Some of my photos in a video ~ enjoy!
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Monday, 7 May 2012
Day Six ~ Thursday 19th January
A few people have been ill already, luckily not me! Lauren (education leader) was ill with tonsilitus so couldn't come with us to the village. Other people have developed tropical ulcers from mosquitoes bites, after being in the warm sea containing bacteria. Lovely. Can't believe how amazing it is here though, it's exactly like the paradise you see on a postcard. Yellow sand, crystal blue water, blue sky, literally perfection. Our turn to make breakfast today so I got up at 5.45 to make porridge and toast with tomatoes. As soon as I entered the kitchen I saw a mouse scurry into a hole in the wall and Angela felt a rat across her foot!! It was dark so we had to use torches to fry toast. We went back to the village we went to on Tuesday ~ Makavakalevu or something and sat by the sea again, painting shells and playing 'Paraball' with the parachute. We blew up some balloons for them and wrote their names on them, played snakes and ladders and volleyball. Well I sat and watched the volleyball in the shade while the little ones clambered over me. We had leftover dahl baht from yesterday which was warmed up for us, is was delicious and is exactly what is eaten in Nepal. The education leader, Jackie, spent 3 months volunteering in Nepal, Tibet and India and when in Nepal she helped at an orphanage in Pokhara, what a coincidence! We got back and could be lazy, in true Fijian style ~ swimming and lying by the palm trees, we can even buy beer for $3. We were sat relaxing and suddenly the base kids came running up with homemade pea shooters, made with seeds from the trees and began firing them at us! Last night we watched a film on a projector called The Guard.
Day Five ~ Wednesday 18th January
We went back to the village that we went to on Monday and made the shell jewellery, crowns and painted shells. Outside we played ball and got the parachute out. I played with a girl called Rebecca (aged 13). It was so fun but it got very hot. We had lunch with the locals who cooked rice with a fishy noodle sauce and what looked like cockles with breadfruit. The breadfruit tasted powdery and strange. The Fijian hospitality is so friendly, they all have huge smiles. Didn't bother wearing shoes today so I was worried I would tread on some weird bug. There is apparently something called a Spab or spider crab that can drop from the trees and kill people! We were also told to be aware of poisonous cone shells, stingrays, jellyfish, stonefish and sea snakes! All of which can be deadly. Do not pick up any pretty shells! When we got back we pretty much jumped straight into the sea to cool off.
In the education group there is Emily (Australian), Angela (Swiss), Jon (Canadian), Nat (US) and Tyler (US). Other people joining us at the moment are Nish (UK but born in Sri Lanka) and Lena (UK but part Danish). They also do construction ~ glad I'm not doing that in the heat! So there is a real mix of people. Everyone has to do base chores and I do recycling every Thursday and a kitchen clean every Tuesday as well as cooking ~ not like home! Other chores include looking after the veggie patch, rot patrol, cleaning the toilets and the GVI blog.
In the education group there is Emily (Australian), Angela (Swiss), Jon (Canadian), Nat (US) and Tyler (US). Other people joining us at the moment are Nish (UK but born in Sri Lanka) and Lena (UK but part Danish). They also do construction ~ glad I'm not doing that in the heat! So there is a real mix of people. Everyone has to do base chores and I do recycling every Thursday and a kitchen clean every Tuesday as well as cooking ~ not like home! Other chores include looking after the veggie patch, rot patrol, cleaning the toilets and the GVI blog.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Day Four ~ Tuesday 17th January
Vinaka vakalevu ~ Thank you very much!
Had a better night's sleep although there was a massive storm and I thought the trees would fall through the roof :L The mariners have such an intense course compared to us and have to have lectures to study fish. It does look very fascinating though. Their course is brand new and involves marine research to protect the fish. Went to a different village today to do the summer school again with a much smaller group of 15 kids. The facepaints were trashed so we could only use blue and red but the kids had so much fun. They also made crowns but tipped half a ton of glitter on them! There were some amazing masks ~ a tiger and some suns. The other kids made bracelets and necklaces. We sat outside, right next to the sea and at lunch time the village women made lemon tea and buttery rotis ~ they were delicious. We then played ball and frisbee with them on the beach. I can't believe this is work! The kids got hold of our cameras. Uh oh! One of them, Vina, took mine and took pictures of EVERYTHING. Consequently, my camera then die. By the end the ground was COVERED in glitter, card, paper, beads and paint. It was worth it though to see the kids so happy and helping each other :). Again it was hard to go as they stood on the beach and waved to us. Aww. When we got back we spent hours painting penne pasta and shells from the beach for the kids to make bracelets and necklaces. For dinner we had potato, beans and fruit. We walked along to Lo's Tea Shop later and had delicious banana cake andd chocolate sauce, whilst digging our toes into the sand of the beach.
