Chaco Lines and Veilomani Boys Home

My main project so far has been working at the Veilomani Boys Home here in Ba. There are about 38 boys there (ages 13-20) who are all drop-outs. They come to school from 8:00-3:30 where they learn auto mechanics, beekeeping and the like. HELP International comes in and teaches English and math from 10:30-12:00 Monday – Wednesday. We’re not able to take pictures there so I don’t have any pictures to post. I’m taking on the project of developing a curriculum for them because they don’t have any curriculum whatsoever (at the moment we just teach whatever we want). We’ve split the “boys” up into two classes based on ability and I teach the lower level class Monday – Wednesday. I like it a lot, I have to say.

Anyway, I just thought I’d update a little bit on what I’m up to. I have officially gotten a chaco tan line from wearing my chacos every day. They’re the best. I love wearing socks but there is no way on this earth I could handle wearing socks here. A boy from the school also drew me this picture.

Snorkeling

This weekend 8 of us went snorkeling in VoliVoli. We left at about 6:00 am (I know, be shocked that I was ready that early) took a bus to RakiRaki where John, who was a Peace Corps volunteer back in the day, met up with us. John came in contact with HELP International last year and offered to take volunteers out on his boat snorkeling. Three groups of volunteers took him up on it last year and two groups of us have been so far this year. John took us out on his boat, took us to rent snorkel gear, and then we went to this amazing reef in the middle of the ocean. I’ve never been snorkeling before (or on a real boat) so it was quite the experience. Breathing through my mouth definitely took some getting used to but once I got the hang of it, it was really fun. We had great visibility and I felt like I was in Finding Nemo.

We spent about an hour in the first location and then went to an island to do some more snorkeling and hang out on the beach. We were the only ones there and it felt like a cool mixture of Lost, Survivor, and Pirates of the Caribbean. The only part I didn’t like was when we had to swim back to the shore through low tide. I have never felt so claustrophobic in my entire – the reef was seriously right under us. That night we had dinner at the VoliVoli resort. They pretty much only served burgers and fish and that was my first time having beef since I’ve been here.

All in all it was a great day trip away from the house. It was an amazing experience and wasn’t even that expensive - $40 for travel, snorkel gear, and dinner. Not too bad!

Week One

I’ve made it through my entire first week (actually a couple days over) and I’ve been able to volunteer with a variety of projects. I volunteered at Gold Foundation (an NGO in Lautoka) where we helped them create posters to advertize for their biggest fundraising event in July. I tutored at the Ba Boys Home a couple nights this week, went with the Ministry of Health to a local primary school (they typically teach classes about basic health but when I went they were distributing medication to the kids in the school), and planted the garden at the school. I’m hoping to find one project I can really latch onto but for now I’m still kind of figuring out where exactly that will be.

Gardening

Today we went to a local primary school to plant a garden. Gardens here are part of the curriculum so the kids work on the gardens on a regular basis when one exists at the school. The kids are always so excited to see us and they love to touch our arms so they can touch our white skin. You know how you can press down on your arm and when you lift your fingers up you can see your fingerprints? Well, they think this is the funniest thing ever and love to randomly come up to you and do it to your skin.

They also love photos and liked to ask me to take their picture and then let them see it on the screen. The picture of my with the three boys is one of my favorite pictures so far. The boy closest to me is in our ward and today was his birthday! His name is Simeona. The other picture is of the group after the garden was finished. It was a lot of hard work and I had to take lots of breaks but we were able to plant a lot – carrots, beans, lettuce, cabbage, eggplant, and tomatoes. Hopefully they’ll keep it up and be able to eat from what they planted.

Ba Ward Family Fun Day

I made it to Fiji!!! I’ve already gotten my first sunburn, been to a Fijian market, taken numerous cold showers, eaten ground lamb from a can (along with curry, roti, and Indian sweets), and taken a bunch of buses.

We arrived in Fiji at 5:10 am and made it back to our pink house at about 8:30.



The day was spent going into town to go grocery shopping and relaxing. Sunday we went to church in the Ba ward. Our group pretty much doubles (maybe triples) the number of people who regularly attend and we’re pretty much the only people who participate. I’m not sure what goes on in the Primary but pretty much all the little kids just run outside the whole time (every single one of them is seriously so cute). It’s technically winter here so people wear long pants and wrap their babies in blankets and hats. I can’t even believe it because it is so incredibly hot!!!







Monday was a holiday because it was the Queen’s birthday. Even though Fiji is no longer a British colony they still celebrate the holiday. The ward had a Family Fun Day which we went to. The activities were pretty similar to what wards would do in the states. We played volleyball and had different races (sack races, banana eating contests, cream bun eating contests, and coconut scraping contests). The coconut scraping contest was interesting. I tried to do it and one of the Fijians on my team couldn’t handle how slow I was so he told me to step aside….The picture shows the tool they use to scrap out the coconut. You sit on the wooden part and put the bowl on the ground to catch the shavings. Anyway, once they had scraped out the coconut they mixed it with water and sugar to make coconut milk and then they dip bread in it. They call this “refreshment” (which we would call dessert). It was actually pretty delightful. I’m not the biggest fan of soggy bread but it was really sweet and delicious. The bread here is amazing.

Our house doesn’t really have mirrors. I mean, there are a couple but they’re in awkward spots so I never see myself. This is a plus – I look disgusting.

Day One

Ok, so technically I won't get to Fiji until tomorrow morning but today is the start of the long expedition over there. I'll actually end up missing out on most of Friday, June 10th because it gets lost in the time change. The trip today consists of flying from Portland to Salt Lake, Salt Lake to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Nadi, Fiji. My flight from L.A. to Fiji is about 11 hours long and then we have a glorious two hour bus ride to get to Ba. All in all I think it will end up being about 23 hours of traveling. Fun times. I arrive in Fiji at 5:11 am, so after already being up for an entire day, I get to be up for another one! I've never been able to sleep on planes but here's hoping today is a first.

Everything's all packed up and I'm ready to go for the most part. The garage sale was a success in that I exceeded the amount of money I wanted to earn; however, I don't think I will ever do another one. It was a lot more work than I was expecting and just a little too stressful to really be worth it.

I do have a mailing address if anyone feels so inclined to send me something.
P.O. Box 800
Ba
Fiji
And with an address like that, I'd say there's a one in a million chance it will actually get to me. If that.

Fiji here I come!!

One week from today!!

Well, I had my final check-out with HELP International this week so I've officially done everything they want me to do before I leave. I flew home from Provo today so I get to spend a little time in Vancouver before the big adventure. The next week will be spent stuffing my face, enjoying not being sweaty, driving around, taking hot showers, and sleeping in my own room! Oh, the luxuries.

I will also be doing a lot of last minute stuff and getting everything ready. On Saturday we're having a garage sale as one final fundraising effort. I've never had a garage sale before so I don't really know what to expect but I've decided to take Kristin's advice and have low expectations. That way, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Right?

I'd say my pre-trip feelings are pretty typical and what I expected. You know, moments of sheer panic when I wonder why in the world I signed up for this; moments of worrying about random things like if the shampoo I'm bringing is considered "sweet" smelling; moments of excitement, etc. Mostly, I'm ready to be done with the anticipation and just be there!