See you later

It didn’t really hit me that I would actually be leaving so soon until I phoned Kate on Sunday morning.  She was due to fly out on Sunday afternoon, and I wanted to see her before I left, so I was just calling to find out when she would be heading to the airport.  One of the first things she said was “I can’t believe this day has finally come”, and I realised then that my time is also running out fast.  After I put the phone down, I started crying like a little baby.  I mean full-on, tears-streaming down my face, snotty-nose, drooling crying.  For nearly an hour I couldn’t stop; “Waaah Kate’s leaving and then I have to leave.  Waah”.  But finally I managed to pull myself together.  Bill and I went with Kate to the airport, and there we met up with Emma and her friend, and also Saula.  Kate had a little visa-difficulty (she didn’t have one), but this was soon sorted out, and away she went to Melbourne.  All of us were really sad to see her go.  These past seven months, Kate and I have been through a lot together – both good and bad – and I will really miss her.  Luckily I didn’t embarrass myself by crying again at the airport – I think I had run out of tears by then!

Since finishing at Red Cross, I’ve been spending quality time with my Fijian family, preparing to leave, saying my goodbyes and buying souvenirs.  Last week I had to go to Suva to get a visa so I can visit China on the way home.  I was there for two nights.  On the first night, we visited the 2008 Hibiscus festival, which was taking place in Albert Park.  The Hibiscus festival is like a big fun-fair; there were rides, food-stalls, candyfloss, music and live performances.  The festival is a big deal here, with many companies sponsoring individuals to run as candidates for various Hibiscus titles, such as Hibiscus King, Hibiscus Queen etc.  The judging of the these candidates is even televised!  It was great to experience the atmosphere of the Hibsicus festival first hand, even if it was only for a short time.

I divided the rest of the week between attending the church conference and moping over my boils.  The church conference was pretty spectacular.  Members of AGOFI churches (Apostles Gospel Outreach Fellowship International) from all over Fiji and even further afield to attend the conference here in Lautoka.  Each evening, from Tuesday to Sunday last week, they came to the church to watch various performance items, which were then followed by a sermon and then alter-call.  A different colour was allocated for each day (for e.g. red on Wednesday, Purple of Thursday), and it was lovely to see so many people wearing different outfits of the same colour.  It was great fun to watch the performance items (mostly dances) each evening.  There was a group from the Cook Islands who were particularly good!  On Thursday evening, the Natakawaga Youth once again performed our meke/action song.  This time we had matching t-shirts (which were screen-printed by some of the boys and looked very professional) and purple sulus.  I don’t think I made any mistakes this time!

Preparing to leave is very hard.  Fiji feels like home now, and it is scary to think that in a few days I will drive to the airport, board a plane, and be gone.  Its hard to think of life going on as usual here without me.  A lot of stuff happens in seven months- if someone had told me back in January about how everything would pan out, I probably wouldn’t have believed them!  I have always kept this blog very optimistic, but that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been bad times.  There have been times when I felt frustrated, lonely and even scared.  There have been days when I just couldn’t stop crying.  But never, not even at my lowest point, did I ever feel like packing it in and going home.  The challenges that I have faced have made the experience more memorable, and the support that I have received has been amazing.

Moreover, there have been many great things that I never found time to write about on this blog.  There was Alesi’s 16th Birthday, when we had barbecue chops and sausage for dinner, and a huge cake.  There was my trip to the village Namara, where I went riding on Tamana’s horse, taking it right into the river for a swim.  On the way there, I had two hot chocolates at a cafe in Rakiraki, and they were the best hot chocolates I have ever had.  There was my trip to Suva with ‘Young Men’s’, a Christian dance group.  They performed a concert and then we had the most carb-laden dinner ever – dalo, cassava, noodles and potatoes (and meat).  Then there were Kate and my secret outings to have cake and coffee… and the time we got busted!  I could go on for hours.  The point is, my trip to Fiji has been an unforgetable and amazing experience, and my love goes out to all who have made it possible.  Its not ‘goodbye’, its ’see you later.’

