While in town I did get to talk to my Bestie, Kate! It was so good to hear from you and all about your new job! Congrats!
Early Childhood Education Week
Natalie's village kindergarten.
Lisa's village kindergarten.
We helped with the facepainting booth. What a brilliant idea!
Friday I went with my kindergarten to a local Primary School for Early Childhood Education Week. Last Saturday, in Suva, I saw a huge gathering of parents, kids, and kindergartens at a local park having a blast playing games and watching entertainment. I thought ours would be something like that since it was for about 20 kindergartens, but no, there were no games, only about 3 schools performed, and the children were actually quite bored. I wish it had turned out to be a “fun” event, but I guess it was good for the kids to get out of the village setting and see other children their age.
Lots of kindy kids show up for Early Childhood Education Week
Yummy, milk pops.
The rain comes and goes.
Fundraising Event
My Bubu Moli traveling down memory road.
Attended in 1935 - 1945 They were so cute!
Saturday was filled with our local Primary School’s Fundraising Event. Their 75th anniversary! People came from all of the surrounding villages, plus all over Fiji, and possibly a few from overseas. The old scholars lined up behind a sign that revealed the years they went to the school. It was so cute to see the 1935-1945 group marching around the circle, several of them getting assistance from classmates. Towards the end of the line were the children currently at the school. Pretty neat! So the fundraising (soli) brought in approximately 10,800 F$. The school was elated!
The students and some alumni performed meke. It was quite entertaining.
Giving their hard earned money to help the next generation.
They are currently trying to add an extra classroom so that students can spend Form 3 and Form 4 (grades 9 and 10) at the school as well, thus helping those who do not have enough money or family living in a city where the secondary schools are located. They are also wanting to build a new two story dormitory for all boarding students as the current facilities are made out of bamboo siding and are quickly deteriorating.
Lydia and I. Both of our villages are on the coast and our village's children have class together!
The current students marching along.
Sunday Fun Day
Lydia came over for Sunday Fun Day. Because everything is “not allowed” on Sundays, she and I are going to try to get together and make fun! So during our first Sunday Fun Day we headed to a nearby settlement and my white sandy beach. From about 2 PM to 6 PM we were hiking around the next bay over, admiring orchids and rock formations, eating stewed pumpkin leaves, slurping scavenged papaya with sun bleached shells, and chit chatting with the locals. Being a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji is just too easy.
Eventually Lydia went back to her village and I was left alone to finish the second Harry Potter book and start on the third. Slowly, but surely, I will get through the series.
Chronicles of a Fijian Life
Sorry I have not received my camera in the mail yet, so I will be telling a short documentary this week.
The HIV Tattoo.
The boys in the village feel that it is necessary to give themselves tattoos. This is all fine and dandy until you see the needle used to permanently mark themselves with their aspirations and screw ups. Here we have a typical Fijian tattoo machine. It consists of a sewing needle, a piece of this wire, a pen without the ink tube or the end cap, some tape, a button, two wires, and a piece of copper. Now, if it were me I would never have been able to come up with this kind of contraption. For the youth Fijians, I think they are naturally mechanically minded and destructive.
So the boys connect three D batteries, end to end, then connect the red wire to the (+) end and the black to the (-) end, the button starts turning, causing the needle to move rapidly up and down as well as side to side. The boys press it to their skin and wait for the blood to start oozing. My main concern, sharing needles is no joke. HIV was non-existent in Fiji about 10 years ago and is now spreading rapidly with a lack of education, high sexual activity, and limited access to condoms. No wonder Peace Corps has a large impact in Fiji, our health sector has a lot of basic information that the Fijians have not yet been taught.
Weighing Cocoa Beans on the beach
Visited Lisa
Uniforms travel to the interior, the awefully long bus ride to Lisa's village
Lisa making a Rocket Stove... let's see if it works!
No comments:
Post a Comment