I have been blessed.

This is Ratu Rusiate, a school right outside Ba. The kids were so adorable especially the kindergarten aged kids who sang songs to us the whole time.

THe Walk-A-Thon fundraiser we put on. All the volunteers plus the kids and teachers from teh Ba School for Special Education.

Cooking dinner at home. Coconut and cassava was cooked in the leaves and was delicious.

The ladies at Koroipita who came to the business class. Certificates were handed out to those who came to at least 6 of the 8 lessons.

Computer classes. You know something is going right when your students can explain to other students how to do something. That is Ana teaching Sowela something about Microsoft Word.

I'm gonna live my life today

7/20/2011
The work here is going so great. I love Koroipita so much. Susan works in the office and is our main contact. She really likes working with us and is one of the best partners we have. She is on top of things. She doesn’t ever fall through. We have had a lot of problems with other partners not communicating well and just wanting us because we are white and American. Susan trusts us and gives us responsibility. She gives us projects to do that are challenging yet we can handle. She is an Indo-Fijian who is in her late 20’s. I have really appreciated working with especially since a lot of other projects fall through. She is just consistent, reliable, steady, steady, and dependable.
Since the last business lesson is tomorrow I will be working on a few new projects at Koroipita. I will be setting up a library system with the books that have been donated to the Koroipita project. Also I will do some individual training with a lady out there to help her learn how to keep records. I am excited about both of these projects. I want to work out there as much as possible.
7/21/2011
Five ladies at Koroipita received a certificate for completing the business training we had. There were three or four other regulars but they didn’t come to at least six of the eight classes which was required to receive the certificate. I will really miss the lessons.
I still get to teach computer classes twice in a week. These lessons are going so well. The ladies are picking up things very quickly. I love watching them figure things out on their own. Their hadn eye coordination with the mouse is improving a lot. It is no longer so frustrating to watch them try to move the cursor.
7/25/2011
We are planning a big walk-a-thon fundraiser for the Ba School for Special Education. It is happening in five days and I think it will be a pretty successful fundraiser. All the schools here are under funded. Ba Special School is for kids with special needs. Right now their budget is not enough to pay for the basic stuff they need and so we decided to help them by setting up a fundraiser. I personally haven’t been involved with a lot of the work but a few volunteers have put a lot of time into it. We are planning the walk-a-thon where businesses and the community can sponsor a kid by donating so much per lap. We are also having carnival type games to raise money. We have gone around Ba and asked for donations, sent emails to people in America. We have already met our monetary goal of how much we thought we could raise, which is awesome. It has been interesting trying to figure out how fundraising works in Fiji. We didn’t get as many sponsor for the kids as we thought we would but have raised more money in other ways. People here are generous though. We also got some break-dancers to come perform. Other entertainment includes the Ba soccer team. This is a pretty big deal. They are getting back from playing in Canada the day before the walk-a-thon. The Ba soccer team is the best one in Fiji usually. They have won the Fiji Fun Fact tournament more than any other province in Fiji. They are going to play soccer against the kids from the Ba school. I am excited they are going to be there.
We did some intense deep cleaning in the house today. There are only fourteen volunteers now. It is wonderful to have more space. The guys finally have their own room to sleep and live in. There are seven girls, five boys, and our country directors (husband and wife) now. We took down the bunks that the guys were sleeping on in the living more and we have so much more space now. We cleaned out food in the kitchen and cleaned out the fridge for the first time in what looked like a long time. The freezer had a solid inch of ice around the walls.
Although we did intense cleaning I would not say the house is clean. We have mice and cockroach infestations. On Saturday morning when I woke up there was a huge cockroach on the counter. It is about an inch long and as thick as my ring finger, just nasty. The mice get into everything. We have set some rattraps but the mice weren’t heavy enough to set off the spring thing so they got some free peanut butter. They seem to like our suitcases. Fortunately, I have never found one in my suitcase. I would rather have mice than insects though. The cockroaches are absolutely disgusting.
I climbed the tallest mountain in Fiji on Saturday; Mt. Victoria. It was an awesome but fairly tough hike. It was a two-hour hike up, which tells you the mountain wasn’t super tall. Mt. Victoria is only 4,300 ft tall and I think we started out around 2,500 ft. The trail was intense. We were climbing almost vertically in some spots. In other spots we were hiking on the ridge with steep drop offs on both sides. It was so gorgeous, lush, and green. One thing that surprised me was one cool it was. I can’t quite say it was cold. We were in fog the whole time although it wasn’t thick fog. Clouds would pass by quickly. The way done was an adventure because it was rainy and muddy. Not a good combination when you are trekking on a hazardous trail. I made it safely down although I had several almost falls. We were wet and muddy and then to make it even better I had a small mud fight with a few other volunteers. I loved it. Fiji rain is so awesome because you don’t really get cold in it. It was perfect weather for hiking. If I had remembered there was a stream we could clean up in I would have had a full out mud war. It was a grand adventure.
30 July 2011
