Two Weeks in Short Spurts

Brilliant frangipani flower.
My beautiful beach, just a 10 minutes stroll from my house.
The view through our "ship" rock formation. This is one of the places I go when I want to meditate.

Kara Comes to Visit

I am working on inviting everyone from my area to visit my village. Kara, who got here at the same time as me last year, finally made her debut. We had a blast hiking the waterfalls, snorkeling my reefs, and eating my Yaca’s (Y-ah-th-ah) famous dhal soup. I took a few honey bee pictures up at the waterfall. About a year ago from today I was visiting these falls for the first time and one of these little suckers stung me on my big toe. They sure are beautiful though.
The honey bees drinking fresh water flowing over the rocks from the large waterfall.

Miss Hibiscus and Festival

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This past week I headed down to Suva for a medical check-up and the Hibiscus Festival. It was a good trip. A little busy doing other people’s work, but I enjoyed sitting up front and center at the Hibiscus Queen talent show.
I brought Filo along and she is seriously considering entering next year! How exciting would that be!
The Hibiscus Festival is the largest festival in Fiji, but doesn’t even come close to a small town fair in America. Everything here is just miniature compared to developed nations.













Fijian Raka (Rugby)

On my way back up to the village I stopped at a 7s Game at a local primary school. I had three teams from my area competing against 30 other teams from around Fiji. Lydia joined me in watching the boys fight to the finish.
One of my teams.
My favorite boys.

The boys from my village split up into teams from nearby villages, so out of my three teams, two made it to the semifinals. I am so proud of them! Considering they only practiced for two weeks leading up to the tournament, they did well!
See the cow head, the day before a little 7 year old was sitting on it near the water, as if he was riding a bull.

The team from Lydia's village, with four of my boys - the cute ones :)

Virgin Coconut Oil was Approved!

My VCO project was submitted to the Commissioner West by Integrated Human Resources Development Program last Wednesday and was accepted! We will be receiving government aid to build a “mini” factory, buy machines, basins, bottles, labels, and training. I am stoked. Now it is time to see how serious the village is about this new business. I am hoping all of my efforts pay off by helping them to become financially stable. Things are just coasting along over here in paradise!

Footpaths

So, I have spoken a few times about my footpath project in the village. I am currently asking Americans to open their pockets and give a little to my footpath fund. The village is on a steep hill and during the dry season rocks come out from under you and in the wet season mud encompasses our feet. The children have some kind of scabies issue on their feet and dog, chicken, goat, and pig feces are scattered all over the dirt paths. Please, if you have an extra minute and a few extra dollars, consider giving to my Peace Corps Partnership Grant at https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=411-146. We really appreciate your thoughts and generosity. A special thanks goes out to Lue Anne Lott, her friends, and Physicians Mutual employees.

My sissy comes again in TWO WEEKS!

Having our favorite cappuchino ice cream on one of our regular Thursday outings.