Anyway, here are some pictures:
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Suva!
I went to Suva this weekend with Mallory, another volunteer, to do some work in the deaf schools. I went for the weekend and had an amazing time! Suva is about a 6 hour bus ride from Ba and it’s kind of the devil to get there but definitely worth it. Ba is so small, it was a little weird to be in an actual city. Suva is beautiful though and right on the water. I went to a handicraft market and got a cool bracelet, went to the temple, ate lunch on the waterfront, got 50 cent ice cream, learned the alphabet in Fiji Sign Language (it’s completely different from ASL – it uses two hands instead of one), got my very own name sign, went to a church dance (yeah….2 ½ hours long. Let’s not talk about it.), went to both an English ward and a Fijian ward (where I didn’t understand a single thing), wandered around the USP campus, and helped at a activity/sports day for all the local special education and deaf schools. All in all it was a great weekend. It was nice to be able to take a break from the routine in Ba and to be in a house with only 5 other people! I also got to try a lot more Fijian food – which I think I might like more than Indian food (minus the fish).
Anyway, here are some pictures:
Anyway, here are some pictures:
Ba, Koroipita, and Tavua Carnival
Here’s good ol’ Ba town. Try not to be too jealous. It’s such a happening place….it completely shuts down at about 6:00. I go into town to buy groceries and to take buses/mini buses other places. That’s about it.
I went to Koroipita last week with Stefka to help teach computer and business classes. Koroipita is a model community that rents houses for $1 a day to people who can’t afford to own their own homes. Hundreds of people apply to live there. Anyway, the computer classes were so interesting because a lot of them have never even touched a computer before. Teaching them how to coordinate the mouse and everything can be a challenge. They tend to freak out whenever they get any unexpected whatsoever. A typical solution in Fiji is to just turn off the computer and start over. Here’s a picture of their little computer room:
The Tavua carnival was last week (July 6-9) and it was the big fundraiser for the Gold Foundation. It started on a Thursday but I don’t think all the booths were set up until about Friday afternoon. Typical Fiji! Anyway, they had a stage and entertainment every night. Some of the HELP volunteers performed (I luckily dodged that bullet by having no performable talents!) and there were lots of dancing numbers from local schools/church groups. They even had a couple rides set up – you know, those big blow up contraptions that kids can climb around, the shiftiest version of a rocket ride I’ve ever seen (kind of like Dumbo in Disneyland…but only in terms of general concept), and a fast ferris wheel. I opted out of any of the mentioned death traps. But here are some pictures!
I went to Koroipita last week with Stefka to help teach computer and business classes. Koroipita is a model community that rents houses for $1 a day to people who can’t afford to own their own homes. Hundreds of people apply to live there. Anyway, the computer classes were so interesting because a lot of them have never even touched a computer before. Teaching them how to coordinate the mouse and everything can be a challenge. They tend to freak out whenever they get any unexpected whatsoever. A typical solution in Fiji is to just turn off the computer and start over. Here’s a picture of their little computer room:
The Tavua carnival was last week (July 6-9) and it was the big fundraiser for the Gold Foundation. It started on a Thursday but I don’t think all the booths were set up until about Friday afternoon. Typical Fiji! Anyway, they had a stage and entertainment every night. Some of the HELP volunteers performed (I luckily dodged that bullet by having no performable talents!) and there were lots of dancing numbers from local schools/church groups. They even had a couple rides set up – you know, those big blow up contraptions that kids can climb around, the shiftiest version of a rocket ride I’ve ever seen (kind of like Dumbo in Disneyland…but only in terms of general concept), and a fast ferris wheel. I opted out of any of the mentioned death traps. But here are some pictures!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Week Three
This is an old post that never got posted. I'll try to get an update soon but I've been super busy with projects and internship assignments and going to Suva! Pictures to come also.
Week Three
I’m a little over halfway done! I can hardly believe it. I thought I’d give an update on how the projects are going that I’m working on.
Veilomani Boys Home: I teach Monday – Thursday for 1 ½ hours rotating between English and math. This project didn’t have a lot of structure before I took over as project lead. Basically, volunteers would just go and teach from a workbook or just hang out with the boys there. It’s a little crazy that the people in charge of there don’t really care what we teach or what we do for the hour and a half that we’re there. That hour and a half is the only “traditional” learning any of them get (i.e. they don’t learn English or math any other way). There’s one person who taught before HELP International came but he also teaches automotives and is currently getting his master’s degree so he kind of considers basic English and math his lowest priority. It’s pretty unfortunate because some of these kids don’t know how to read or do basic math, let alone write letters or read numbers. The school is a two year trade school so my ultimate goal is to get the teacher back in the classroom and to create a two year curriculum to help guide him with what he should be teaching. I think our volunteers would be most helpful as one-on-one tutors for those who struggle the most (and typically get lost in the crowd….getting moved on without learning anything). I have an outline of this curriculum and am just waiting to meet with the head person over there to re-negotiate our roles.