This week flew by. Koroipita is so awesome. I am cramming to get all the computer stuff taught that I want to. I am only going out there six more times, sadly. I already know the goodbye is going to by hard. The ladies there, Lani, Keresi, Maria, Ana, and Alumita are awesome. I have just grown to love them. On Thursday I had eight people show up for the class. The last month or so I had only been getting 3-4 people to come. I think it is because some people were choosing between the business class and the computer class. Now that it is only the computer class more come.
I started organizing the library books there. I got about 100 catalogued into an excel spreadsheet. It will take quite some time to get it all organized and the material collected that is needed. I love organizing stuff though. It makes it so much easier to find stuff. Getting it organized is time consuming but once it is organized, it is easy to keep organized.
We had our walk-a-thon for the Ba School for Special Education. HELP volunteers helped organize a fundraiser for them. All the schools here are underfunded. They don’t waste any paper. If the front has something printed on it but are no longer needed, the students to do their work will use the back. Recycling for them means using the paper until it is no longer usable and no longer usable to them is different than no longer usable to us. It makes me very grateful for the resources that are available in America. Our education system works a lot better than Fiji’s does.
Alex, a HELP volunteer gave me great idea to everyday write something I will miss about Fiji. I want to do this so when I look back I will remember the things I don’t want to forget. I have grown accustomed to certain things in Fiji that once I get back in the states I will no longer do. I want to make sure I remember those things for along time.
One thing I think I will miss most about Fiji is the warmth. I love not ever being cold. Hiking Mt. Victoria was the coldest I had been here but I wasn’t cold, I was just cool and not sweating bullets. I prefer hot weather, humidity included, over cold weather about 355 days of the year. If I could have that then ten days of snow during Christmas I would be satisfied. The first month in Fiji I basically lived in my sweat. I sweated when I walked, sat, ran, slept, showered. Anything I was doing I was sweating. It has cooled off a bit since then, and so I don’t usually sweat when I am sleeping, sitting, or showering anymore. Along with the warm weather is the warm ocean water. I love it. Being able to play all day in the water and not get cold is just perfect. The rivers are a little cooler than the ocean but definitely cold. They are really refreshing to jump in.
7 Aug 2011
I was very busy this week.
Church was interesting last Sunday. We got there right when church was supposed to start and only a few people were there and there was no organization. We sat for the first hour, had Sunday School because one of the volunteers had prepared a lesson. Sacrament meeting was less than 45 minutes long because we started late. The Ba ward really struggles because there are no worthy priesthood holders. The bishop died a little less than a year ago and so a high councilman has been running the ward. He didn’t show up the last two weeks.
Since we worked on Saturday we got Monday off. A few of us went to the Fijian Resort on the southern part of Viti Levu. I had a blast throwing the Frisbee, swimming, and exploring the tide pools.
I went to Koroipita all this week. Some of the ladies I teach grow orchids. On Tuesday I went with them to Nadi for training on orchid farming as an income-generating project. We went to South Sea Orchids’ nurseries. It was so pretty there. They have a rather large flower nursery. Wednesday and Thursday I taught computer classes about the internet. The ladies wer very excited about that. Unfortunately there was no internet on the computers so it was a little difficult to teach about it without demonstrating. In the afternoons I catalogued books. I have put over 300 books into the system I am setting up with only about 100 left.
I am getting a lot of my souvenirs from the ladies at Koroipita. One lady makes tappa, which is made form beating and pounding bark from a specific tree into a paper like material. Then it is painted with designs and words can be put on it. They make bookmarks, wall hangings, wedding clothing and other stuff with the tappa. It is very unique to Fiji.
Right now I am at Coral Coast Christian Camp in Pacific Harbor. We are spending the weekend and here and a few vacation days in Suva. I am having a blast. Stargazing, skinny-dipping in the ocean (girls only), night games, a river trip to a beautiful waterfall, bonfires on the beach,movie watching, cards, cooking an American dinner, and exploring the beach. Life couldn’t get much better.
I am so blessed. This summer has been just a splendid experience that will be hard to beat. It will be hard to just visit a country for a short period of time like a week because I now I will not be getting the full, legitimate cultural experience. For the most part the people who vacation in Fiji do not experience what it is really like. They don’t experience the marketplace, the busing system, village hospitality, the friendliness of the Fijians, and eating the food.
Another thing I will miss about Fiji is village hospitality. Going to a village is just great. These people live in corrugated tin shacks that might not have electricity. Quite often there is one central toilet for the whole village. All villages have a central gathering hall. Usually when I visit a village we always end up there for discussion and teatime (which for me means drinking lemon leaf tea or Milo, which is similar to hot chocolate). The villagers are always offering food and when a meal is served we usually end up getting our food on nice plates while the locals eat with their hands. My favorite though is when the food is placed on a central sheet and every one lines up on both sides and we just use our hands to eat the cassava and food. A lot of the times there are no individual plates and I eat with my hands more often than not. The people are great about offering the best they have to visitors. People here are just so friendly.

I love my life.

