Monday 18th October –
Back on the gap volunteer projects this morning, and with the sun shining bright, the build was a busy place. There was a team on the roof hammering in the roofing nails, with two pods also inside continuing with the flooring, a difficult job with the two direct posts to navigate! In the afternoon there were also teams working on the walling as we look for a big week on the community hall.
In kindi the team practiced their numbers and animals, as well as colours during lego time. The kids were then outside for play time before heading down to the beach for arts and crafts where they collected shells to make a collage. After a sing along it was story time, as Rob out in a wonderful performance reading Cinderela!
In school Alistair and Leah continued with classes 5, 6, & 7, taking maths and English respectively, whilst Sarah took classes 3 & 4, including some Geography as they looked at capital cities around the world. Emma was also busy supporting Jesse in class 8. And in the afternoon sports coaching was in full swing, with classes 5 & 6 learning the long jump in athletics!
With the sports coaching for the children completed for the day, it was the turn of the village men’s and women’s teams, with rugby and netball training beginning in preparation for some island matches on Saturday!
In the evening our gap team were free to relax, with the health committee team finalising their lesson plans for tomorrow and the quizzers putting down their ideas. There was also a beach bonfire to sit around and tell stories late into the evening!
Tuesday 19th October –
Today on the build flooring and walling was once again the name of the game as the team continued with what is a very exact science, and after just a few days they received high praise from Jack, our building manager, which is high praise indeed!
In kindi we were happy to see lots of kids arrive, and after circle time it was back on with numbers and colours. For arts and crafts after break time the team once again took the kids to the beach, this time to make a big sand castle that could be decorated with shells collected. And it was Bryony who read Jack and the Beanstalk as the days story.
In school the team continued with their classes. After lunch the health workshops began, with Richard and Bryony heading into classes 5 & 6 to discuss Smoking, Healthy Living and Diabetes, raising awareness on the affects of smoking, the importance of a balanced diet and exercise, and the causes, symptoms and treatment of Diabetes. Neill and Rose went into classes 7 & 8 to talk through Diabetes, smoking and STI’s and sexual health. With smoking a growing concern in Fijian youth it was a vital opportunity to talk through both the physical and financial implications of the habit. Diabetes also has stigma and ignorance attached to it in Fiji and Neill and Rose worked to clarify key elements, before separating the boys and girls between them to discuss safe sexual practice and the signs and symptoms of certain STI’s. The workshops were a huge success and the children were quick to engage and respond.
In sports coaching class 3 & 4 learnt the triple jump in athletics, whilst 5 & 6 were busy as they were introduced to hockey and JiJitsu! Class 7 & 8 boys were also showing real improvement during rugby training, using the skills being taught to them with inside runners, off loading in the tackle and running from depth.
After the school sports it was once again youth games, with training continuing in both rugby and netball. And at the afternoon de-brief it was the vote on movies, with it being a close run thing between Knight & Day and Pirates of the Caribbean, with Knight and Day winning by 2 votes! With Joseph rehearsals beginning for the school children tomorrow the team also sat to listen to the key songs so that we are ready to rock!
Wednesday 20th October –
On the building project this morning the team continued with the flooring, with both pods measuring, cutting and nailing the timbers. After lunch Jack asked for a push on the walling, and so one pod continued on the flooring whilst three looked to build up the outside walls towards the top plates.
In kindi it was once again a day of fun and games, with the lego pieces being given out to the kids who recognise the colours correctly to help their learning, and letters of the alphabet being introduced. In arts and crafts the kids were making necklaces with the shells they had collected from the beach, and they were able to paint their name onto the shells to take home to show their parents!
In school Alistair continued to revise Permieters in Maths, whilst also introduced synonyms in English with classes 5 & 6. Leah looked at health with class 7, and Emma helped Jessie in working through finite and infinite numbers in class 8 maths before taking them outside for arts and crafts.
It was also a big day on project I school today as, after lunch, classes 5, 6, 7 & 8 came together for a first rehearsal of the Jospeh musical! Thom, Richard and Millie, who are leading the production, chose Any Dream Will Do as the first song for the kids to learn, and after singing it through for them once we were all truly amazed at the incredible sound that the children were able to make. With three weeks to go we are all very hopeful of a fantastic evening when they sing a selection of Joseph songs for the village!
For sports coaching classes 5&6 were playing rugby and netball, whilst classes 3 & 4 learnt throwing and catching in cricket. Class 1 & 2 were also introduced to athletics, with 7 & 8 learning hockey and Jijitsu. Rugby and Netball training for the village teams continued after school sports ready for the matches on Saturday afternoon, with both teams are looking strong!
