The Miracle

By Ruperake Petaia

The Miracle is a story based on real events in the lives of just some of the people who were involved in the staging of Gods Miracle during the Polynesian Airlines Flight 844 from Sydney Australia to Faleolo, Western Samoa on the 13 September 1994.
This story is written as a testimonial to the amazing Love of God, and it is about certain real life situations of absolute Faith and Trust in our Lord. It is indeed a true endorsement of the fact that God does care so very much for all of us and will answer all the prayers of those who really believe in Him.
The real events depicted in this story form an unusually strange coincidence that I have found quite impossible to attribute to chance. I can only conclude therefore that they must be the manifestations of a true miracle of our Lord. With that in mind this account deliberately focuses, in the main, on the spiritual settings and sequence of these remarkable events as represented by the people and happenings in this story.
Certain incidences in this account have been recreated from imaginations, only for the purposes of this story, and therefore do not necessarily suggest any similarities to, or direct representation of names, places and whatever really happened in those circumstances. The use of actual names of some of those people has been possible through their own generous permission.
The ingenuity of technology and the deservedly commendable and exceptional courage and skills displayed by the technical and service operations people who were actually involved in the incredible landing of the crippled plane in this story, are only briefly acknowledged herein. Regretfully I have not attempted to account for those feats in any detail in this story for fear that my ignorance of their profession and expertise may deny these people the true and fair recognition they fully deserve for their part in this Special Event.
I firmly believe nonetheless, that these remarkable mortal feats and wonders are all part and parcel of the manifestation of Gods Will in the making of this Miracle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruperake Petaia
• Release date: Sep 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301251636

Ruperake Petaia

Ruperake Petaia was born at the village of Leauvaa, Western Samoa. He attended Leauvaa and Malifa Primary Schools, Leiifiifi Intermediate School and Samoa College. During 1970 he worked at the Bank of Western Samoa. He left in 1971 and spend a year “idling” in American Samoa.In 1973 he commenced his career in the Public Service of Western Samoa as a records clerk in the Office of the Public Service Commission, and worked his way up through the ranks to hold the position of Deputy Secretary to the Public Service Commission in 1988. The following year he was appointed as Director for the Posts and Telecommunications Department. In 2002, he left the Public Service when he was called to be a servant of God. He graduated from Malua Theological College in 2005 and become an ordained priest for the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa(CCCS) in 2009. He is presently serving as a Parish Minister for the same church in Samoa. His interest in writing is owed a lot to a few influential and very important people in his life. The art of story telling is an integral part of the everyday education of a Samoan childhood, ’taught’ mostly by their Grandparents. The passing of such stories to the younger generations by way of mouth ensures the roots of the Samoan Culture: its legends, language, traditions and religious beliefs, are firmly ‘stored in a Samoan child’s mind and life. Ruperake was no exception, for he and his eight brothers and three sisters, like most Samoans, had the great blessing of living with and in the ‘enchanting’ world of their Grandparents throughout their child and youthhood years. His ‘Grandmother’ who was a teacher ‘once upon a time’ was the greatest storyteller he has ever known. Some of his ‘greatest tecahers’ were in the study of English Literature. Just one of them is the great Pacific writer Albert Wendt, whose own work and personal encouragement had a strong influence in Ruperake’s early interest in modern literature and the ‘fascinating world of Creative Writing’. Ruperake has published several books of his poetry, which genre he claims to be his “first love” in the art of creative writing: “Blue Rain” was published in 1980 and “Patches of the Rainbow” was published in 1992, and “Rainbows and Dreams” in 2012. He writes mainly in English, but he has also written books in both English and Samoan. Petaia has also written and published collections of short stories and a short novel. The Miracle is a short novel and is Ruperakes first attempt at writing a lengthier piece of prose. It was originally written in English and later translated into Samoan by the author himself. His current address is: P.O. Box. 3077, Apia, Samoa. E-mail: [e-mail], or his wife’s e-mail address: [e-mail]

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The Miracle

by Ruperake Petaia

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Copyright 2013 Ruperake Petaia

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"O give thanks unto the Lord:

call upon His name:

Make known His deeds:

among the people."

Psalm: 105: Verse 1.

ONE

This was Marys third night in Australia, and Sydney in late August was expectedly cooler in the dull dry evenings as the dying winter was still vulturing over the place, its cold claws grasping feebly at the concrete bones of the tired city. Up north of the Harbour Bridge the vile breath of the shivery channel wind scattered the days industrial vomit over the still hustling and bustling city. That evening the wind was growling menacingly over the eastern channels, where vessels of every kind and purpose were ploughing the foaming waters to and from the ever buzzing Port Jackson.

Across Cremorne Peninsula, the night lights started blinking hazily in the falling darkness. The place looked like ruffled feathers in the angry wind tearing down on the crew-cut rows of fern hedges that punctuated the seemingly endless stretch of byways and avenues of posh Mosman district. Through the closely knit motley of high rise homes the whistling current dissipated into spurts of wild drizzle blasts like invisible cannon balls bolting aimlessly across the stretching arms of Military Road. As the wind filled the Peninsula, the cold squally air percolated through the jaded joints and weather-beaten slits of the old Metropoly hotel where Mary was staying.

As evening fell ominously outside, Mary could feel the sharp sting of the freezing draught seeping in, even when she was in full winter attire and wrapped tight with double sheets and a thick woolly blanket spread all over her for extra warmth and comfort.

Leaving her family a thousand weary miles away for this training course was a particularly difficult decision for Mary to make, in view of the fact that the course was, for her, a lengthy duration of two months and given also that she would have to leave behind her precious baby Keiko who was then barely six months old. There was also the major worry that her husband might find it difficult to cope with the additional burden of having to care for their children on top of his own busy schedule during her absence.

Her husband had in fact shown some concern on her taking this trip when their baby was only a few months old. I’m not at all sure I can handle the additional responsibility. I may not have the time to keep a check on the children daily, especially on baby, he had said when Mary first told him of her trip.

In this unusually big and fast city, and the cold confines of the still prevailing wintery weather, Mary was actually feeling lonely and homesick in her room. She felt tired as she tried to cuddle up some sleep. She closed her eyes hoping it might quicken the process, but her mind was wide awake and her thoughts were always on her children.

As she lay burdened with her lonely feelings, Mary’s thoughts travelled through time to the month of August in the year 1987. She was required to undergo a training attachment for three months, with the New Zealand Inland Revenue Office in the icy city of Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand. Her baby son Ruperake was then only a few months old and her daughter Delphine was just turning three years of age.

The training was a welcomed opportunity for her professional development, but she was also conscious of the consequential sacrifices her family would have to make if she were to undertake the training. Her husband, who himself was a devoted Public Servant for over fifteen years then, finally reasoned that the responsibility to be a better and obedient servant to the