7/20/2011
The work here is going so great. I love Koroipita so much. Susan works in the office and is our main contact. She really likes working with us and is one of the best partners we have. She is on top of things. She doesn’t ever fall through. We have had a lot of problems with other partners not communicating well and just wanting us because we are white and American. Susan trusts us and gives us responsibility. She gives us projects to do that are challenging yet we can handle. She is an Indo-Fijian who is in her late 20’s. I have really appreciated working with especially since a lot of other projects fall through. She is just consistent, reliable, steady, steady, and dependable.
Since the last business lesson is tomorrow I will be working on a few new projects at Koroipita. I will be setting up a library system with the books that have been donated to the Koroipita project. Also I will do some individual training with a lady out there to help her learn how to keep records. I am excited about both of these projects. I want to work out there as much as possible.
7/21/2011
Five ladies at Koroipita received a certificate for completing the business training we had. There were three or four other regulars but they didn’t come to at least six of the eight classes which was required to receive the certificate. I will really miss the lessons.
I still get to teach computer classes twice in a week. These lessons are going so well. The ladies are picking up things very quickly. I love watching them figure things out on their own. Their hadn eye coordination with the mouse is improving a lot. It is no longer so frustrating to watch them try to move the cursor.
7/25/2011
We are planning a big walk-a-thon fundraiser for the Ba School for Special Education. It is happening in five days and I think it will be a pretty successful fundraiser. All the schools here are under funded. Ba Special School is for kids with special needs. Right now their budget is not enough to pay for the basic stuff they need and so we decided to help them by setting up a fundraiser. I personally haven’t been involved with a lot of the work but a few volunteers have put a lot of time into it. We are planning the walk-a-thon where businesses and the community can sponsor a kid by donating so much per lap. We are also having carnival type games to raise money. We have gone around Ba and asked for donations, sent emails to people in America. We have already met our monetary goal of how much we thought we could raise, which is awesome. It has been interesting trying to figure out how fundraising works in Fiji. We didn’t get as many sponsor for the kids as we thought we would but have raised more money in other ways. People here are generous though. We also got some break-dancers to come perform. Other entertainment includes the Ba soccer team. This is a pretty big deal. They are getting back from playing in Canada the day before the walk-a-thon. The Ba soccer team is the best one in Fiji usually. They have won the Fiji Fun Fact tournament more than any other province in Fiji. They are going to play soccer against the kids from the Ba school. I am excited they are going to be there.
We did some intense deep cleaning in the house today. There are only fourteen volunteers now. It is wonderful to have more space. The guys finally have their own room to sleep and live in. There are seven girls, five boys, and our country directors (husband and wife) now. We took down the bunks that the guys were sleeping on in the living more and we have so much more space now. We cleaned out food in the kitchen and cleaned out the fridge for the first time in what looked like a long time. The freezer had a solid inch of ice around the walls.
Although we did intense cleaning I would not say the house is clean. We have mice and cockroach infestations. On Saturday morning when I woke up there was a huge cockroach on the counter. It is about an inch long and as thick as my ring finger, just nasty. The mice get into everything. We have set some rattraps but the mice weren’t heavy enough to set off the spring thing so they got some free peanut butter. They seem to like our suitcases. Fortunately, I have never found one in my suitcase. I would rather have mice than insects though. The cockroaches are absolutely disgusting.
I climbed the tallest mountain in Fiji on Saturday; Mt. Victoria. It was an awesome but fairly tough hike. It was a two-hour hike up, which tells you the mountain wasn’t super tall. Mt. Victoria is only 4,300 ft tall and I think we started out around 2,500 ft. The trail was intense. We were climbing almost vertically in some spots. In other spots we were hiking on the ridge with steep drop offs on both sides. It was so gorgeous, lush, and green. One thing that surprised me was one cool it was. I can’t quite say it was cold. We were in fog the whole time although it wasn’t thick fog. Clouds would pass by quickly. The way done was an adventure because it was rainy and muddy. Not a good combination when you are trekking on a hazardous trail. I made it safely down although I had several almost falls. We were wet and muddy and then to make it even better I had a small mud fight with a few other volunteers. I loved it. Fiji rain is so awesome because you don’t really get cold in it. It was perfect weather for hiking. If I had remembered there was a stream we could clean up in I would have had a full out mud war. It was a grand adventure.

Living life in the fast lane...

