It has been a fun filled second week for our team on Nairai. With school out, the kids have provided an extra buzz around the village. It is great to witness how everyone has settled into their new families like they have been a member of that household for years. Walking through the village at meal times you can hear the likes of Langer calling others into his house for food. Io, mai, kana!!

Our project day has been tweaked a little with no teaching and the introduction of our youth camp down at the school. In the mornings, we have split between a ‘pre tea’ team and ‘post tea’ team. The ‘pre tea’ team getting stuck into the building first thing in the morning to then tag the others in after our mid-morning tea party in the shed. With an intense few hours of building from each team the progress of Tovolailai’s community hall has been phenomenal. We now stand in front of an erected structure, with a sub floor and wall frame. Libby, Holly and Becca were joined by Seth in the sphere of Kindi this week. Looking over the bridge the deceivingly looking quaint building contained the likes of Grace, Charlie and Rossi. All of whom have taken incredibly to the routine and have the days of the week absolutely nailed down. Kili the eating machine however, is a working process as he continues to interact with his eyebrows.

In the afternoons, the team have trekked to school to deliver youth activities. Despite just the children of tovulailai in attendance the few present have had an absolute ball. In the arts and craft department they enjoyed making some crazy looking hats under the theme of witches and wizards. Notably, the real fun and for a better word ecstasy, was out on the sports field in the form of Dodge ball.  The dodge, duck, dive, dip and dodge game has been the staple diet for this week’s sports. The children have gone nuts at the very mention of a ‘new game’ and so have the team.

This week’s village activity was bilo making and with the religious fasting of grog lifted the team have become a ‘little’ more accustomed to drinking Kava. The evening provided some great interaction with the villagers and the opportunity to make their own cups to drink from and take back home as souvenirs. Friday night kicked off an immense weekend as the team jumped on the fishing boats and sailed around the opposite side of the island to Vatuna. Spending the night there a traditional sevu sevu welcomed the team before an incredible feast of fish and root crops. After a short digest the team returned for the main event – the grog party! With the band playing and the kava flowing the team relaxed as they made new friends from around the island. A special mention has to go to the chap who strummed his torch and sang his heart out all night long. What a guy!

Nursing a few ‘grog overs’ the team rose early on Saturday to a hearty breakfast in Vutuna, in preparation for the days community sports matches over at Davetarua School. First up was the netball match which the girls of TP faced up against the ladies of Tovulailai. In an end to end first half the girls lost their lead to head into the break trailing 9-8. Under the scorching sun the girls pulled off some intricate plays, and delightful goals. Notably, Sophie running her blood to water and Holly finishing superbly was the back bone of a fine performance from the team which included Jess, Chloe, Christina, Ellie, Alice and Becca. The sun proving stifling hot the match became mixed in the second half and the boys did not manage to hold back the Tovolailai’s assault, eventually losing 18-13.

Next for the games was the boy’s opportunity to test themselves against the natural abilities of the villagers. Playing the national sport of Fiji the match was 7’s Rugby. The TP boys vs Tovolailai. Struggling yet managing to catch a hold of the dancing feet of the villagers, the TP boys walked away victorious. The leaders putting the fine performance down to Jacks preparation, Van’s enthusiasm and Steve’s ruthlessness.

Sunday’s day of rest was a god send for the team to rest their tired bodies after a busy weekend and project week. Hearing the rumour of a feast in Lawaki, a hand full trekked to the neighbouring village for a church service whilst some caught up on journals and read. Fully recuperated the team are set to get stuck into another week on project. If the first two weeks are anything to go by, all bodes well for week three.

