite phone for each of the islands.”
A new national headquarters is also in the pipeline as is the idea of a mobile blood donor service.
“Currently, we don’t have the funding to be able to provide that,” notes Rattle. “But we are looking into the possibility of having a mobile service where the laboratory technician can visit workplaces.”
The Founding Member
Frances Topa-Apera was an educator with the Ministry of Health when the idea of forming a Cook Islands branch of the Red Cross was originally floated.
“It was the first aid training that got people to think about it,” she says. “My view was that the islands of the Cook Islands were so isolated and many of these islands did not have a qualified doctor, so the Red Cross would be successful in ensuring that at least first aid training would be part of those communities’ well-being.”
Topa-Apera, who now sits on the board of the Cook Islands Red Cross, joined the likes of Gill Vaiimene and Nga Jessie and several other volunteers in organizing the local branch, with assistance provided by the New Zealand Red Cross. It may have been a humble beginning but she is pleased to see how much the local organization has developed over the past two decades.
“In the early days, the vision was quite narrow,” Topa-Apera says. “But as the growth of the organization has gone, it has become more than that vision. I’ve now gained the satisfaction that it is beyond my expectations.”
The Disaster Management Coordinator
Cyclone Pat struck a devastating blow to Aituaki in February but if there was any good news to emerge from the storm – other than the fact no lives were lost – it was how well the Red Cross responded in what was the current team’s first disaster situation.
Charlie Numanga notes that, while his division’s plan of action worked well in the field, at the same time there were valuable lessons learned.
“We were going according to procedures that had been established back in the early years,” he says. “So it was good in a way to see the mistakes or the weak parts so they can be addressed to meet today’s situation and not situations from 50 years ago.”
When they are not helping to clean up after a storm, the Red Cross members spend the cyclone season conducting awareness programmes on as many islands as they can access.
“Our focus point is normally on the community itself,” Numanga says. “We find out from the community of its (possible) hazards and, if the hazard is a cyclone, what they need to be doing or what they need to know to prevent any injuries or illnesses in such times.”
Penrhyn being subjected to Depression 11F while all the Red Cross resources were concentrated on Aitutaki has also caused a shift in the organization’s disaster response protocol.
“Now our programme needs to rethink how we can put another action plan together to cater for the whole of the Cook Islands,” says Numanga. “We’re trying to figure out how we can access resources if we from Rarotonga cannot get across.”
The First Aid Coordinator
The need for first aid training in the Cook Islands was one of the reasons the Red Cross was established here originally, and Oropai Mataroa says that emergency knowledge is still a valuable asset today.
“There are a lot of activities and accidents happening around Rarotonga,” she says. “It is important that each person learns the basics of first aid.”
The Red Cross works with the police and fire departments while taking a programme called “People Savers” into schools for children between the ages of seven and 12.
“We are talking about CPR training, about treatment on accident scenes and blood scenes,” says Mataroa. “How to put people in recovery positions. How to apply bandage slings on a person that’s had fractures.”
If Mataroa needed a practical demonstration of the value of the courses, it occurred a couple weeks ago.
“We had just finished a first aid training session and there was an accident just down the road,” she says. “I just happened to drive past and the first person I saw on the scene was one of the participants in the first aid course. I didn’t have to do anything because he had already done the steps to help the casualty. I was really pleased and impressed.”
The Youth Peer Educators
The Red Cross understands youth would rather listen to their friends and equals than an older person droning on in their ears.
That’s why the Youth Peer Education (YPE) programme has proven so successful – on Rarotonga, Aitutaki and Mangaia – in getting the message across about the dangers of HIV and STIs (sexually-transmitted infections).
“The YPE programme educates a series of youths who are members of various youth groups in the community,” says Danny Vakapora, the programme manager for Rarotonga. “Those trained youth then take the information back to their groups. It’s sort of like a pyramid effect that filters the info within the groups.”
Vakapora points out that, while YPE’s main purpose is to prevent the spread of HIV and STIs, it also focuses on leadership, first aid training and other programmes provided by the national office.
Patience Vainerere does basically the same job as Vakapora, but being in charge of the YPE programme for Aitutaki and Mangaia while based in Rarotonga offers its own agenda of challenges.
“It’s quite hard working from the main office here and overseeing the two programmes on different islands,” she says. “Sometimes I have no idea what they’re doing on that side. With Aitutaki, they have the internet so we can communicate via email, whereas Mangaia doesn’t have internet yet and we just have the phone line. It’s hard for us to get the information out to the two branches and for them to give it out to the community to run their programmes.”
Despite the difficulties of distance, Vainerere said the youth programme is progressing nicely on both islands. Aitutaki now has 20 YEP members while Mangaia has 13.
The message about condom use to combat HIV and STIs is even filtering through to the older members of the population. That’s important because, at first, cultural belief held that condoms were being advocated in an effort to reduce an already depleted population base.
“Now they’ve accepted that the youth can distribute condoms to protect themselves from STIs,” says Vainerere. “The message is getting through.”
The Outer Island Development Officer
If you don’t see much of Mata Hetland in the Ngatipa office, there’s a very good reason for that.
“The job requires me to go to the Outer Islands and ensure that the programmes we do here in Rarotonga also get carried out in the other islands,” she says.
The cost of airfare plays a large part in how Hetland carries out her duties.
“Sometimes only I can go on my own,” she says. “I practically do everybody’s programme if they cannot travel with me to the Outer Islands. At least once a year I go to all the islands.”
Hetland says she is happy with how the organization’s programmes are being implemented on the other islands in the chain. The next objective is to secure actual office space for each branch and then ensure each office has enough stock to survive any natural disasters that might strike.
The Outer Islands, she notes, have been very receptive to the Red Cross and its programmes.
“The island administrations, they always cooperate with us,” says Hetland. “They know what we can do to help them and they help us by providing people for our training.”
The Counsellor
It’s obvious that there are physical items – shelter, clothing, food, potable water – that need to be provided after disaster strikes, but there can also be psychological damage that requires attention as well.
That’s where Lynn Scott, the Red Cross’s Mental Health Counsellor and Coordinator, comes into the picture.
“What I’ve done is develop a counselling programme for Red Cross responders,” says Scott, who is also a Registered Nurse. “We’ve gotten our funds from HIV and the South Pacific Secretariat. The focus is on STI prevention and getting people to talk about it.”
The programme also includes a disaster module.
“It looks at using a holistic health concept,” says Scott. “It looks at the physical, mental, emotional and the spiritual. So, if somebody’s house burns, we can give them emotional support for that, as well as clothing and food.”
The situation in post-cyclone Aitutaki was a textbook example of where the Red Cross counselling programme could best be used.
“Red Cross (personnel) were giving people a hug and listening to their stories, giving emotional support as they were crying,” says Scott. “Overall, it was a success.”

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