7/3/2011
Friday we couldn’t do our gardening at the schools because it was too Instead, I helped a few other volunteers prep for a carnival that GOLD Foundation is putting on next week. GOLD wants us to have a informational booth for HELP International, provide entertainment for a few of the nights, and have a banner in the parade.
Yesterday all HELP volunteers but two spent the day at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes playing on the beach and in the water, racing up and jumping down the dunes, and building a sweet sand village on the beach. We even got some fish to ear oranges out of our fingers. The beach there was beautiful. It is one of the few places in Fiji where the waves break on the shore instead of out on the reef.
I just today got a new record for amount of people in a carrier. Carriers are usually small little two-door, two-seater Toyota pickups that have a canopy-like thing over the bed of the pickup. Today on the walk to church it started down pouring and so we all huddled under a bus stand waiting to see if the rain would let up or not. It wasn’t slowing down so we waved down a carrier and fit 14 people in the bed of that little Toyota pickup. People were sitting on laps, sitting on the bench, squatting in the center, doing whatever we could to cram in and we did it.
7/4/2011
Happy Independence Day! We are having our 4th of July celebration tonight at the house by cooking spaghetti (not exactly American), have garlic bread, ice-cream, and no-bake cookies! We were gonna have a bbq but hamburgers and hotdogs are hard to come by here.
Because today is a day of celebration in America I will list some things that aren’t readily available or available at all here in Fiji. Foods I am missing are red meat (very expensive here, especially beef because there are a lot of Hindus here and beef is sacred to them), sandwich meat (I am living off peanut butter and jelly because lunch meat is very expensive), cheese (expensive and the little I have tried isn’t very good), milk (it is either powdered or off the shelf), cereal, and meat again. Other things I miss a little are warm showers, fridges (we have a tiny one but with 18 people you don’t get a very big space), clean, free public restrooms (usually the ones here have no toilet paper or it cost $0.20), dependable clean water, not having to rely on public transportation, smooth roads (there are too many potholes here to count), fast and reliable internet that doesn’t cost a fortune, country music, a variety of music in general, and most of all my family. I love my friends here but miss my family. I sometimes miss how Americans treat time. Fiji time is very different than anything I have experienced even Mormon time. Time is definitely not as important here in Fiji which can be excruciatingly painful and frustrating for the most part and sometimes can be nice and relaxing. It is hard to have a productive day and schedule more than one appointment because you don’t know if it will start on time or an hour late. Shopping is an interesting experience here. Anytime you go into a clothing store the employees are very forceful in trying to get you to buy something. It gets pretty annoying sometimes. I like to shop and then go ask for help if I need it. Here they give you help you don’t really need at all.
There are definitely things I appreciate here in Fiji that aren’t a part of the American culture or way of life. One is the market. A majority of the fresh fruit and vegetables here are in a large market area where you barter with the locals to get the best price. You can get a pineapple for a dollar, a heap of eleven oranges or a dollar, three cucumbers for a dollar, a huge bundle of bananas for two dollars and many other great deals. Unfortunately tomatoes are pretty expensive here but it is awesome having cheap fruit that is expensive in America. Fijians are the nicest people I have met. They are so friendly and willing to help. If you get to know them they tell you when locals are trying to rip you off or are giving you a good deal. I have never been truly cold here just a little chilly once or twice and I love it. I will take heat over cold any day.
Of all the sunsets I have seen my top ten have probably been in Fiji. They are absolutely amazing here especially when you get to see the sun disappear into the ocean. The colors are just radiant and beautiful.
7/11/2011
I went with a few volunteers to Nailaga village today to clear some land for farm use. The youth there (young adults 18-20 yrs old) have 40 acres of land they can use to farm and run as a business. It was hard work and I think we cleared one, maybe two acres. We used machetes to chop down tall wheat grass type plants. There were small trees we also had to chop down. After we machete the stuff down to about knee height they will spray it and kill it. Then, all the big rocks and trees have to be cleared out. I don’t know how far along this project will be before we leave but it has the potential to be a great sustainable project.
7/17/2011
This week went by way to fast. Koroipita is going great. During the last computer class I helped one lady set up a budget on excel. I am excited that they are excited to put their knowledge to use. Business classes continue to go well. We only have two lessons left sadly. After that I don’t know what I will do besides the computer classes. I want to continue to go to Koroipita because the people are awesome.
One day after a business lesson, we were waiting for the bus to come and the ladies told us a few myths or legends about some of the different islands. For example, on one island there is a certain fish that you eat by picking the flesh off the bones and then if you set the skeleton of the fish back into the water it will swim off and grow flesh again. On another island there is a cave that will detect if female is pregnant if that person has been trying to keep the pregnancy a secret. When a person who is hiding their pregnancy tries to enter the cave they will not be able to but everyone else can. On another island ladies have to go fishing naked or they won’t catch any fish. They are interesting myths that they have.
We planted another garden at a primary school just outside of Ba called Ratu Rusiate. Each school we go to is so much fun. I was walking to the kids in form 1 and 2 (kindergarten and first grade aged) about what they like to learn in school and one of them mentioned singing and dancing. I asked them to sing a song for me and after that they sang at least 15 songs. They sang a few in Fijian, a few nursery rhymes like Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Hickory Dickory Dock; some Justin Bieber songs; and some others songs I had not heard. They were amazing, their voices were so sweet, and they were not shy at all about singing.
Frisbee is a big hit with the kids. I take it with my everywhere I go and it is so fun to play with the kids. At Ratu Rusiate we had a keep away game going where I along with two volunteers were against all the kids. The kids had a blast and once they really figured out what was going on they would grab our hands and arms to slow us down making it impossible to outrun them to the Frisbee.
A few evenings every week I go to the church and play soccer or Frisbee with other volunteers and a few of the local members. Jolie is (Cho-el-ee) is a sixteen-year-old member who is very good at soccer. He got an offer to play soccer on I think the 17 and under team to represent Fiji. He would get paid for every game he played. The games would be on Sunday. He decided that even though the pay would be really great especially for his age that he would pass on the opportunity because the games are on Sunday. What a great kid.