Red Cross Farewell

People here often ask me if I like Fiji, and I always tell them ‘yes, a lot.’  Then they usually ask why, and I tell them ‘because it’s beautiful, and the people are friendly.’  Its a boring answer, because that is the stereotype of Fiji, but its true!  Sometimes the person laughs and asks what’s so beautiful about Lautoka.  My mum also keeps asking me to write about what the city is like, so here we go.  You see, Lautoka is not all that different from any other city – it has shops, buses, a cinema, cafes and supermarkets.  The main industry is the big FSC sugar mill, which spits out huge plumes of smoke into the sky, day and night.  When I leave my house in the morning, I see it there in the distance infront of me, a thick column of black stretching into the sky; and if I walk home after dark, the smoke looks white against the night sky.  Through the middle of town (next to the main shopping drag, Vitogo Parade) runs a mini-railway, and occasionally you can hear a loud sound like a fog horn as the train brings raw sugar cane to the mill.  There’s a wharf (which I have only been to when I went onboard the Doulos ship).  There’s a nice little promenade by the sea wall, and if you look out to sea, you can see Bekana island, and, further in the distance, Vomo.  Then there’s the market, inside a huge hall, which is open everyday and filled with people selling all kinds of fruits, vegetable and spices. Off to one side, through a couple of doors so as to contain the smell, there’s the fish market, and fruther away is the handicraft section, selling mostly floor mats and handbags.  Outside, bewteen the market and the bus-stand, there are more vendors, often sitting unde huge tarpaulins to protect them and their good from the sun.  Once I came by the market in the middle of a Friday night. I was suprised to see so many of the vendors there- the women lying asleep in a long line, covered with blankets, and the men sitting in a circle, drinking grog and keeping watch over the goods.  These were people who had come from villages to sell their produce on a Saturday, which is the busiest day in the market.  The best rugby ground in Fiji is Churchill Park, which is in town.  I’ve been there a couple of times but never to watch the rugby – St Thomas High School performed their variety concert there, and I also saw Jasper Williams High School do their military parade there just a few weeks ago.  What really makes Lautoka beautiful is when you look up from hot, dusty Vitogo Parade, and see big craggy green hills in the distance, shrouded in clouds… or the taxi you’re in turns to go down a hill and suddenly you see the big blue sea and the Yasawa islands spread out below you.  Even in an indtsrial city like this, the natural beauty of the Fiji Islands creeps in; there are palm trees wherever you look. 

Friday was my final day at Red Cross.  It was very hot, and none of us knew what to do with ourselves all day.  We lay around aimlessly in a tent outside, most of us having stripped down to vests and shorts, and waited for afternoon to come.  Even if we had wanted to, we couldn’t have done any work – the office had been broken into (again!) the night before, so we couldn’t go inside.  Luckily, this time there was no money there to steal.  Only the radio and (strangely) two dozen eggs were missing.  In the afternoon, food-preparation started in earnest.  Vegetables were peeled and sliced, the barbecue was fired up, eggs were fried, and more people began to arrive.  Some time after 5pm, we were all called into the hall, and Kate and I were seated at the front.  We were each given a lovely garland of flowers, and Ganpati gave a speech, thanking us for our work.  Mererai gave each of us a gift.  Then it was our turn to talk.  I was smiling and happy and I started to thank everyone for all the wonderful expererience, for their support and friendship, and then all of a sudden I realised I was going to cry.. I couldn’t even finish my sentence.  Kate picked up where I’d left off and I hid my face in my hands, half laughing anf half crying.  Luckily I managed to pull myself together quite quickly- we took plenty of photos, before going outside for a delcious barbecue supper, followed by ice-cream and cake.  The boys sat around in the tent with a basin of grog and a guitar, and sang beautifully until it was time for me to go.  I have heard the Fijian farewell song, ‘Isa isa’ before, but it never sounded as beautiful as it did when the Red Cross boys sang it for Kate and I.

The last puppet show

Tomorrow (Thursday) will be my last proper day at Red Cross, since we’ll be having a little farewell party on Friday and in any case, Kate and I will probably be crying to much to actually do anywork.  I really can’t believe that it has gone so fast!  Before I left Luxembourg, 7 months seemed like a lifetime… now its almost finished and neither of us wants to go home yet!  Of course I’m looking forward to seeing my family and friends, eating my favourite meals, hanging out on the sofa with Pippi (my dog) and of course going to university, but Fiji has also become like home to me and its going to be very hard to leave.

