GIZO - A MOTHER'S LOVE ❤ SAVES HER SONS

 

 A DRAMATIC LAST-MINUTE PLEA SAVED THE LIVES OF TWO LITTLE GIZO BOYS

Caroline and her sons Resenia and Gilbert. A wise decision by mum delivered them from the jaws of death.

By BIG PAT

TODAY, February 1 marks one month since the tragic New Years Day loss of 14 innocent lives in the deep ocean storms not far from the Shortland Islands.

As we remember the missing 14 and pray for their peace, there are others who, by a mere stroke of luck, missed the boat.

I want to share with you the untold chilling last-minute change of heart that spared the lives of two little boys.

This is the true story of baby Gilbert Nonga 2, and his older brother Resenia Nonga, 6.

A mother's instinct is always for the welfare and well-being of her children. The same can be said of the mothers who went missing on January 1, trying their best in the face of impossible odds to save their children.

Even if a mother is faraway, overseas, her thoughts will always with her babies.

Baby Gilbert turned two years old on January 19. And his mum was happily on the phone singing birthday lullabies.

These are happy family moments. But it almost did not turn out that way.

Baby Gilbert and big brother Resenia are the sons of Tony Nonga (a survivor of the Gizo boat tragedy of January 1, 2022) and his wife Caroline Tuke.

Mum Caroline has a job working with other Pacific Islanders in a meat packing factory in Brisbane, Australia, thousands of miles away.

The last time she saw her handsome little boys was in 2021. 

Gilbert's second birthday celebrations.

Caroline is from Munda while Tony is part Gilbertese (Kiribati) and Solomon Islands and calls the Shortlands home.

Tony now lives in Gizo with their sons. Every day mum calls dad to talk to her sons. These are always happy lively moments.

Last Christmas, the family celebrated online. Then Tony told his dear wife that he was planning to join his extended family for a trip to Harapa village in Shortland Islands on New Years Day.

Over the next days, Tony begged his wife if he could take the boys with him to see their grandparents in Harapa.

The answer from Caroline was an adamant NO! Mother knows best.

On Dec 31, Tony finally relented and dropped the boys off at Caroline's parent's home in Munda.

Caroline  (above) and Tony (below)

The next day, New Years Day, he hopped on the double 40 horse-powered banana boat for Harapa. On the way it broke down. 

As we now know Steven Kaurawa, mechanic and skipper of the 75-horsepower, took over the stricken boat and tried to fix the engines.

While the 75 horse powered boat, with Steven's wife and daughter onboard, set off for Shortlands, never to be seen again.

Steven and Tony survived a harrowing terrifying night in heavy seas, buffeted by strong winds and lashed by heavy rains.

With 12 others on board, they were swamped three times but managed to bail out their dinghy and remain afloat.

This really played on Tony’s mind as, in the darkest hours of his life, he thought of his boys. In this stormy turbulent waters, he knew he would have definitely lost them.

Saved the next day by the seamanship of Steven, and once on dry land, the first person Tony called was his wife in Australia.

Caroline recalls: “When Tony called me and told me what happened, I was so shocked. I cried and cried, I thought of the three men in my life and I just cried.”

“Tony cried, he said if he had brought the boys on the trip, they would have been lost.

“He asked to take the boys and I stopped him. I just could not allow them to go on a long sea journey with their dad in a ray boat, it is too risky.

“This is God’s decision, not mine and I give praise to God.”

“I came that very close to losing the three very important people in my life.”

Harapa village where the two boats were headed on New Years Day.

Two weeks after the search was called off for for the missing 14, a special memorial service was held at the Catholic Church in Gizo.

Later in the day, a flotilla of small craft took relatives into the bay. Wreaths and flowers were dispersed in memory of the lost.

The saddest part is of the 14 people lost, 8 were innocent little helpless kids. 

Of the lost, only the body of late Joyce was recovered.

Tony Nonga shed tears as he watched the proceedings. The question that pricked his conscience was 'what if he had taken his boys on that fateful day?'

In memory of Paul Wenteroi and wife Benetta; Joyce and her baby girl Ruta; Rose and her little daughter Tekavita; brothers Paul and Baranika, skipper Wiliko, Cyrol, Michelle, Ejay, Francis and Paiyas.