I finally received my official invitation! Time to celebrate! and be crazy sick to my stomach! I am nervous, excited, sad to leave my mom, sis, dad, Lex, Wil, and all my amazing friends! But hey, I am headed to FIJI! I will be leaving May 19, hopefully a day after I get back from Ireland if all goes well! I don't have too many details except that I am in the Integrated Environmental Resource Management Project and my title is Environmental Resource Management Promoter... whatever that entails! My activities may include: Teaching conservation concepts to adult and youth populations that support environmental education projects that are active in communities; conducting environmental impact studies; monitoring, accessing, and evaluating coral reefs, mangroves, and the upland forest; improving the technical skills of staff at governmental agencies and introducing new information, methods and ideas regarding natural resource conservation; assisting with the planning and administering of locally managed marine protected areas and forest reserves; providing disaster preparedness and mitigation training in local communities; assisting local and outside agencies in meeting their goals through improved planning and organizational development, monitoring, and reporting; designing sustainable marine tourism training programs to increase the number of Fijians trained in marine tourism and ensuring an environmentally sustainable industry; and last but not least, building the capacity of community members - especially youth and women - in effective and environmentally sound ecotourism and other income-generating activities. Wow. All of that sounds exciting! Put me to work!
Some minor facts about Fiji:
It is 17 hours ahead of Central Time (so we are almost the first country to see the dawn of each new day!)
The population of Fiji is mostly made up of native Fijians (54%), who are mainly of Melanesian descent, and Indo-Fijians (38%), descendants of Indian contract laborers brought to the Islands by the British in the nineteenth century.
Fiji consists of 322 islands (only 106 are inhabited) and 522 smaller islets.
87% of the population lives on only 2 islands: Viti Levu and Vanua Levu
The country is mountainous and covered with tropical forests with animals ranging from parrots and iguanas to blue ribbon eels and freckle face blennies (See why I love animals that come from the Sea... where else do you see cool names like that?).
Well, I better get to bed! Kate is coming in the morning to go to Trade Day and a winery! I am soooo excited! Everyone will be getting a card in the mail of where they can send me care packages! ;) Much love!