Today (Wednesday) was my last Red Cross outing.  We went to Teidamu Primary School to perform three puppet shows – one on water safety, one on food and nutrition, and one about ’stranger danger’ (based on little Red Riding Hood).  Teidamu Primary School is a small rural school in a beautiful loaction – just up the road from Mate’s house (which I wrote about in my last post.)  There is an amazing view of the coutryside, stretching away towards Lautoka, and of the sea and the Yasawa Islands.  The students seemed to enjoy the show – even when the front of our puppet theatre collapsed mid-performance – and they answered some questions about the content well, so overall I think we could call the day a success!  After the puppet show, we played some volleyball with the teachers while we waited for our transport.  It was a lovely sunny day – in fact for the first time in months I think I have a touch of sunburn!

Last weekend I basically just took it easy.  On Saturday afternoon I went down to the church where many members of the congregation have been doing building work all week.  My fijian brother (Bill) and my fijian father were finishing off a signboard which they had been working on.  It is really beautiful – well over 2 metres tall, with a little roof and light for each of the two signs, set in a little garden surrounded by a nice chain fence.  The signs themselves are big and blue, and written on them is the name ‘Penueli Church’, and the time of services, cell groups etc.  I didn’t really manage to help out much with the actual work (though I did eat a big bowl of ice-cream and oreos), so I take my hat off to those who were painting and welding until after dark.  After the morning service on Sunday, the new signboard was officially unveiled by the pastors, and everyone thought it was very nice.  A job well done!

The Ladyboys of Tilak High School

The end is nigh.  On Monday we started a 10 day countdown to my last day at Red Cross (which will be next Friday, the 15th).  Today we said goodbye to Chris, who’s placement was in Nausori and who had lunch with Kate and I today before going to the airport.  Tomorrow Rob (who’s placement was in Nadi) is leaving.  Its madness!  All along, I had maintained that I would stick with my original plan and fly out of Fiji on the 24th of August, but today I phone Air New-Zealand and asked to change my leaving date to the 1st of September.  Of course I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends back home in England and Luxembourg, and starting my studies in Plymouth, but the thing is that I now have family and friends here in Fiji too, and leaving them in going to be awful.

Last Saturday I went with Kate, Ateca and Ema (all Red Cross volunteers) to visit Mate (our Red Cross Health and Welfare Officer!) at her home, which is somewhere between Lautoka and Ba.  The walk from the bus-stop to Mate’s house was great – you could see right out to sea, and it was a beautiful day; clear skies, but a bit of a breeze so it wasn’t too hot.  We spent the whole morning sitting in the shade and drinking tropical root juice (kava) and watching the many tiny puppies roam around, fight, play, fall asleep etc.  We had a nice big lunch (plenty of sausages and cassava), then all feel asleep!  By the time we woke up, it was time to go home, because I had to get back to Lautoka in time for ‘Tilak Nite’, which Alesi and I had tickets for.

‘Tilak Nite’ was an oppertunity for students of Tilak High School to dance, sing, bang drums, etc, and raise money for their school.  It was a fun evening.  Barey a performance went by that didn’t involve at least one male student dressed in his sister’s sari/sulu chamba/miniskirt.  Most of the performances were dances, and were really enjoyable.  So far in Fiji I hadn’t seen much indian dance, but at Tilak Nite there were some great traditional indian performances which were very interesting to watch, as well as lots of meke and modern dance too.  We got back quite late so on Sunday I just relaxed and went to church.

