Rachel & Fiona
Looking out of class 3&4 across the sports field and through the towering palm trees, the crystal blue sea appears never ending. It couldn’t be any more different from home. The children’s singing echo’s through the village and I can’t stop smiling; they are genuinely ecstatic that we are finally here. Just along the beach in Yavu village, Kindi is full of giggles and laughter. There we spend mornings building lego houses, drawing pictures and brushing teeth after snack time. The days are long and the work is hard but heading back to our families after dinner, looking up at the millions of stars, you can understand why we truly appreciate this once in a lifetime experience.
Hannah Cornish
The first couple of weeks in Fiji have been amazing. Although the weather wasn’t great to start off, we have had a few sunny days and there’s been plenty to do when its raining. Spending the first few days on Caqalai was awesome to get to know the team more and have fun, but the best part was arriving on Batiki. After 2 and a half hours on rough seas we were greeted by the beautiful scenery and amazing people. Meeting my Fijian family was weird at first, but they made me feel at home with lots of lemon cake and tea. I’m on the build for the first two weeks and even though its hard work, seeing the progress of it every day is so rewarding. It means so much to the people of Mua. My first few weeks have been so good I can’t put it all into words, but I would recommend to book yourself a place on Think Pacific if your thinking about it as I’ve already learnt so much with 8 weeks still to go. Anyway it was just a little blog to let everyone at home know I’m enjoying myself and doing fine and miss you all. See you in 8 weeks.
Natalie & Harriette
Imagine a beautiful postcard, we are there! We arrived here in Mua village, Batiki after a 4 hour boat ride on Monday to the whole village singing, clapping and making the most incredible welcoming sound. Next day was started unloading all the materials for the community centre onto the island, in preparation for our big build. The house Natalie and I are staying in is the ‘villa’ of the village and unlike any other Fijian home. We feel so honoured to stay here. We both started the project as teaching assistants, Natalie in classes 5&6 and Harriette in classes 1&2. It is a privilege to work with kids who are so eager to learn. Our afternoons so far have been spent on the build. All we can say is it is going to feel amazing when it is completed. A few have been ill since being in this different climate, but hopefully this will not take a toll on our experience and we will get used to the hot temperatures. All in all Mua village and the people living here is more than we could imagine. We could not have asked for a better team to work with. Everyone is getting on so well and the leaders are ones to look up to. Lets get going!
Here are a few more photos from our five week team on Moturiki Island. We’ll be posting lots more in the next couple of days along with a diary of their first two weeks volunteering in Nasauvuki;