Here are a couple of pictures from the first few days in paradise. The team have bonded very well so far and we’re all looking forward to some amazing weeks ahead. Our guys and girls have been snorkeling, diving, playing volleyball, chilling in the sea, and enjoying their first bowls of grog.  We have a briefing from the Fijian Ministry taking place today and then it shall be time for the moment everyone is waiting for, to depart for Moturiki Island and begin the volunteer projects! Over the next eight weeks we will be building a community centre for Niubasaga village, supporting MDS Primary school through teaching projects and daily sports coaching, supporting a grass roots kindergarten programme and leading a ‘house cup’ for the school children to incorporate all areas of art, drama, music, photography, dance and academia.  In the meantime, it’s great to see everyone getting lots of rest and enjoying some South Pacific sunshine in preparation for such a challenging and rewarding experience ahead!

Thursday saw the school and kindi team have their day on the beach as it was a parent’s teacher day and the school was closed. So they headed to the beach for a snorkel and a Fijian lunch fit for a king, with cassava, dalo, fish, roe roe and a coconut sauce to wash it down. In the afternoon the team were taught how to make bilos, which are bowls made from coconut shell, cut in half and then shaved down using glass and sand paper until it is really thin. They are used all the time in Fiji during the grog nights to serve the kava in, so a great souvenir for the volunteers to take home with them.
Friday afternoon saw the entire team head over to the school compound for an end of term house cup competition. They got into their houses with the kids and first up was the house speeches from classes 3 to 8. Next up was the house singing which the team have been practicing for the last week with the kids, first up was James, Lottie, Rupert and Laura’s house singing Jackson 5’s ABC, after we had Charlotte, Rich, Kate and Hollie’s house with Carley Rae Jephsons, call me maybe. Then it was Leah, Dan, Sally and Abi’s team with Aretha Franklin’s Aint No Mountain High, and finally we had Will, Nathan, Hannah, Steph and Angela’s team with Abba’s Mama Mia. 4 great renditions of some classic songs. The team then headed down to the pitch for the sports final, in which the kids and volunteers participated in 3 different races, the egg and spoon, the sack race and the relay. A great afternoon had by the kids and volunteers alike. After the sports it was time for the house cup to be presented, including the arts and crafts which was done during the week by the team with the theme of under the sea, in 4th place we had Charlotte, Rich, Kate and Hollies team, 3rd place went to James, Lottie, Rupert and Laura’s team, with second place for Nathan, Will, Hannah, Angela and Steph’s team, making the winners of the first ever house cup in the Navukalagi school and also on Gau went to Leah, Dan, Abi and Sally’s team.

After the house cup competition the team headed back to the village where it was time to celebrate a special day for one of our volunteers. Steph turned 19 on the project which meant a huge feast in order to celebrate for her with a birthday cake and of course no party in Fiji would be complete without copious amounts of grog as well, Steph was also presented with a Fijian flag signed by the whole team and a Sulu for her as well. The night ended with some hop hop in the town hall.

During the week the team also had a quiz which was written by James, Sally, Charlotte and Will who won the quiz on Leleuvia. After 6 grueling rounds the quiz was finally won by the team leaders, who haven’t won a quiz since last year. However the next day some things were brought to attention and the team leader’s first place was taken away as apparently during one of the fun rounds an error in one of the rules was found and so our team leaders will have to wait a while before they get that first quiz win of the year.
Saturday unfortunately saw the heavens open on project so the trek to the waterfall which was planned had to be rescheduled due to poor conditions. So instead the team had a little lie in after the previous night of partying and then after lunch headed over to the neighboring village of Navukalagi which Is the chiefly village of Qarani’s province. There they presented a Sevu Sevu to the village so they could be free to look round the village and were treated to some more grog by the villagers of Navukalagi.

After what seems like just yesterday the team have made it to another Sunday and the end of week 2 of project so in the morning they headed to church with families for the service and then after we had another special day to celebrate. This time it was Richard’s birthday, so the team headed to the hall again where another feast was put on. This time the village cooked a pig for the feast so the team had, curried pork, pork in soy sauce and pork stir fry as well which went down really well. Rich was also presented with his own Sulu for his birthday and a flag signed by the whole team. Sunday evening after deciding what to do on project the team head to the town hall for some kava and there they listened to the hymn practice of the villagers and had a relaxed chat before heading to bed ready to start phase 2 of their expedition on Gau.