Red Cross-wise, thing are winding down now.  There isn’t any point in starting something new just before we leave, so we are just doing odds and ends, drinking tea, planning our goodbye party and preparing for our final two puppet shows which we will be doing next week – one at Lautoka Chinese School and one at Teidamu Primary School.  Yesterday, a group of us went to unload a container full of wheelchairs for the Sai Centre.  When the Fiji Red Cross society comes across people who are in need of wheelchairs, it is the Sai Centre who provide them, so it is our duty to at least help them unload them all from the container!  However this was no mean feat.  The container was the size of a small bungalow and contained hundreds of boxes of unassambled wheelchairs, all of which had to be off-loaded onto a truck, driven to the warehouse, unloaded from the truck and into the lift, taken up to the second floor and then stacked up neatly.  More than 10 of us (6 from Red Cross and the rest from elsewhere) began work at 11am – by 5pm, we still hadn’t quite finished!  I slept very well last night!  My biceps are very sore this morning though..

Viv the Firewoman and the rest of my holiday

I had only intended to stay in the old capital, Levuka, for three nights; I ended up staying for six. Not only was I impressed with the picturesque little town and amazing landscape, but with how genuinely friendly people were. During my short stay, I was invited home for lunch twice – on Sunday for a barbecue with the family who Jenny used to stay with, and the second time on Wednesday for fish at Karen and Bobo’s place, a good hour’s drive from Levuka. Their house was beautiful, in particular the large veranda which was surrounded by bright flowers and caught the afternoon sun. We spent a lazy day just relaxing in the hammock there and reading magazines – and had a little swim in the river before heading back to town for dinner at Kim’s restaurant. I had the fried fish with lemon butter sauce, and I must say I was very impressed! There is no shortage of good food in Levuka!

I haven’t had the chance to dive since completing my PADI Open water Certification back in April, and was beginning to worry that I would forget everything that I learned! I booked to do a dive with Ovalua Watersports on the Tuesday morning. I explained that I was a beginner, and the staff was very supportive – they didn’t even laugh when I put my wet-suit on back-to-front. (In my defense, I had never worn a wet-suit before.) Glad I wore it though, as it was pretty cold underwater. On the dive I saw plenty of interesting coral – called leather coral. Y favourite one was lilac covered with little pink bits coming off it. When I stroked it, it felt soft like a kitten. Not what I had expected at all.

When I first arrived, I was very jealous of Jenny’s shower. She has heated water! The first time I had a shower at Jenny’s it took me at least twice as long as normal, because I just stood there for about ten minutes enjoying the warm water. On my final morning, I was snoozing in bed when Jenny went to have her shower. A few minutes later I heard screaming from outside the room, “Oh my god!! Oh my god!! Help help! Fire!”. Still half asleep, I wandered out of the room to see what the problem was. Jenny was running around with only a towel on trying to find the head teacher – the water heater was on fire, and the flames were licking up the walls of the bathroom. Wondering what to do, I went outside, and -hey presto- there was a boy with a fire hose, filling buckets. I told him that there was a fire in the school. He looked confused. I told him again that there was fire and that we needed the water. He still looked confused. I grabbed the hose off him and went back to the bathroom with it, and managed to spray enough water in the general direction of the fire that it went out. To be fair, the fire was not very big, but I still like to think that I was the hero of the hour!

After this, I packed up my things and waved goodbye to Levuka. A boat picked me up from the wharf, headed to Caqalai Island (for those unfamiliar with Fijian spelling, that’s pronounced ‘Thang-a-lie’.) Caqalai is very small – you can easily walk around it in 15 minutes. The resort there is very cute and rustic; there are big clam shells all over the place and the snorkeling from the shore was very impressive. I went here because it had been highly recommended to me by other Gap volunteers, nearly all of whom have been here! I wasn’t disappointed – it has a very special, friendly atmosphere. Most of the guests were couples though, and since I went there by myself, I wonder if it might have been even better had I been with some friends.

After two nights in Levuka, it was back to Suva. I wandered around for a while window shopping, had a bite to eat, and then headed to the Fiji museum for some culture. The most interesting thing that I learned there was about how the Fijians used to tattoo young women when they came of age. Apparently, they would tattoo them ‘so that it looked like they were wearing tight black shorts’, and also they would tattoo around the mouth. Once this had been done, the young woman would wear a grass skirt for the first time, and was considered ready for marriage. After this I wandered back to central Suva. I had considered spending the last night of my holiday in Suva, but I missed my Fijian family, so I caught a minibus back to Lautoka instead!

