Caption: Castaway Island Resort Chairman and CEO, Geoffrey Shaw. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.
By JOSEPHINE NAVULA
The Castaway family of staff’s dedication and hard work of putting together the Island in a span of three and a half months after the destruction of Cyclone Evan late last year were acknowledged at the re-opening of the island resort, earlier today.
“All our guests at the time were relocated to the mainland prior to the wrath of the storm, our castaway family of staff remained on island and prepared for inevitable cleanup and reinstatement that was to follow,” Castaway Island Resort Chairman and CEO, Geoffrey Shaw said.
He also mentioned, despite the damage sustained by the resort, the workers continued to stay on the Island and worked.
“They took ownership and provided leadership, they all worked very hard in a very challenging environment,” Shaw said.
Shaw also adds that the resort sustained a lot of damages and it was difficult to get the goods to help them in the island.
“Thousands of trees and plants were lost during the cyclone, we also lost one of sixty six bures,” he said.
The resort suffered more than $8 million damages recovered quickly through the hardwork of the workers of the resort.
Resort Manager, Steven Andrews said they didn’t employ any other outside contractors to help re-build the resort after the cyclone.
“It was the hard work and dedication of the staffs that have helped rebuild the resort, and re-opening it here today, is a huge relief,” he said.
Working in the Castaway Island Resort for now 16 years, Food and Beverages attendant, Seru Loga said it was a challenge but it was also good working with other co-workers in the island.
“”It was the worst cyclone that had ever happened since I have been employed in Castaway and I was scared,” she said.
Castaway Island Resort employs a total of 218 workers.
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