Photos!!

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Here are a few photos of what I'm doing here. Sorry there has not been more. I also posted a bunch on facebook.

6/15/2011
Monday was the Queen of England’s birthday so it was a national holiday and we didn’t work. Instead we went to Ba ward’s family fun day. I had a blast interacting with the ward members, playing games, running around, having water fights, watching a rugby game, and playing Frisbee. I won the cream bun eating contest. We had to race each other and then eat a cream bun as fast as we could without using our hands. Cream buns are one of my favorite foods in Fiji. It is just a roll with cream in it and it is delicious.

Yesterday, Kevin Geddes and I went to Koroipita to teach computer skills classes and the last budgeting lesson. I have fallen in love with the ladies we teach. They are so fun and I love seeing them apply the knowledge they are receiving. It makes it all worth it just to hear one story. Lani, one of the ladies we teach, who is the only one who has come to every single class. She told us yesterday that she was going over her family budget with her husband and they asked themselves where all the spare money was going. They realized that they had money but because they weren’t keeping track of it and being aware of where their money was going it would disappear. They would give their teenagers a couple of dollars here, a couple there and it would add up to a large sum, or they would spend a small amount here and a small amount there and before they knew it they wouldn’t have any extra money to go towards savings. I loved hearing that she is discussing money with her husband and really trying to use the information she is given.
6/17/2011
I had a great day today planting a garden at a local primary school near Ba. The little experience I have had with gardens was more than any of the other volunteers had for the most part. I really enjoyed plotting at a 20 by 16 foot garden that included radish, lettuce, carrots, beans, tomatoes, capsicum, and baygon (eggplant). It was hard work using pitchforks and shovels to break up so pretty hard ground. I have a few blisters to show for it. I just hope the stuff we planted grows. The kids were really fun to work with. They just love white people. Some of them are shy but love to just hang around and stare. It is pretty cute. Others are not so shy and just love interacting with us.
Simon is once such kid. He is a Fijian that actually is LDS and so I see him every week at church. His school was the one where we planted the garden today and he was so proud that he knew us and was showing off that knowledge to all his friends. He also likes me Frisbee and always asks if he can play with it whenever I am around.

6/19/2011
This Saturday was spent at Natadola on the beach by the Intercontinental Resort. We visited this beach already but the place we originally planned for was going to cost us more than we thought it would be. I enjoyed Natadola a lot. Some locals took us to a cave that their village would use to hide in during wars and raids. I also went horseback riding on the beach. It was a lot of fun although my legs got pretty scratched up because I was wearing shorts.

6/20/2011
I went to PCSS (Pacific Counseling and Social Services) today to continue cataloging their resources. I organized over 60 power point presentations into folders based on subject material. I also cataloged all the presentations in a excel spreadsheet. They are really disorganized with their resources and this will help them be able to spend less time preparing materials and more time presenting.

6/21/2011
Typing classes went well today. We downloaded a typing program onto all the computers at Koroipita and all the ladies loved it. Plus it makes our life easier because we don’t have to make up our own lesson plans. We also taught them basic things such as how to bold, underline, or italicize words and how to align things on the left, center, or right side. It is an interesting program breaking down and simplifying concepts or things that seem very simple and easy already. We have to remember how we learned to type, how we learned how to use word, how we learned to use a mouse…
It is not easy to explain or teach simple concepts, especially concepts that are so habitual or second nature. It is actually very frustrating. Fortunately progress is easy to see. I can already tell with most the ladies that they are better at using a mouse. Sometimes though the mouse will bump against the keyboard and instead of jiggling the mouse around the ladies will push the keyboard aside to make room to move the mouse over. There are no pads for the mouses (mice). The ladies are scared to mess up the computer so sometimes when they accidently click the right button on the mouse instead of the left button they will freeze up and call us over to show them that it is ok.
I played a little soccer today after work down at the LDS church with other volunteers and some local members. It was great fun and it was nice to get some exercise.

6/22/2011
I spent all day today revising and improving budgeting lessons plans, coming up with a business lesson syllabus, and working on lessons for computer classes. We realized very quickly that it is important to be prepared for lessons we have to teach. Even though we are teaching simple concepts it is hard to just wing it or teach on the spot. Plus the people we are teaching can tell if we are prepared or not.
I eat so much food here and it is starting to show. I have gained my Fiji fifteen. I know some of you think it isn’t a big deal but for about six years my weight has not fluctuated more than about seven pounds and in the month and a half that I have been in Fiji I have gained 12-15 pounds…mostly in my stomach area and my thighs. It is because I eat a ton of rice, potatoes, cassava, bread…and I do not exercise nearly enough.
In the evenings I usually play a variety of card games…spades, scum, nerts, wacky six, speed, California speed, hearts, and a few other games. A few of the volunteers want to learn Pinochle and I am the only one that knows how to play. It will be interesting because I haven’t played for over five years and I have never taught anybody let alone three somebodies. I want to teach the volunteers Muhammad’s Trump also.
Oranges are so amazing. I eat 5-7 oranges every day because that is the cheapest fruit here and it last the longest. The oranges here a little larger than Mandarin size and have green peels. They are delicious.