In the evening it was quiz time and the weekly battle of the brains. As ever there were some interesting rounds, including “nicknames” and “Doctor Who”, as well as a “guess the person” round as one from each team had 30 seconds to describe as many people or characters for the others in the team to guess. It is fair to say it was an evening full of banter, and with just one point separating two teams it was team “Ray-n in the titans” who won the oreos and the chance to write next weeks quiz.
Thursday 21st October –
With the sun shining the focus on the build was once again the walling, with three pods continuing on the outside whilst one continued with flooring. It proved a very productive day, with 7 rows of flooring going down and a big change on three of the walls. Jack also began making the doors, having completed the window sills, and the completed structure is now within sight!
In kindi the team were as busy as ever with numbers, colours and shapes, whilst also having the kids singing the Shakira classic waka waka! At story time Rob read “The Little Soldier” to end the day.
In school the team continued with their classes, with class 5 & 6 having a Maths test with Ali, and Leah looking to take her first science experiment. Emma also continued with their reading and spoken English in class 8. And sports coaching was once again in full swing in the afternoon, with classes 3 & 4 taking hockey and Jijitsu, classes 7 & 8 learning the long jump in athletics, classes 5 & 6 learning bowling in cricket and 1 & 2 having tackling practice in netball!
Friday 22nd October –
With some rain in the air this morning we continued with both build pods on the flooring inside, whilst Jack completed the final door. Next week the flooring and walling shall be completed, it is exciting times ahead!
With this being the last day of the two week rota it was one last kindi adventure for Hannah, Rob, Zoe and Bryony, who were not to be put off by the weather! With the kids really responding they have seen some fantastic results for the work they are doing, with Kassa, a 3 year old girls, writing her name and knowing the first 5 letters of the alphabet as an example! They had allot of fun in arts and crafts after break time, before Zoe read The Large Family at story time!
In school it was also the last day of classes for Ali, Leah and Emma, who was flying solo in class 8 with Jessie away, with Sarah sadly not making it in. Ali split classes 5 & 6 into three teams for a “countdown” style maths quiz, whilst Emma had each kid stand and tell their story to the class to practice for the test next week.
In the morning Leah was with Millie in classes 3 & 4 for the last of the health workshops. They looked at the causes, symptoms and preventions of Typhoid, with a word search for the kids to have fun with as they tried to find key symptoms. They also looked at healthy and unhealthy foods, introducing the Ministry of Health’s programme called “Bula 5:30”, encouraging everyone to have their 5 portions of fruit and vegetables and to do at least 30 minutes of exercise every day, before finishing with Teeth, and how to maintain healthy teeth from a young age. The workshop was a success with the kids seeming to respond well and enjoy what they were being taught!
After lunch classes 5, 6, 7 & 8 came together for a second rehearsal of Joseph, with Jacob and Sons and Joseph’s Coat being sung by the kids who once again made a wall of sound that the team will struggle to compete with! As they continue to learn the songs, next`week Millie shall then look to put actions to the words to create a mini drama which is an entirely new concept for the kids to experience.
With the rain falling sports coaching was cancelled in the afternoon, so the team came together for hymn practice, as this week the team shall be singing I Vow to Thee My Country during divine service on Sabbath. And after the practice it was birthday party time as we were invited to celebrate the 1st birthday of Marica, Leah and Namois’ sister in the village. The 1st birthday has big significance for the Fijian communities, and it was a quite a party, with pork, chicken, fish and lots more!
In the evening the team relaxed and played cards together as we look forward to the sports tomorrow and the weekend ahead.
Bula! I can’t believe I am half way through my stay in Ulaibau Village; time has gone quickly and slowly at the same time. I had a rocky beginning in the village being sick in the first week and changing houses in the second but everything has definitely come together now.
My favourite village moment so far has been fishing with my family. Not really knowing what to expect Ellie and I waded out to the deeper waters of ulaibau with our snorkels. Our dad then pointed to a net and explained that we had to swim along it looking for trapped fish. It wasn’t what I had expected (fishing rod) but it was fun. We swam along this net for an hour and unfortunately there was only one fish, a blow fish, and it escaped. So no fish for dinner, Whoops. I was completely knackered afterwards but I felt like I had just experienced something quite unique so I was more than happy.
I have to say that at about 4 o’clock each day I fully appreciate the position of my house, as my bedroom window looks out on to the main playing field when the village rugby guys do their thing! A cuppa tea, couple of crackers, good view through my window…. my afternoons couldn’t be any better!!!
