On the 14th of January 2022, disaster struck Tonga and its surrounding islands in the form of a submarine volcanic eruption deemed to be hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. For a country that is reliant on farming and rainwater, this incident has had devastating impacts on the Tongan people. In today’s episode, Peter Harding and Toutai Kefu, the CEO and Head Coach of the Tongan Rugby Union respectively, join us to share what the situation looks like on the ground at the moment and how you can assist the various organizations that are helping to rebuild Tonga. We can’t have a Rugby KO episode without at least a little bit of rugby talk, so at the end of the episode you’ll hear about what the past few years have looked like for the Tongan Rugby Union, and their exciting plans for the future.
Key Points From This Episode:
“Sport’s good for health but also good for mental health. And I can tell from talking to people over there, some people are going to need a bit of a lift because there’s a lot of hard work ahead.” — Peter Harding [0:03:56]
“Anything we can take would help at the moment because there’s a lot of people without stuff over there at the moment.” — Peter Harding [0:06:38]
“We rely a lot on the land to feed ourselves, and that has been compromised, so I think in the coming weeks that food shortage is going to be a real problem.” — Toutai Kefu [0:07:32]
“We’re the smallest country in World Rugby, and our budget at the World Cup is the smallest, and we’ve got the smallest population, but we’ve got the best players.” — Peter Harding [0:16:27]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
GoFundMe Tonga Tsunami Emergency Fundraiser
New Zealand High Commission, Tonga
On the 14th of January 2022, disaster struck Tonga and its surrounding islands in the form of a submarine volcanic eruption deemed to be hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. For a country that is reliant on farming and rainwater, this incident has had devastating impacts on the Tongan people. In today’s episode, Peter Harding and Toutai Kefu, the CEO and Head Coach of the Tongan Rugby Union respectively, join us to share what the situation looks like on the ground at the moment and how you can assist the various organizations that are helping to rebuild Tonga. We can’t have a Rugby KO episode without at least a little bit of rugby talk, so at the end of the episode you’ll hear about what the past few years have looked like for the Tongan Rugby Union, and their exciting plans for the future.
Key Points From This Episode:
“Sport’s good for health but also good for mental health. And I can tell from talking to people over there, some people are going to need a bit of a lift because there’s a lot of hard work ahead.” — Peter Harding [0:03:56]
“Anything we can take would help at the moment because there’s a lot of people without stuff over there at the moment.” — Peter Harding [0:06:38]
“We rely a lot on the land to feed ourselves, and that has been compromised, so I think in the coming weeks that food shortage is going to be a real problem.” — Toutai Kefu [0:07:32]
“We’re the smallest country in World Rugby, and our budget at the World Cup is the smallest, and we’ve got the smallest population, but we’ve got the best players.” — Peter Harding [0:16:27]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
GoFundMe Tonga Tsunami Emergency Fundraiser
New Zealand High Commission, Tonga