The Old Capital

I decided that it was finally time to take my second week of leave, and get out and see some more of Fiji, so on Friday I left Lautoka, headed for Levuka.  I have gotten very comfortable in Lautoka now – I really feel that it is home, and I was almost tempted just to stay there during my leave (or not take my leave at all!) – but I knew that it would be a shame not to take the oppertunity to visit somewhere else.  So I phoned Jenny (link to her blog in the panel on the right) and asked if I could come to Levuka and visit her here.  Levuka is the old capital of Fiji, and is on a smaller island called Ovalau, east of the main island Viti Levu (which is Lautoka and Suva are).  To get there, you have to get a bus, then a boat, then a bus again.  When I bought my ticket, I was told that the bus would leave Suva at 1.30pm, so I got up early, and came down from Lautoka in plenty of time.  There were one or two things I had to buy, so off I went, and returned to the bus stand just after 1pm.  The bus was already gone.  I panicked.  Luckily Bill (my host brother) suggested that I get a taxi to Nausori, a town which the bus passes through).  If he hadn’t, I’d probably just have stood crying in the Suva bus stand.  So we jumped in a taxi to Nausori, while i tried to phone the shipping company.  When we reached Nausori, the bus had already left!  So we had to continue to Kororvou, another town further along.  We caught up with the bus there, and I had to pay 40 dollars in taxi fares, which the shipping company has said they will refund.  All is well that ends well!

When I arrived in Levuka it was already dark.  Jenny met me from the bus and we went to have our dinner in the Whale’s Tale, and very cute little restaurant which I would definatley recommend.  I had the beef burger (not very fijian I know), and it must be one of the best burgers I’ve ever tasted.  The dressing on the salad reminded me of the dressing that my mum makes at home.  Delicious!  I couldn’t resisit having a banana split for dessert.  Afterwards we went to one of the two local clubs, the Koro Makawa, for a drink, and met some of the locals.

On Sarurday I got the chance to see Levuka by daylight.  It really is something special; not like any town I’ve seen before.  Dotted all around are old churches, colonial buildings and wooden building-fronts.  The main drag, Beach Street, is like a cross between the set of an old Western movie and a quaint british sea-side town.  Wherever you look, there’s a building with a story.  The people too are very friendly.  I’ve only been here for three days, but already I’ve met many people twice over and stopped to have a chat!  I’ve been incited for lunch, dinner, grog, walks…. people are friendly and generous!  Saturday afternoon we went to watch the rugby – Ovalau against Suva.  The match was good, but I was distracted by the scenery.  Just beyond the pitch, you could huge steep, green hills towering over the town, dotted with palm trees and small houses.  The hills are the reason that Levuka is no longer the capital – town planners realised many years ago that these hills meant that the town would never be able to expand much, and so the government offices were moved to Suva.

Health Woes

I’m afraid that Red Cross-wise, I don’t actually have a lot to report, because in the last two weeks I haven’t been to work all that much!  I had had various grim-looking mosquito bites on my legs for a while, but when two of them swelled up into a hard red mass, I thought it was time to see a doctor.  She said it was cellulitis and prescribed antibiotics.  Given that the first I had heard about cellulitis was in Atul Gawande’s book ‘Complications’ about how he has to excise grey mush from the leg of a girl who had cellultis which developed into something much worse, I was a tad worried, and decided that it would be sensible to rest the leg and take the antibiotics.  The doctor gave me 4 days off, but luckily the infection cleared up easily and I was right as rain in no time.  In fact, the Sunday before last, mysef and the youth of the area I live in (Natokowaqa) did a meke in church, and the pastor told us that we would perform it again the following (last) Saturday, at a special youth service in Nadi, so I was glad to be well enough for that!  We all got dressed up – Alesi and I had lovely matching new green chambas for the occasion, which my host father very kindly bought for us – and got a bus to Nadi for the service.  I was really nerovous, but it went really well, and I think I only made one little mistake in the routine!

