Sunday, August 9, 2009
CHRISTIANS AND RUGBY
Bula vinaka! Fiji of course is still wonderful. I can't believe my time here is almost up already. It has been such a great experience. I am so in love with the people here. I'm not quite sure what I'll do when I come back to America and every single person I pass doesn't say hi to me anymore. The projects are all wrapping up great. Ravin has mastered all his sight words, vowel sounds and consanent sounds. I'm getting some information on other tutors for him so he can continue to learn. He is so smart. We're building three more stoves today. It's our last day to build them. I taught some lessons last week on gardening and health. They are so excited to learn. The MDA went great. If you didn't know about half the population of Fiji are the Indo-Fijians. The villages I went to administer the tablets to were indo-fijian settlements. That means that every time we stopped at someones home, I had to drink at least two cups of "juice"-juice meaning water with red stuff in it, sometimes it'd be tang. The people here are all so giving. We've also been helping to administer at the schools. The kids were so funny. Some took the pills with no problems, others gagged and choked and made a fuss. Then we showed them pictures of what could happen if they didn't take the pills... we didn't have any problems after that. Sorry these posts have all been very short and full of typos, I never have much time here in the internet cafes plus the internet is slower than you could ever imagine. Remember dial up? This is worse. See you all in a little less than two weeks!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
FIJI WATER REALLY COMES FROM FIJI... WHO KNEW
Bula everyone! Fiji is so wonderful. You guys wouldn't believe the people here. They are so sweet and laid back; America could definitely take some lessons from them. Here are some things I've noticed:
-Fiji Time. You know how we have mormon standard time? ie the meeting was supposed to start 15 minutes ago but the teacher is still in the foyer? We have NOTHING on Fiji time. I went to a training meeting yesterday at the hospital that was supposed to start at 9 and it didn't get going until 10:45! No one cares either! They just smile and say "sanga lenga" meaning "no worries!" We get cancelled on all the time and everyone just says "welcome to Fiji time!"
-Fijians share EVERYTHING. Food, clothes, whatever. We have to be careful not to complement people on their clothes because they'lll insist on giving them to us.
-Fijians take a lot of pride in being from Fiji. We're always asked "you like Fiji?" We always say yes, and that makes them smile and laugh
-Fijians are also very, very proud of having the Fiji Water Plant here. It's about an hour and a half away from where we're staying. We get asked a lot if we've visited the plant.
You guys would all love the people. They are amazing. I've started working on some pretty neat projects. There in an Indo-Fijian man I work with named Ravin. Ravin was born practically blind. A little more than a year ago his family raised money to send him to India to get his eyes fixed. Now that he can see, he wants to be able to read. He tried to go to the school but he is not to a level that they will accept so I meet with him three times a week to practice reading. He is so smart. He is learning really quickly and does everything we ask him to. I'm hoping to get him to a fourth grade reading level before we leave Fiji. Another project that is just taking off involved and MDA (mass drug administration) with the hospital. For the next two weeks we will be visiting many, many villages to admister pills to prevent elephantitis. We went to the training yesterday (where I found the real meaning of Fiji Time) and we start next week. Since we don't speak Fijian each of the volunteers will be paired with a Fijian nurse to bridge the language barrier. Most of Fijians I've come in to contact with speak at least broken english but the farther into the mountains we get fewer and fewer people speak english. I'm really excited about helping with that project. Yesterday I built my first Adobe stove. The people here cook on open fires in little shacks behind their homes. The fires are dangerous for many reasons: children can fall into the flames, smoke gets blown into the womens eyes and lungs, and it's a fire hazard. We teach them to build stoves out of resources they have (clay, banana tree, and sand). It was a lot of hard work but I felt really rewarded after seeing the finished project. The stove won't be ready for use for 4 weeks (it takes a REALLY long time to dry) but I know how grateful the people are just to have it.
There's a brief update for now! I'll post again next week!
