Tonga volcano: Darwin connections waiting to hear from loved ones

The Darwin Tongan community will come together and pray for the safety of their loved ones on Friday.

UPDATE: THE Tongan community in Darwin will come together to pray for the safety of their friends and family.

A prayer vigil will be held on Friday night at 6.30pm at the Darwin Memorial Church.

“Please join us as we offer prayers for the people of Tonga and all whose lives are threatened by these events — All are welcome,” the organiser Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams wrote.

Darwin Tongan community praying for loved ones

MEMBERS of the Darwin Tongan community are praying for connection to be restored on the island nation following the underwater volcano over the weekend.

Many of them, like Mona Manu, are unable to contact friends and family, holding on to hope they’re okay.

“It’s a dreadful feeling not even knowing what’s happening,” the secretary of Darwin Tongan Community Group said.

Ms Manu has a brother currently in Tonga, while her partner’s daughter remains over there.

“The last time we heard from my brother he was sending us videos of stones raining down from the volcanic eruption,” she said.

“We don’t even know if they had to escape or where they escaped to.”

Ms Manu said her main concern was that they all had safe and warm shelter, as she hadn’t heard reports of any death or injuries yet from the disaster.

“All we’re doing is constantly worried if they’ve got a warm place to sleep or if their home is damaged,” she said.

“It’s those kinds of things that are keeping us up at night — Nothing that we do is normal at the moment we just want to know if they’re safe.”

As secretary of the community group, Ms Manu said they are in the early stages of planning some kind of fundraiser to help with the clean-up.

“We’ll have a prayer session and then obviously talk about what we can do.

“It will probably be monetary — we need to make sure it’s going into the right hands and going towards something worthwhile,” she said.

Originally published as Tonga volcano: Darwin connections waiting to hear from loved ones