Bula Fiji

Last week my counterpart and myself received a last minute invitation phone call to attend a workshop with the GTZ (German Technical Corporation) in Fiji. GTZ (http://www.gtz.de/en/), is the overseas group currently working with Butmas and the grantor's of both the portable sawmill and the materials needed for the agroforestry and tree nursery projects. So with some quick peace corps approval I was off to Suva the capitol of Fiji 24 hours later. When we arrived at the workshop on Monday I realized that it was in no way applicable to my work here in Vanuatu (the workshop involved learning very basic software to analyze business viability and train business advisers) and so spoke with the regional GTZ boss about making the week more worthwhile for not only myself but the corporation that paid my way. Luckily he was quite flexible and I ended up having a week of daily trips to sawmills, nurseries, forestry research stations, eco-businesses and an entrepreneur working in bamboo technology. With this change in plans I also was able to spend my last day on a small island surf resort and got a full day of surfing at Frigates Pass, a world class south pacific reef. This wave was unlike any I had previously surfed in that it was 12 miles out to sea. We took a boat from the island and from the water could not see the mainland while surfing though we were surrounded by quite a bit of wildlife including jumping Marlin, Turtles, Schools of Tuna and the accompanying sea birds (Frigates) following the fish.

Fiji was quite a bit different from Vanuatu and I was impressed by the development in both the urban and rural areas. I believe that the lengthy colonization by the British helped greatly by providing much infrastructure for the country and also the presence of the Indo-Fijian population creates an atmosphere of competition within the country in both schools and business that requires the native Fijians to compete and thus develop/ grow so not to get left behind. Needless to say Fiji is many levels above what I witness here in Vanuatu. (Random Fijian Window Sticker)

Upon returning from Fiji I went and spent three nights with my original training host family on Lelepa island and had a few days of boats, spear fishing and sunshine. It was good to see my host family and again observe the other end of the Vanuatu village spectrum. I also shared my times in Butmas with the villagers of Lelepa through a slide show.

This week is our All-Volunteer conference and hence I have been in Vila for the last three days since coming back from Lelepa Island. Today all 84 or so volunteers head off to a resort where we will be for the next four days sharing stories, knowledge, and attending workshops/seminars and having a little break from island life. Then on Friday I leave Vanuatu for Australia where I will be meeting up with Melanie and heading to South East Asia, which I am looking forward to very much. So Until then.....Peace and Love from the South pacific