Before our trip, we got allocated a village in rural Fiji and got told about the school and the type of land to expect (beach,mountains,forest). Apart from this information we only found out every other detail when we arrived. This was an exciting yet quite a nerve-wracking experience to see if the community would be welcome to the volunteers.

The volunteers comprised of 3 boys and 17 girls. We were split off into groups when we arrived and got introduced to our family we were staying with for the next three weeks. A welcoming hug from the mother (Veniana), a handshake from the father (Apisalome) and an excited yet puzzled child called Seci, made us feel welcomed into their home. They set aside beds for us with our own mosquito nets and provided meals for us. Other volunteers mentioned they had different experiences in terms of sleeping/food arrangements but nevertheless we were all grateful for their generous comfort over the next few weeks.

The houses in the village were all built by the families out of the materials they have bought. It really is an eye-opener that everything they have has been built up by themselves. The father owns quite a large section of land where he grows crops and this is then sold in the towns by the mother who looks after the house. Seci is 9 years old and as he was in the school that we were volunteering in, it must have been quite an experience for him with no escape from us!

Activities:

A usual after school activity would be immersing in sport or swimming in the river. Lots of the Fijian children played with toys made out the local materials such as a 'car' made out of a stick and two wheels. It goes to show that technology isn't the only way to have fun in life! Whilst we were there, we enjoyed doing cultural activities such as carpet weaving, making bilo cups out of coconuts and making brooms for sweeping. Throughout the day, villagers are very open in inviting people around to their house for tea after school and it was lovely to talk about people's stories all around the village. 

Dance and Grog:

Many of the events that happened in the village, most of the time, lead to a dance and grog session. Grog/Kava is the Fijian drink that communities bond over and they use it as a time for socialisation. Accompanying this is a dance where a set of massive speakers (bought from the capital) is brought out of nowhere and these dances last for hours with some popular Fijian tunes repeating numerous times throughout the night!

Church and Sabbeth Day:

Every Sunday the village rests and rejoice on Sabbeth Day. This day is to relax and plan on the week ahead. In addition, church service happens in the morning, lunch and evening and some villagers even go to all three services! A Sunday school, for the children, would sing in the service with beautiful harmonies and members of village occasionally help out with readings from the bible too. The dress for Church is a formal Sulu with a Bula T-Shirt for the males and Bula Dresses for the females.

Cuisine

The cuisine in Fiji comprises of traditional meals with slight western variation due to the developing country. The family we stayed with provided us with breakfast, lunch and dinner and their food was delicious and certainly filled us up! Breakfast comprised of pancakes, rice and roti to name a few. When we went out to school, they packed us a lunch which again ranged between families. Our family delicacy was pumpkin curry and rice. Dinner had Casaba, boiled river-fish, chicken, rice, tuna, green leaves and stir-fry to name a few. We were very lucky to have this food and many of the volunteers in the group helped out with the cooking. It was an honour for us to experience such wonderful Fijian cuisine from the families that keep the tradition alive.

1) Mini-Village Expedition

On the first Saturday we all went on foot to the neighbouring village called Naraviravi where we walked up to a beautiful viewpoint surrounding the mountains and drank kava with the locals in the village hall. It was great seeing the village children walking up with us and even one of them riding their horse up too! They welcomed us with a flower necklace and we spent literally hours talking to village folk and dancing along to Fijian tunes with the children.

2) Billi-Billi Rafting

We headed to the River to build boats named Billi-Billi's out of bamboo and an unusual rope substance and surprisingly they didn't sink! The community was there to build them with us and then the volunteering group had a race down the river on the 2 boats to find the Nayaulevu rowing champions!

3) Spearfishing

The final Saturday lead us to the river again to try out spearfishing for the lunch and evening meal. They use a metal pole and bow to catch fish underwater and whilst I managed to catch a few leaves in the process, the Fijians were very good at picking the right place down the river to get the most food!

4) Outreach Sports Programme

On every Think Pacific project, you get assigned an outreach school to give a taster session on what the project can bring to the local school and community. A 40-minute trailer journey lead us to a beautiful part of the mountains in a very well-looked after community. We did a range of sports activities with them and got the warmest of welcomes from them too!

Sport within a Fijian community is massive. They host a variety of sports within the curriculum but Rugby is one of the most popular. So much so that they even have a $7 note of the Rugby 7's representing the Fiji team!