Junior First Aid and learning to hula

Its full steam ahead now for Red Cross Day. Last Thursday we had a branch meeting to discuss exactly what we would be doing to celebrate: the plan is that we will march from our branch office at 1 Vomo St. to Shirley Park, then have a day of celebration and entertainment. Sounds good! But there is a lot to organize – plenty of phone calls to make, letters to send, budgets to figure out… today I was designing a flyer for the event, which was pretty fun! Someone suggested that we (the volunteers) should prepare some kind of ‘item’ perform on the day, and everyone that that a Polynesian ‘hula’ dance would be good, so we spent about two hours on Friday just learning how to shake our hips. Apparently, its all about how you move your feet and your legs. It really isn’t easy, and my calves were aching all weekend! Still, I’m keen to get better at it, so that we can put on a good performance. We’re encouraging people to wear red on the 8th of May to show their support for Red Cross. Kate, Sharene and I have decided to have chambas (fijian-style skirt and top) made especially for the occasion, so we went yesterday to choose our material.

On Saturday I held a ‘Junior First Aid Course’ at the branch. The idea was that it would be a free taster for high school students who want to know more about First Aid, but were too young for the full course (which costs $50). I was a bit worried that either no one would show up, or that way too many would, but in the end it turned out alright, with about 20 participants from 2 schools. I started off by telling them a bit about Red Cross, then began teaching them some of the basics of First Aid. It was pretty funny to see them all wrapping each other up in bandages! Once the session was over, I told the students that they were more that welcome to come along and celebrate Red Cross day with us on the 8th of May, and that if any of them were interested in participating, that they should see me. A few did, so I am hoping that we might be able to organize a little First Aid display. We’ll see!

Once the students had gone home and I’d tidied up, I caught a cab over to the Methodist Ground, where some of the other volunteers were doing a first aid standby for the local rugby league. By the time I got there, it was the final game, so I just sat and watched for a while, then helped to get the equipment back to the branch. We hung around town for a little while afterwards, then Kate and I went to have our dinner at the Lautoka Hotel. That was our first time to eat out since we’ve been in Lautoka! We had a big pizza to share, and it was absolutely gorgeous! I really recommend the Lautoka Hotel as a good place to eat pizza!

The schools hear break up on Friday, and I’ll be taking a week of leave as well. On Saturday, I’m heading to the Wayalailai Resort (I’ve added a link to the website in the panel on the right), where I’m booked onto a PADI dive course. The resort is on one of the southern islands in the Yasawa chain, and it looks terrific. I’m going to be staying there for 5 nights, then maybe heading to another island for couple of nights before coming back to Lautoka. There isn’t any internet there, and I doubt that there will be any mobile signal, so don’t panic too much if you can’t get in contact with me over the next week or so!

Peer educating at Ba Pro

This last week has been pretty hectic for me, I’ve barely been in the office! Last Wednesday I went to the Sunshine school again, and on Thursday and Friday of last week, and Monday of this week, we went to Ba Provincial School to talk about Adolescent Reproductive Health. It was nice to go to the Sunshine school again. The children are all very friendly and welcoming.. as are the staff, who gave me and Liti (another Red Cross volunteer) snacks while we waited for the art and craft club to start. Sadly, we couldn’t start any artwork because the classroom wasn’t ready, but I told the ‘Red Cross Story’ to the children, and told them about ‘How do you like my art?’, showing them world maps with little red crosses marking Fiji and Bulgaria, and a couple of pictures of what the Bulgarian Red Cross does. Then their teacher asked them if they would like to draw something for the competition, and almost all of them did -which is fantastic- so she told them to think about what the would like to draw, so that they can start on the artwork next time. To finish off, we handed out Red Cross stickers to everyone!