Had a better night's sleep although there was a massive storm and I thought the trees would fall through the roof :L The mariners have such an intense course compared to us and have to have lectures to study fish. It does look very fascinating though. Their course is brand new and involves marine research to protect the fish. Went to a different village today to do the summer school again with a much smaller group of 15 kids. The facepaints were trashed so we could only use blue and red but the kids had so much fun. They also made crowns but tipped half a ton of glitter on them! There were some amazing masks ~ a tiger and some suns. The other kids made bracelets and necklaces. We sat outside, right next to the sea and at lunch time the village women made lemon tea and buttery rotis ~ they were delicious. We then played ball and frisbee with them on the beach. I can't believe this is work! The kids got hold of our cameras. Uh oh! One of them, Vina, took mine and took pictures of EVERYTHING. Consequently, my camera then die. By the end the ground was COVERED in glitter, card, paper, beads and paint. It was worth it though to see the kids so happy and helping each other :). Again it was hard to go as they stood on the beach and waved to us. Aww. When we got back we spent hours painting penne pasta and shells from the beach for the kids to make bracelets and necklaces. For dinner we had potato, beans and fruit. We walked along to Lo's Tea Shop later and had delicious banana cake andd chocolate sauce, whilst digging our toes into the sand of the beach.
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| Dishing up a pasta lunch |
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| Ruci and a dog :) |
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| Tiger mask! |
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| Rotis and lemon tea |
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Day Three ~ Monday 16th January
Sega na Lega ~ No Worries (this will become a tattoo!)
Another night of not so great sleep and had to get up early to go to summer school in a village on another island, one GVI had not yet been to. It took about ten minutes to get there by boat, then we walked to the village hall to meet the chiefs and say 'bula!' We had to wear our sulus (sarongs) and GVI tops. All the kids came and shook our hands individually and then sang a Fijian song which was really sweet. We then went to the school and started setting up and suddenly loads of kids appeared from nowhere. Me, Emily and Nat were in charge of facepainting and head-bands and the other group did masks and drawing. I have never done so much face-painting on so many sweaty faces! Loads of kids were running around with bunny ears and whiskers.. so cute! We then put some pop music on which I hadn't heard in ages, was weird to hear in such a contrasting location. We had lunch and then had to say goodbye! All the kids cling on and its hard to go. We had to jump off the boat back at base and got soaked, such an unusual way to get to work every day. We had ages when we got back so we made lots of crowns and masks for tomorrow. The cooking team made noodles and veg, delicious!
Another night of not so great sleep and had to get up early to go to summer school in a village on another island, one GVI had not yet been to. It took about ten minutes to get there by boat, then we walked to the village hall to meet the chiefs and say 'bula!' We had to wear our sulus (sarongs) and GVI tops. All the kids came and shook our hands individually and then sang a Fijian song which was really sweet. We then went to the school and started setting up and suddenly loads of kids appeared from nowhere. Me, Emily and Nat were in charge of facepainting and head-bands and the other group did masks and drawing. I have never done so much face-painting on so many sweaty faces! Loads of kids were running around with bunny ears and whiskers.. so cute! We then put some pop music on which I hadn't heard in ages, was weird to hear in such a contrasting location. We had lunch and then had to say goodbye! All the kids cling on and its hard to go. We had to jump off the boat back at base and got soaked, such an unusual way to get to work every day. We had ages when we got back so we made lots of crowns and masks for tomorrow. The cooking team made noodles and veg, delicious!
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| Amelia making a crown! |
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| Mask making |
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| Drawing and colouring :) |
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