Coming to Samoa just a month after the terrible tsunami hit the south coast of the main island was a very intense experience. i came to take a photo of streetlife for this project.

I expected to see more evidence of the disaster in the main street of the capital but there were no aid organisations rushing around to be in this photo. The tsunami area is about an hours drive from the capital and it seems that people have picked up again and are going on with their daily routine.

After taking this photo I had three days left to visit the tsunami area myself. I went there as a volunteer for the Samoan Red Cross and helped a little with the assembly of watertanks in the struck villages. To my amazement there was hardly anything being done by the government in the area which is spread over many kilometers. As far as I could tell there was only the Samoan Red Cross on the ground and we were just some 20 people. I began hearing stories about the efforts of the government which were apparently almost none. And accusations of widespread corruption with the funds that came into the country from countries and relief initiatives around the world.