6/23/2011
At Koroipita I had a meeting with the orchid growers and craft ladies there to get them excited about basic business lessons we are going to start teaching them next week. The whole orchid situation is unique. The Koroipita Rotahomes model community project was contracted by South Sea Orchids (SSO) to grow the flowers. SSO provided the original baby flowers four or five years ago and basically handfed the original 16 orchid farmers with all the supplies and start up they needed…which included the plants, fertilizers, the fencing. The orchids do not belong to the residents at Koroipita but to Koroipita itself. So if a resident moves out the next resident is obligated to take over the orchids and care for them regardless of whether they want to or not. At the end of July SSO is going to pull out which means the orchid growers are going to become independent and have to do everything on their own. This could be a problem because they have been so dependent on SSO for so long plus some of the residents do not know how to care for the orchids so they get neglected. We are teaching them business lessons to lay a foundation for them and SSO is going to do a training also so that the orchid farmers know how to harvest and take care of the plants.
The craft ladies make makes to sell to tourists mainly because Koroipita gets a lot of foreign volunteers from Australia and New Zealand mainly. These business lessons will teach them about have to market their products and help them find a more unique niche. All the craft ladies, which there are about 20 total, make basically the same crafts; safety pin bracelets, cards, book marks, angel ornaments, and necklaces.

6/24/2011
Friday has turned into “manual labor Friday” which I love. We went to two schools today and planted gardens. The first school, Tagore, had already prepped the ground so we just helped the different grades plant their plot. When we got there they were having a program promoting being drug free. All the different grades presented skits that had to do with why drugs, alcohol, cava and tobacco were all bad. It was quite entertaining to watch them and it reminded me of the Red Ribbon days we would have in grade school.
The second school we planted at was the Ba Special School, which is the school they have for mentally and physically disabled kids. I loved working at this school. We had to start from scratch at this garden. We had three plots that we 3 ft by about 10 ft. We planted cabbage, French beans, raddish, carrots, and okra. Afterwards we had a great time playing soccer with all the kids. They were so adorable and fun to play with. All the kids here in Fiji just adore us. Anywhere we go they stare and smile or just stare and then the less shy ones come up and just love to shake our hands, give us high fives, and hugs.

6/26/2011
Yesterday I spent an amazing day on a spectacular hike. Alex Bickmore, Amanda Cherry, Kim Lowe, Chanae Wellar, and I went on a hike with some guys from the village Vakabuli. Amanda knew the guys from the village because she works on projects there. They took us to a stream/river that we hiked up. Kim and Amanda stopped at the first waterfall we came to but Chanae, Alex and I went to the head of the stream where the water was pretty much coming from springs. It was so awesome. The water was refreshing to swim in, the scenery was beautiful, and the guys who took us were so helpful. There were five guys that hiked with us. They literally had to lift us up some of the boulders we had to climb because they were really slippery and hard to climb. Abo, one of the guys, held my camera the majority of the way up and all the way back without getting it wet or broken. At the top we climbed a thirty or forty cliff and got to look out at a gorgeous view. The guys had to blaze a trail for us with their machete. We told them we wanted to go to the top and they said sure. We walked along the face of the cliff for a bit and came to a vine and they said that is how they got up. We all looked at each other and then were like “uh-uh.” There was no way we could climb that without out getting hurt or seriously injured so instead the guys just made a trail for us.
We were exhausted and starving by the time we got back but it was so worth. We might go again but horseback riding.
6/28/2011
We started business classes today at Koroipita. Not as many people showed up as I had hoped but the ones there seemed to enjoy the first class.
The ladies there are so nice. I was asking about where I could find a Fiji rugby jersey and how much it would cost. They were telling me the good places to go and were saying that if I went by myself the store owner would charge $30 because I am white. They said if I went with one of them they could get a jersey for me for about $18. They are always looking out for and trying to make sure I don’t get ripped off. They are constantly telling me if I ever take a taxi to make sure the driver starts the meter so they don’t charge ridiculous amounts.
A week ago it was officially winter here and yesterday it actually felt like it. I had to bust out my jeans for the first time sense I have been here. I wore a long-sleeve shirt and a zip up sweatshirt. I even used my sheet when I slept at night. It rained all day yesterday and it was chilly.