Gardening: This is a project I’m in charge of but it’s something I’ve had a lot of fun doing. So far I’ve been to three schools to help them plant their gardens and I’ve been back to one school to teach nutrition classes. It’s a lot of fun to be able to interact one-on-one with the kids and to do some manual labor. A lot of the work we do involves researching or partnering with existing NGO’s to make them better – so any chance we get to just hang out with the local people is a lot of fun.
Fundraising: One way our volunteers have noticed we can help is to assist organizations in their fundraising efforts. For example, the Ba School for Special Education has an insanely small budget – especially for the needs the school has. They rely a ton on sponsors and donations to just keep going. One of our volunteers, Darcy, has decided to have a Walkathon to help fundraise money for the school. I’m teaming up with Darcy to help with preparation for the event (it’s on July 30 so I won’t actually get to be there). Another fundraiser is for Gold Foundation. I think I’ve talked about it a little bit before. Gold is an NGO that exists to “help the poor and needy of Tavua.” They host a carnival every year where they fundraise 80% of their money. The carnival this coming week so all of us are going to be helping out there.
Those are the main projects I’m working on at the moment. I like the tag along on other projects every once in a while to mix things up.
Week Three
I’m a little over halfway done! I can hardly believe it. I thought I’d give an update on how the projects are going that I’m working on.
Veilomani Boys Home: I teach Monday – Thursday for 1 ½ hours rotating between English and math. This project didn’t have a lot of structure before I took over as project lead. Basically, volunteers would just go and teach from a workbook or just hang out with the boys there. It’s a little crazy that the people in charge of there don’t really care what we teach or what we do for the hour and a half that we’re there. That hour and a half is the only “traditional” learning any of them get (i.e. they don’t learn English or math any other way). There’s one person who taught before HELP International came but he also teaches automotives and is currently getting his master’s degree so he kind of considers basic English and math his lowest priority. It’s pretty unfortunate because some of these kids don’t know how to read or do basic math, let alone write letters or read numbers. The school is a two year trade school so my ultimate goal is to get the teacher back in the classroom and to create a two year curriculum to help guide him with what he should be teaching. I think our volunteers would be most helpful as one-on-one tutors for those who struggle the most (and typically get lost in the crowd….getting moved on without learning anything). I have an outline of this curriculum and am just waiting to meet with the head person over there to re-negotiate our roles.
Gardening: This is a project I’m in charge of but it’s something I’ve had a lot of fun doing. So far I’ve been to three schools to help them plant their gardens and I’ve been back to one school to teach nutrition classes. It’s a lot of fun to be able to interact one-on-one with the kids and to do some manual labor. A lot of the work we do involves researching or partnering with existing NGO’s to make them better – so any chance we get to just hang out with the local people is a lot of fun.
Fundraising: One way our volunteers have noticed we can help is to assist organizations in their fundraising efforts. For example, the Ba School for Special Education has an insanely small budget – especially for the needs the school has. They rely a ton on sponsors and donations to just keep going. One of our volunteers, Darcy, has decided to have a Walkathon to help fundraise money for the school. I’m teaming up with Darcy to help with preparation for the event (it’s on July 30 so I won’t actually get to be there). Another fundraiser is for Gold Foundation. I think I’ve talked about it a little bit before. Gold is an NGO that exists to “help the poor and needy of Tavua.” They host a carnival every year where they fundraise 80% of their money. The carnival this coming week so all of us are going to be helping out there.
