Project continues to flourish as the team head into the final straight of the expedition; the relationships made are stronger than ever, with the team now fully immersed into the Nairai community.

The task at hand for this week’s building team was to construct the windows and doors. Of which, Harry, Steve, lobby and Hilly, made light work of whipping three doors together whilst Micheal, Imogen, Ellie, Sophy, Langer and Hugo assembled fourteen windows ahead of schedule. As a result the tools were packed away by Thursday and the paint brushes made an early appearance to give the proudly built windows and doors a lick of primer before they were hung.

Down at Devetarua Primary the teachers of week six were given big raps for their dedication, given the moist conditions they trekked through every morning. Alice, Jess and Chloe assisted in classes 1, 2 & 3 leading lessons in subtraction using 2 digit numbers and then progressing to 3 digit numbers. Seth, Nathan and Richard joined Master Simi in classes 4, 5 & 6 helping out with multiplication using 2 digit numbers and delivering science lessons on public amenities.

Without the presence of Prince Harry, there was question whether the children could be contained in Kindi this week. Up to the task was Jack, Henry, Colin, Christina and Becca who controlled the ‘sphere of learning’ with inspiring amounts of enthusiasm for the little balls of energy despite nursing a couple of serious grog-overs throughout the week. Leaving their mark with a collection of arts and crafts displays that included the ‘sun leaves’ and a new element of the routine day – Tommy Tickle!

Out on the sports field, the fans favorite Dodge ball maintained its place alongside Rounders, Hockey, and Volleyball. Although each Fijian is a naturally gifted volleyball player, this week Harry, Libby and Ellie have fine-tuned some of their innate skills, finishing in some intense matches. Sport’s has continued to grow week in, week out and the organized chaos can be heard throughout the neighboring villages.

In other activities surrounding project daily routine, the grog has continued to flow at an impressive rate. Wednesday night was one to remember in The Waise Bar – swapping clothes for a hilarious evening of cross dressing much to the delight of the village. With special mention to the desirable qualities of Steve as the middle aged lady. Top effort!! With only two weeks remaining it has now become a reality that the team should make the most of their precious time here. With the return of the favorite house competition, house singing and the start of Meke practice next week we certainly have enough to keep ourselves occupied  going into week 7…

The penultimate week brought about a lift in intensity from the team, grabbing every ounce of village life that they could. Week 7 has brought a house cup high, a fearsome rugby match, continued grog training and the ‘bungalow song’.

Carpenters turned painters this week and faced with the challenge of painting the 12m x 10m build three times over was Chloe, Steve, Nathan, Henry, Christina, Colin, Becca, Langer, Hugo & Jess. Working to their plan, the paint team achieved their daily goals of applying a coat a day. Dodging some inclement weather at the beginning of the week the inside was the first to be painted and by the end of the week we have just the windows, doors and steps to give the finishing touch to next week. Whilst the majority of the team jumped at the chance to paint up on the roof it was Henry and his overalls who continued to lead the ground force team – looking every bit the part as an experienced tradesman.

The sphere of learning welcomed back two of its most treasured educators this week, Harry & Imogen. Working alongside Richard, Seth and Ellie this week’s biggest achievement in Kindi was the day Josh and Kili counted to ten and spoke all the days of the week with no assistance. Considering the pair only communicated through their eyebrow language in the first week the news is a huge reward for the teams efforts over the past seven weeks.

The final full week of teaching inspired the teachers to achieve all they could and really leave their mark with the children of Devetarua. Hibby, reveling in class 1, 2 & 3 left her mark with a well-received morning of dynamic pedagogy when she took them down to the beach to draw shapes in the sand. Sophy also in class 1, 2 & 3 achieved some significant developments with the teaching of ‘the story of eleven’ and her handwriting workshops. Lobby, who returned to her beloveds of class 4, 5 & 6, engaged them with a venture into the bush to listen to the sounds, returning to write about their trip. Van and Jack, to quote, were ‘molding minds’ in class 4, 5 & 6 and brought some laughs to the classroom with their lesson of the clouds, hangman games following their English comprehension work.

The house cup is on a high, building tremendously towards its finale, thanks to its crowd favorite – house singing. With renditions of Justin Beiber, Micheal Jackson, Jason Mraz & Busted the team worked beyond the port of call to rehearse their performances. A consistent third was the Stingrays, the Sharks portrayed their endeavor once again but, and the Baracuda’s pulled off a superb performance to blow Dolphins out of the water and take victory.

On Saturday the boys competed in a TP vs Fiji match of 7’s whilst the girls cheered on and sipped tea on the side lines. The very strong group of TP boys came out all guns blazing to run into an early lead 10 – 0, but in what became a bone crunching encounter the villagers came back to win the match 25-15.
Burning the candle at both ends, the early mornings and late nights have been a theme of week seven. At no point have the team been more immersed in village life and heading into the final week they show no sign of letting up. Rest assured they will be giving it their all as they finish seven weeks of hard work in style!