5/27/2011
I had a rather fun time today. Fiji has implemented a program called the “Yellow Ribbon Project” to help inmates transition back into society. It involves the inmates, families, and communities working together. Today in Ba this program was started and we went to watch the ceremonies and performances. It was actually a lot of fun. The Fijian military band played and did some marching. The best part was that some inmates from the Ba prison did a traditional Fijian warrior dance and some other dances. Then, they pulled four girl HELP volunteers, me included, out to dance in front of everyone. That is the second time I have danced in Fiji now, which is two more times than I have done it in the USA. Fiji does odd things to me. It was great fun though. A simple Fiji dance that I have done twice now is to do the train, switching directions a few times, and then everyone getting in a line and just doing a little stepping and then waving a hand in the air. I enjoyed it. The inmates were fun and the crowd loved seeing us white girls out there dancing.
5/29/2011
I really enjoyed yesterday. I went with five other HELP volunteers, Mallory, Thomas, Zac, Chanea Weller, and Natalie to Natadolo beach, which is between Nadi and Sigatoka where we met up with seven other volunteers who came later. We played on the beach by the Inter-Continental Resort, a super nice resort. I had a blast exploring the beach and body surfing. There were some great waves to body surf. It was so awesome. The whole day cost me $26.50 FJD so about $16 USD, not a bad day at all.. Then, we got back into Ba just as the sunset. We walked home and it started down pouring and the group I was with didn’t have a key so we took a shower in the rain, in our swimsuits while tossing a Frisbee around. The power also went out for about an hour. It was an adventure. The great thing about Fiji is that even when it rains it is warm. The rain water is warmer than our shower water.
I have a record for number of people in a taxi. I was in a 5-seater taxi with 7 other people from the house into Ba Town, so about two miles maybe. I have been in a 16-seater minibus with 19 other adults. I need to count one time on a bus because I am pretty sure those go over the limit quite often, especially at night when people are trying to get home.
Transportation in Fiji is an adventure. I rode in a carrier yesterday from where the bus dropped us off down to the beach. A carrier is a small, little 2-seater pick-up that has a canopy-type cover over the top of the bed, with wooden benches that line the two sides. I think I have now been in every type of vehicle that is used for transportation here in Fiji. I have used the taxi, the mini-bus, regular bus, express bus, and a carrier. The regular and express buses are the same is style. Express buses are quicker because they don’t usually stop in between towns. Regular buses will stop anytime a passenger pulls the cord to ring the bell. The buses vary in comfort and style though. Some just have wooden benches with a little padding, other have individual seats with higher back rests. The bus we traveled in from Lautoka to Natadola was super nice and new, had air conditioning and played a movie for us. Almost all the buses play music. Most bus drivers mixed cds that usually have the same 10-15 songs. My theme song for this summer is “Fireworks” by R. Kelly. I usually hear it playing at least twice a day and sometimes more. Brandi had one of the bus drivers burn her a copy of his cd and “Fireworks” was every other track just remixed a little differently each time. Here in Fiji they play American music but usually they songs are remixed with some cool beats. I have heard quite a few Celine Dion songs remixed, although they usually play hip-hop and the closest they get to country is Taylor Swift. I want to get the “Fireworks” song. If the bus driver has the radio on then there is a little more variety in the music.
I can’t believe I am 22 years old and I got to celebrate my birthday in Fiji. A few of the girls in the house put together a nice, small celebration for me. Instead of making me a cake they made me a fruit plate. It was perfect and totally fit me. One reason they didn’t make a cake is because we don’t have an oven and I also mentioned that I prefer fruit to cake so it all worked out. They also requested that our cook, Miya, make fried rice for dinner because I really like it and she did. During Sunday School I went to the front of the room while they sang “Happy Birthday” to me. The Fijians have a second verse that says “Happy long life to you” that goes to the same tune as “Happy Birthday.” It was a great birthday. I enjoyed relaxing and chillin. It was nice of Lex Hatch and Brandi and the others to get me the fruit and ask Miya to cook something I like.
5/30/2011
I went with two other HELP volunteers to FRIEND Fiji today. FRIEND Fiji is a local ngo that goes to villages around Lautoka and Ba to help these communities develop plans to improve. FRIEND teaches about six modules on community governance that includes doing a needs assessment, prioritizing needs, then planning the steps it will take to help lower the needs. Usually FRIEND will start with the easiest or simplest need and work towards the hardest one so that villages can see improvement. The village we went to was doing community rubbish clean up. They have burn piles for the burnable rubbish and pits for metal and glass. We helped pick up a bit around the settlements and also see how their trash system was working. Some had made rubbish piles right by the river which is not good because it can get in there because the soil erodes, the bank collapses and the rubbish ends up in the water.
5/31/2011
I taught my third computer skills class at Koroipita today. It went well. We had the ladies go onto “paint” and just play around because some of them really struggle with controlling the mouse. A few are very quick learners and do well with the stuff we are teaching them but others are very slow learners and can’t even keep up when we only teach a few new things a day.
The budgeting class was a littler smaller today but still great because I could spend more one on one time with them. We went over how to find out yearly income based off of how much they made monthly or weekly. I would ask them how to find out the yearly income if they made $150 weekly and had to explain that you multiply it by 52. Some of them struggled with this concept but I think by the end of the session they understood more. It is hard to give examples because I am still figuring out the amount of money to work with. Some of these women have a husband who makes $80 FJD a week and that is their total income for their family. That translates to an income of about $2500 USD a year. Granted their standard of living is a lot lower than in America it is still crazy to think I make more doing a summer job than they do in a year. It puts things in perspective. I hope these budgeting classes help them know how to use their money wisely.
6/5/2011
I could fall from 10,000 feet above earth at 120 mph every day. It is so amazing to see the earth from up there and then to come dropping down and have the parachute come out and float down the rest of the way. It is completely awesome and just incredible. I loved every second of it; the plane ride up and amazing view, the 30 second free fall, the five minute parachute ride, the landing. It was just amazing. I wish it wasn’t so dang expensive so I could do it more often. I went with Rachel Anderson, Kerali, Sara Stanger, Alyssa Zundel, Rohit Chaudhary, and Brandi. We stayed the night in a hostel by Smuggler’s Cove in Nadi the night before. Then we sky dived Saturday morning and early afternoon. I paired up with Alyssa and she was the first one out of the little plane and I dropped ten seconds later with my partner. It was such a blast. I had a permanent smile the entire plane ride, sky dive, and landing. My cheeks started quivering ten minutes into the plane ride. Afterwards we all went to Denerau Island, a touristy place to eat at LuLu’s. I spent too much money on a really good burrito.
I continue to teach at Koroipita on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I really enjoy teaching the ladies. Some of them really enjoy the budgeting classes and the math that is involved. I hope they use the knowledge to help themselves out. With development work, especially sustainable work, you don’t always get to see right off the fruits of your labor. You just have to have faith that what you are doing is making a positive difference in at least one person’s life. It can be overwhelming realizing how much work has to do done and knowing that you won’t be able to do all of it or even a small portion of it. That being said, you can always make a difference if you try hard enough. Someone is always looking for help and sometimes you’re the help they need.