Those are the main projects I’m working on at the moment. I like the tag along on other projects every once in a while to mix things up.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Hiking
On Saturday (the 24th), Stefka, Alex, Amanda, Chenae and I went to Vatabuli (a village about an hour north of Ba) to go hiking. The hike was only about 45 minutes but it took a while because it was seriously like bushwhacking. A group of local Fijians offered to take us on the hike and they walked ahead to machete the all the brush to clear a little path for us. They all walked barefoot and were more surefooted and faster than all of us. It was quite the experience. We hiked to a waterfall which was delightful because the water helped to cool us down. The waterfall wasn’t super impressive (you know, comparing it to the Columbia River Gorge) but it was fun to relax on the rocks by the waterfall and just hang out, swim, etc. Some people even jumped off the rocks above the waterfall (not me though since I’m afraid of heights). The local people claim that if you haven’t been to this waterfall, you haven’t really been to Fiji. They call the area “the real Fiji.” I have to admit, it’s fun to not feel too much like a tourist (although, we still stick out like nobody’s business). It was a fun day and another cheap day trip away from Ba. We got back at about 6:00 pm but it felt like it was 10:00 or 11:00 because it starts to get dark about 5:30.
Stefka, Alex, me
The Gang at the waterfall. Stefka is on my right, Amanda’s on my left, Chenae and Alex are up on the rocks and our tour guides are by the waterfall.
Some people jumped from the rocks.
The water seriously felt so good. Warm enough to be comfortable but cool enough to cool us down.
Stefka, Alex, me
The Gang at the waterfall. Stefka is on my right, Amanda’s on my left, Chenae and Alex are up on the rocks and our tour guides are by the waterfall.
Some people jumped from the rocks.
The water seriously felt so good. Warm enough to be comfortable but cool enough to cool us down.
Gardens
Friday (the 23rd), we went gardening at the schools again. This time we went to Tagore Memorial Primary School and the Ba School for Special Education. Planting at Tagore was pretty quick because they had the ground all ready for us but at Ba Special we had to break up the dirt and everything. The kids helped us and were hard workers. There was one girl (I never learned her name) who had Down Syndrome who was so friendly with everyone. She kept coming up to me and giving me hugs and kissing my shirt. If only she had known how much sweat was soaked up in that shirt….
As a side note…it has been raining a lot recently and on Monday it was actually cold! I borrowed someone’s sweatshirt and had a blanket. I never thought I would get cold here (and so I didn’t pack anything to get warm). It’s one quick way to appreciate warm showers!
As a side note…it has been raining a lot recently and on Monday it was actually cold! I borrowed someone’s sweatshirt and had a blanket. I never thought I would get cold here (and so I didn’t pack anything to get warm). It’s one quick way to appreciate warm showers!
Tea
People here love to drink tea and they all take tea at their jobs (usually around 10:30 in the morning). “Tea” here pretty much refers to anything they drink besides water. Whenever we go gardening at the schools, they serve us tea – which is always juice and these fried balls of something (I don’t know what they are but they have little pieces of green stuff in them and they’re much better when they’re hot). Their juice really is quite delightful. I’ve never had Tang but I’ve seen a lot of Tang packages here so I’m wondering if that’s the type of juice it is. Sometimes they also serve us lunch. Anyway, the pace here is pretty slow – which can be good and bad.
Buses
One of my favorite things is riding the buses. It’s so nice because most of them don’t have windows (and if they do, the windows are always open) so the breeze cools me down in between going places. Everywhere is pretty and peaceful so it’s so nice to just sit on the bus and look out the window. I mean, we’re talking rickety buses here so I guess “peaceful” isn’t necessarily the best word for the actual bus experience because it sounds like the bus is going to fall apart at any second. They also blast American music. It’s funny because that’s pretty much all they play and everyone knows ALL the words! We say “Justin Bieber” and they immediately start singing “Baby, Baby, Baby oh….” Who knew?
There are a couple different form so f transportation here. We usually take the bus but there are also mini buses (basically just big vans) and taxis. Mini buses are usually faster because they wait until they’re full and then they don’t stop. The downside is that you sit RIGHT next to each other so it can be slightly uncomfortable. A bus to town costs 70 cents and a bus to a place like Lautoka or Tavua (both about an hour away) is two dollars.
It’s funny because there aren’t really bus stops here. People just wait on the side of the road and wait for someone to come by and pick them up. The same goes for getting off the bus – you ring the bell and get off when you want.
There are a couple different form so f transportation here. We usually take the bus but there are also mini buses (basically just big vans) and taxis. Mini buses are usually faster because they wait until they’re full and then they don’t stop. The downside is that you sit RIGHT next to each other so it can be slightly uncomfortable. A bus to town costs 70 cents and a bus to a place like Lautoka or Tavua (both about an hour away) is two dollars.
It’s funny because there aren’t really bus stops here. People just wait on the side of the road and wait for someone to come by and pick them up. The same goes for getting off the bus – you ring the bell and get off when you want.
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