The water destroyed one village, completely washing it out. A nearby village was just fine, safe in the height of the hills. It was luck and the extra 15 feet of altitude that made the difference.

This was the case for many people in American Samoa recently. One day their lives and homes were completely intact; the next day, everything was completely washed away.

A month ago, a call for help went out when an earthquake and tsunami devastated Samoa and American Samoa. Eleven disaster volunteers from the American Red Cross in Utah were part of the many who answered the call to assist more than 2,000 locals affected.

Provo residents Vicki and Leonard Watts spent three weeks in October volunteering in American Samoa as Red Cross Disaster Trained Volunteers. Their main duties included client-case work and taking charge of the transportation crew. They assigned cars to those who needed them and worked with clients in the field, getting their names and ages for FEMA.

Other volunteers worked on crews distributing yurts (a 6-person tent) and teaching recipients how to build them.

Stan Rosenzweig, a Utah volunteer who returned home late October, was one of those in charge of distributing yurts and supplies.

“We did it, we distributed the yurts and showed families how to assemble them,” Rosenzweig said. “After, we gave more than 1,000 local villagers packages that contained 20 pound bags of rice, 3 pound bags of tuna fish, noodles, milk, crackers, baby formula, diapers, towels, sheets, pillows, flashlights, Red Cross comfort kits and bottled water.”

Many people came from out of country to help in the disaster situation, but some of the true heroes of the disaster were the locals who found time in their own stark situations to help others.

Utah volunteers said they were impressed with the way the locals forgot about their own problems and helped their neighbors.

“We worked with one gal who had lost 13 members of her family,” Watts said. “Yet she and others continued to help. We would see neighbors bonding and trying to do what they could to help everybody else out.”

Karen Frost, a Red Cross volunteer from Provo, spent 22 days in Samoa serving as a bulk distribution coordinator.

“I was so impressed with the people there,” Frost said. “It was something to have someone who had lost their home care to ask my name, and learn about my family.”

She spoke of the feeling of family that exists among the people of Samoa, where every village is a family that looks out for each other.

The Watts spoke of how hard it was to leave when their three-week assignment was finished.

They said they did not want to leave the 100 loyal Samoan volunteers who helped with their work.

The Red Cross invites everyone to donate time or resources to the local Red Cross: Mountain Valley Chapter/Provo (801) 373-8580. The call for donations is still under way and disaster relief efforts continue.

You don’t coast through life always taking,” Frost said. “You’ve got to interact and go forth serving.”