6/7/2011
We are partnering with an organization called Pacific Counseling and Social Services (PCSS) now. I am starting to work on several projects with them. One includes cataloging their resources. They do a lot of community and village outreach. Instead of having their resources, programs, and modules in a central location where all can access it on a shared drive, each individual will make their own presentation on each topic. I am helping them organize all this material onto a shared drive so they can spend less time preparing and more time doing outreach.
I taught at Koroipita today. The computer classes are going well. It is still very frustrating sometimes but rewarding at the same time. I am really learning how to simplify things I already thought were simple. I hope that the women are internalizing the knowledge I am giving them.
6/12/2011
This week went by so fast. I can’t believe it is Sunday already. I helped with a medical screening at Koroipita on Wednesday. A few of the HELP volunteers are medical students and wanted to get some experience. I helped record data while the other HELP volunteers checked their blood pressure, blood sugar level, calculated their BMI, and gave basic advice on their health based off this information. Diabetes is a big problem in Fiji. There were about 50 people who came to the health screening. Quite a few of them had high blood pressure. Of course the HELP volunteers weren’t doctors so they couldn’t diagnose the people but would strongly advise them to seek medical help if they had high blood pressure or stuff.
Zac and I taught at Koroipita on Thursday and then right after that we met up with other HELP volunteers in Lautoka to head to Suva for the weekend to visit the temple. A five hour bus ride later (that distance-wise was only about 140 km), we get to Suva. Suva is a lot different than Ba or Lautoka. It is actually a small city. Walking in neighborhoods in Suva is like walking in neighborhoods in a place like La or as one of the other volunteers said like being in Miami. In Ba everything closes at 6 when it gets dark. In Suva things are still happening when it is dark and stores are open. It just has a different feel to it than Ba.
I had an awesome weekend in Fiji. We stayed right across the parking lot from the Suva temple in temple housing. On Friday we spent the day in downtown Suva going to the flea market and doing some shopping for legit Fijian souvenirs. That evening we went to an YSA dance, I know I seem be involved in a lot of dances in Fiji.
Saturday was once of my favorite days I have had in Fiji. The morning started off awesome because I got to do baptisms in the temple. It had been two months since I had last gone to the temple which was the longest amount of time not going to temple for close to two years. It felt so great to been in the temple. After the temple we went to Colo, Suva to hike to some waterfalls and go swimming in the pools below them. It was one of the most gorgeous hikes I have ever been on if not the most gorgeous. The trail just followed a river as it descended down a mountain. There were close to 15 waterfalls, most of them about 10-15 tall. It was so beautiful. The forest was so luscious, green, and pristine. I loved it. I got to swim in refreshingly cool water. The hike was just awe-inspiring. After hiking at Colo, Suva we went to dinner at a missionary couple’s house. Kerali, a HELP volunteer, knows them from back home and they invited us to dinner. We had taco salad and I loved the beef. I don’t get much meat here, a little chicken, a little fish, and some canned mutton every once in a while. I am missing beef and red meat.
6/13/2011
It was a national holiday today in Fiji so we didn't work. Instead we went to the Ba ward's family fun day. I had a blast. We played some games, like eat a cream bun as fast as possible, sack races, and carve the coconut as fast as possible.I finally got to play some good games of ultimate frisbee. The Fijians had a fun time learning it although at times they didn't quite understand the no running with the frisbee rule but they figured it out eventually. We also watched a rugby game between Ba and Tavua. Rugby is a rough game. There were a few punches thrown, a guy came off bleeding profusely, and several tackles just looked painful.