So I was back at work this last Monday, though it was quite quiet since many of the regular volunteers have been off training in Suva this week.  Still, Kate and I made a visit to Central Primary which really motivated us to do more for the Junior Red Cross clubs.  The Red Cross Club students at Central were all immaculately turned out- the boys wearing their Red Cross scarves and badges, and the girls all wearing white dresses with red collars, buttons and belts.  They looked so nice!  We chatted with the head-teacher there over tea, and thought of a couple of things we’d like to do with the clubs, which I will write more about when we have discussed them with the Branch President.  I also had plenty of Door Knock stuff to be getting on with – sorting and registering the tins and such.  Then yesterday evening my belly started feeling very very dodgy, and hasn’t quite fully recovered yet.  I won’t go into too much detail.  I suppose it would be too good to be true to get through 8 months abroad without some kind of stomach-buggy.  Thankfully, the worst if it seems to have passed, and I hope I’ll be well enough to work on the Door Knock Appeal tomorrow.  Our appeal ends on the 14th of this month, but tomorrow will be out last big day of collecting- we are hoping for a hige turn-out of volunteers, and their efforts will be concentrated on the city centre, so there should be plenty of organisational stuff for me to do.

Ups and downs of door-knock

I was going to write about the success of our door knock appeal. For the past couple of weeks, we have all been busy distributing collection tins to schools, phoning supermarkets and shops, writing letters, trying to get some publicity and shaking cans in the streets. People have been giving generously. Tevita and I filled more than half a tin just from a quick tour of the stall-holders at the market. The amazing thing is that you don’t have to say much- people see the sign of the Red Cross and it speaks for itself. I was really touched by how many people were willing to give. Although the major push of our appeal is still to come, many tins were filled and waiting to be emptied and counted. Then disaster. On Thursday morning, we arrived to find that our office had been broken into during the night – and all the money stolen. The Police came and dusted for fingerprints, and we all tried to be philosophical about it, but it was very disappointing. Its not so much that the hard work of the volunteers has gone to waste. Its worse than that – its the thought that every person who saw the distinctive sign of the Red Cross and dug deep for 10c and handed it over with a smile has been cheated. Our branch president told us all that we shouldn’t dwell on it, and that the appeal would continue as before. So yesterday afternoon, Ruci and I went out to FSC – the big sugar mill – to collect. The staff there were very generous, and our tin was a lot heavier when we left than when we started. But it still doesn’t make up for what was stolen.

Today is World HIV Testing Day. There was a small celebration held in – you’ve guessed it – Shirley Park, and this time the weather was lovely. Some of the Red Cross volunteers were performing a puppet show about HIV/AIDS, but I was just along for the ride! It was a low-key event, but the speakers were good. The main message of the day was that people should not fear testing. The chief guest stressed that people involved in carrying out HIV testing must ensure that all information is kept confidential. His speech was very interesting as it also focused on HIV and the law (he himself being a magistrate). Afterwards came our puppet show, followed by refreshments, and the the testing began. There were many counselors present, and anybody who wanted to be tested first had to be interviewed by a counselor. While I knew that this was normally the case with HIV testing, I was surprised at how long this took – 10 to 20 minutes per person. After this, the actual sample was drawn out by a doctor, in the vehicle which is usually used by the Blood Bank to collect donations. Before I left the event, Reggie, one of the peer educators from the Hub Centre, drew the Red Ribbon on the side of my face… which I completely forgot about until I was walking down the main shopping drag in Lautoka. I heard someone call out ‘World AIDS Day’ and was quite impressed that the sign was so instantly recognized.

Bank holiday weekend at Nananu-i-Ra

I was beginning to realize that I hadn’t seen any of the other ‘Gappers’ (apart from Kate, who doesn’t count!) for a very long time, and also that this was to be my last long weekend in Fiji: so this weekend I joined Kate, Emma, Chris, Jenny L, Helen, Fiona and Amy (Fiona’s friend from Bonny Scotland) on a trip to Nananu-i-Ra island, just off the North coast of Viti Levu. We stayed at Macdonald’s Beach Cottages, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the accommodation – Kate, Emma and I were sharing a small cottage, with three single beds, a washroom with toilet and shower, and a little kitchen with fridge/freezer, gas stove, and all the necessary pots and pans. There was even a little breakfast bar with stools! I had stocked up on instant noodles, baked beans, tinned tuna and a loaf of bread from Lautoka, which lasted me the whole weekend, saving a bit of money. The cottage wasn’t massive, but it certainly wasn’t cramped, which meant that when the heavens opened on Saturday afternoon and a torrential downpour started, all eight of us could sit in there together.