-Fiji Time. You know how we have mormon standard time? ie the meeting was supposed to start 15 minutes ago but the teacher is still in the foyer? We have NOTHING on Fiji time. I went to a training meeting yesterday at the hospital that was supposed to start at 9 and it didn't get going until 10:45! No one cares either! They just smile and say "sanga lenga" meaning "no worries!" We get cancelled on all the time and everyone just says "welcome to Fiji time!"
-Fijians share EVERYTHING. Food, clothes, whatever. We have to be careful not to complement people on their clothes because they'lll insist on giving them to us.
-Fijians take a lot of pride in being from Fiji. We're always asked "you like Fiji?" We always say yes, and that makes them smile and laugh
-Fijians are also very, very proud of having the Fiji Water Plant here. It's about an hour and a half away from where we're staying. We get asked a lot if we've visited the plant.
You guys would all love the people. They are amazing. I've started working on some pretty neat projects. There in an Indo-Fijian man I work with named Ravin. Ravin was born practically blind. A little more than a year ago his family raised money to send him to India to get his eyes fixed. Now that he can see, he wants to be able to read. He tried to go to the school but he is not to a level that they will accept so I meet with him three times a week to practice reading. He is so smart. He is learning really quickly and does everything we ask him to. I'm hoping to get him to a fourth grade reading level before we leave Fiji. Another project that is just taking off involved and MDA (mass drug administration) with the hospital. For the next two weeks we will be visiting many, many villages to admister pills to prevent elephantitis. We went to the training yesterday (where I found the real meaning of Fiji Time) and we start next week. Since we don't speak Fijian each of the volunteers will be paired with a Fijian nurse to bridge the language barrier. Most of Fijians I've come in to contact with speak at least broken english but the farther into the mountains we get fewer and fewer people speak english. I'm really excited about helping with that project. Yesterday I built my first Adobe stove. The people here cook on open fires in little shacks behind their homes. The fires are dangerous for many reasons: children can fall into the flames, smoke gets blown into the womens eyes and lungs, and it's a fire hazard. We teach them to build stoves out of resources they have (clay, banana tree, and sand). It was a lot of hard work but I felt really rewarded after seeing the finished project. The stove won't be ready for use for 4 weeks (it takes a REALLY long time to dry) but I know how grateful the people are just to have it.
There's a brief update for now! I'll post again next week!
Friday, July 17, 2009
AND IT BEGINS
I made it! I am here in Tavula, Fiji after an overnight layover in LA and a 10 hour flight across the Pacific Ocean. The island is beautiful. I'm staying in a little house on top of a hill with three bedrooms (jam packed with bunk beds), a kitchen (no stove or microwave but we do have a fridge), and a bathroom (the shower may not have water but thank heavens we have a toilet). I've been assigned to be the co-lead of our project working with libraries and schools for elementary age children and to be on the committee for the building of adobe stoves. I can't wait to start working with these people. The Fijian/Indo-Fijian people are the sweetest people I've ever come in to contact with and I've not been here 24 hours. You can't come across anyone without hearing Bula! (hello/good morning/have a good day/whatever) and a wave. I've never seen so many smiles. Even in these circumstances, these are the happiest people I've ever met. I am going to be learning a lot from these people. I haven't figured out how I'm going to get my pictures up yet but I'll work on it. I'll have to find me a flash drive... hmm. Wish me luck.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
A NEW ADVENTURE
This summer has brought with it all kinds of surprises but none quite like this one. This time last week the thought of going to Fiji had not even crossed my mind. I will now be leaving the country for the remainder of the summer to do humanitarian work with a group called HELP International in less than eleven days... I'm not quite sure how it happened but it has and I could not feel better about it. I'm grateful to all of you who have helped make this possible through your donations and through your support. I will keep this blog updated with photos and journal entrys so that you can see for yourself just how much your support has done for me and for the people in Fiji. Thanks again to all of you!
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