Usually when we go to a school to talk about Adolescent Reproductive Health, we go for a couple of hours, which can mean that the travel time (we usually walk or go by bus) can last almost as long as the session! Therefore, it was nice to be given three full days at Ba Provincial School, to talk with forms 3, 4, 5 and 6. On Thursday evening, after my first full day of teaching, I was pretty exhausted! Its not easy to stand up all day and talk when you’re not used to it, and when I got back to the Red Cross office, my throat was so sore that I could only whisper. So on Friday, Liti and I took form 5 together, sharing the task of presenting. I would speak for a bit in English, then Liti would speak in Fijian, and we just kept swapping over like that. It was great to have someone in the classroom with me who could speak the local language! On Monday, I took form 6 by myself. I was a little nervous, since this time I would be by myself, and the students would be the same age as me! I needn’t have worried – the students were lovely, and since it was quite a small group, we could do a little more discussion than usual. The highlight was in the afternoon, when we covered the topic of “Talking about Condoms”. I split the group into four, and gave each group three excuses that people give for not using condoms. They then had to think of responses. So for the excuse “I haven’t got any with me”, one group responded “Well don’t worry, I can wait for half an hour.” I can’t remember all of them, but we all had a great laugh!

I spent the weekend in Nadi, visiting Rob. I’m pretty jealous of the hot shower and the swimming pool! The Fijian couple – Vani and Lloyd – who Rob live with were really really welcoming. On Saturday, Vani took us with her to work (she works at Sofitel on Denarau) where we had the most amazing breakfast of pastries, fruit and yoghurt, and afterwards took us to Port Denarau, where we saw the boat which Lloyd works on (Whale’s Tale. It’s beautiful!) and I had a very expensive but extremely delicious ice-cream. Rob’s nickname for Denarau is “The OC”, and when you’re there, you can really see why. Its chock full of 5 star resorts, massive houses, and yachts. We spent Sunday morning watching DVDs, and Vani cooked a fantastic lunch, and after that it was time to head home. They saw me safely all the way back to my home in Lautoka, which was really kind!

A picture is worth a thousand words…

I wonder what the people in the print shop thought, when I went in with my little memory stick and printed some big, full colour pictures of genitals displaying various charming STI symptoms: sores, rashes, warts…. we had them all. We thought that while telling people about STIs is a good start, being able to show them some pictures would be even more effective, so I spent my Monday this week making a big poster with pictures of different STIs. Everyone who saw it at Red Cross was pretty grossed out, and someone even stopped me on the way to the bus-stop on Tuesday (I was on my way to Ba Provincial School to do an ARH session) and asked to see the pictures. The thing is, when you just talk about the effects of STIs, they don’t always sound so bad. A common symptom is a sore. Whats a sore? Sores can seem pretty harmless if you picture a little mossie bite. But when confronted with a selection of images that put you off your lunch, you start to take it a little more seriously!

So on Tuesday I took my new poster with me to Ba Provincial School, and let the students pass it round. They seemed pretty interested, so I may try to make a couple more, and have them laminated so that we can use the again and again (mine is already starting to look a little dog-eared). We had a couple of hours to wait at Ba Pro before taking our sessions, but I really didn’t mind! The surroundings of the school are beautiful! There are all these hills in the distance, bright green and rugged, and it doesn’t seem as baking hot as the middle of the city – there’s a breeze up there! We’re hopefully going to go back at the end of next week, to finish off with the form threes, and maybe talk to some of the older students as well.

Today, I went to the Sunshine School, with some lovely art materials, kindly donated by the charity Children of Fiji. As I may have mentioned in a previous entry, the Bulgarian Red Cross organise an art competition and exhibition every two years, for children with mental and physical disabilities. I’ve been to the Sunshine School a couple of times to find out if they’d be interested in participating. Unfortunately, there had been a mix-up with dates, and it turned out the art and craft club, who meet fortnightly, where having their meeting next week instead, so I didn’t get to do any painting (sob sob!), but I am looking forward to going back there next Wednesday, and there was even mention of opening the competition up to the whole school, which would be fantastic! So its looking pretty positive! Can’t wait to do some art!

On the subject of pictures, I would really love to upload some, but first I’m going to have to buy a lead for my camera, of a little memory-stick drive, so it may be a little while, but bear with me! Sooner or later I’ll get my act together and sort it out!