So we have started the final full week here in Qarani!
As school has finished for a 2 week holiday, we have started a youth camp for the village children and every morning we round them up and take them over to the school compound where we have been allowed to use the classrooms to teach. We were slightly unsure about how many children we would manage to get to partake in the youth camp as in the holidays they have chores and tasks to do for their families, but they seemed very willing and we have had over 30 children every day!
We split the children into boys and girls and we had Nathan and James teach the boys about the Olympics (many of them hadn’t even heard of the Olympics!) After a few day’s lessons on the background of the Olympics and getting the kids to make medals Nathan and James held their very own Qarani Olympics. Gold, silver and bronze were awarded to the best athletes and it was great to see the children really getting involved and a great legacy from the London Olympics last summer.

Hannah, Katie, Charlotte and Laura have been taking the girls for dancing lessons…….. or maybe that should be the children took our volunteers for dancing lessons! The children grow up around music and are excellent dancers so the girls will be returning to the UK and Austria with some new moves! As Charlotte and Laura are from Austria they have been giving some of the older children German lessons too!

Kindi have also been on the 2 week holiday but we have been able to carry on teaching there and Miss Meriani, the kindergarten teacher, has also given up her holiday to assist in the lessons! So Lottie, Will, Dan and Abbey have had a pretty much full class of children. The theme for the week has been Rainbows, so along with the usual nursery rhymes, fun and games they have also learnt the Rainbow song and done many ‘colors of the rainbow’ drawings. The children are completely comfortable with the volunteers now and follow them over to kindi and back to the village for lunch with the volunteers giving them piggy backs an helping them over the bridges which separate the village and school compound.

As its the final week we are running a rota of 3 days on either youth camp or build, so on Thursday the guys and girls in youth camp swapped over to build and Sally, Leah, Ang and Katie have been doing a ‘Village newspaper’. With the children creating a logo, writing reports and drawing pictures on daily life in the village which they then collate into a newspaper for the village.

The weather was incredibly rainy on Monday and Tuesday (its brightened up now) but the build still continued its rapid pace with Rupert, Richard, Sally, Leah, Steph, Ang and Hollie working on the walling and flooring. These are the areas which really make the build look like it is shooting up! Every hour it looks closer to completion and we are only 1 or 2 days away from finishing the structure which leaves only the painting to complete next week (fingers crossed for good weather!)

It’s been a full week of fun on the evenings too! Monday night the leaders wrote a quiz which was won by Nathan, Abbey, Katie and Laura – ‘The coconut shakers.’ Wednesday we had a family night in the village where the volunteers and leaders eat at other houses with different people. It’s a great way for them to get to know the villagers even better and also to sample the culinary delights of other households! Thursday evening was a game based on the game show ‘Crystal Maze’ where everyone had to make their way around the village doing physical, mental, skill and memory in villagers houses to obtain a letter to discover an anagram which spells out where the prize is located! It was hilarious for everyone in the village to see us rushing around, running in and out of their houses trying to complete puzzles!

It really is unbelievable that we will be leaving the village of Qarani in just over a week, but everyone is making the most of their time and Fijian life and culture is becoming the norm for us now!

The rest of our May team are in Fiji already, and currently making their way across to our castaway island briefing base, having met our leaders just few hours ago.

We’ll have to wait a little longer for the whole team to be together, but our expedition leader, Rob, has stayed back in Nadi to make sure there’s a friendly face to greet our volunteers as they land from the LA flight!  This should be 20.40 Fiji time today and after a good nights sleep at a resort in Nadi, we’ll have them across to meet the rest of the group and enjoy some castaway island acclimatisation.

We can’t wait to begin our expedition to the village of Niubasaga and return to beautiful Moturiki! It’s been a long wait to return to this incredible village, and everyone is looking forward to a huge ten weeks ahead.