While the beach was not the best, the long jetty more that made up for it! Fishing is banned from the jetty, but feeding the fish (with bread or whatever) is positively encouraged. As a result, you don’t even have to get in the water to see a huge number of brightly coloured fish up close. I saw plenty of parrot fish, swordfish and clown fish. The coral near the jetty looked a bit dead, though when I swam a bit further out there was more to see. I didn’t spend a long time snorkeling though, since the visibility was pretty poor and the deep water was giving me the heeby-jeebies, but Helen, Chris and Jenny said that there was more to see a little further out.

Today it was back to work as usual! The Fiji Red Cross Society used to have an annual national ‘Door knock Appeal’ to raise funds, but due to a disappointingly total last year, they have decided to take a different tack with fund raising for 2008. However, Lautoka Branch has decided to go ahead with its own Door knock appeal, just for the Lautoka area, so there is plenty of work to be done! Today, we were distributing collection cans to the local schools, and some of the volunteers went out into town with cans and stickers to collect donations. Our appeal will continue until the 14th July, so there should be plenty to do over the next few weeks.

Wheres’s Viv been hiding?

Wow! Its really been ages since my last post! I don’t even know where to start!

Basically I moved house last month. I am now staying with a new family, in an area of Lautoka called Topline. My new family includes; a grandma, a mother, her son and daughter (Bill, 26 and Alesi, 16) and their cousin Veresa (19) and two smaller cousins, Sala (7) and Amelia (12). These are the mainstays – other family members appear from time to time! I feel incredibly grateful to have been taken in by such a warm and open family, and I really am touched by their kindness. Within a short space of time, they really have become like family to me, and already I know that I will miss them terribly when I leave.

I have become completely dependent on Alesi – so much so that I have started to call her my ‘manager’! Without her, I would have no idea what to wear, what shoes to buy… etc. Each time there’s a social occasion – or church – I call Alesi in to choose my clothes for me. Without her, I really would have no idea what to wear! I wonder what Dorry would make of it if I was like that back home in Luxembourg…

Work wise, things have been quiet, though they are picking up now. I had a lovely time with the Junior Red Cross clubs at the Sanatan Primary School and the Lautoka Fijian School this week, doing first aid. We went through the priorities of First Aid (Danger, Response, Send for help, Airway, Breathing and Circulation) and the recovery position, with everyone having a chance to practice. We were lucky at Lautoka Fijian School that the weather was nice, so we held the club meeting out in the school ground, where there was plenty of room for everyone to spread out and play unconscious. The students seemed interested, and we are hoping to return soon to teach them about first aid treatment for bleeding and minor injuries.

We have also finally collected the artwork from the Sunshine Special School and the Lautoka School of Special Education, and posted these to the Red Cross National Office in Suva, from where they’ll be forwarded to Bulgaria. The day that we went to collect the artwork from the Lautoka School fro Special Education, I was actually having a bad day and feeling awful – hungry tired and grumpy! But seeing the children’s’ artwork really changed my mood. We had told them that their work could be on any theme; many of them had chosen to draw Fiji. There were some beautiful, colorful pictures of villages and coral reefs… palm trees everywhere! There must be few places in the world with so much natural beauty to draw. Kate and I were really impressed with the quality of the drawings, and hope that the judges in Bulgaria will like them too.

We have a lot of new volunteers at Red Cross, and they have been working on a couple of puppet shows and mekes to be performed on World Blood Donor Day this Saturday (the 14th June). This event aims to promote voluntary blood donation, and the mobile blood bank unit will be there on the day to take donations. They have been rehearsing hard everyday – puppert show in the morning, meke in the afternoon, which is nice because the music is very relaxing! Sadly, Kate and I won’t be there as we are heading up to Nananu-i-Ra island this weekend.