From Nadi to Suva

Last week was a week of traveling for me. On Wednesday afternoon I traveled to Nadi with six Fijian ladies, in the bed of a truck, sitting on ibes (hand-woven mats). We were making our way to Rural Women's Day in Viti Levu's most tourist laden city. I attended as a representative for two Indo-Fijian communities. I brought with me tamarind chutney to sell for the Indian ladies in the clubs. Unlike Fijian women, Indian women find it difficult to leave their homes for more than a day. As John and I have explained before, Indo-Fijians live in settlements (neighborhoods where they own their own compound) while Fijians live in villages where almost everything in shared. This village lifestyle lends itself more to a sense of security. The Fijian ladies I traveled with were from three different villages in the Ra Province and were going to sell ibes, baskets, brooms, fans, and honey.

In Nadi there were women from all over Fiji selling their handicrafts and treats. It was very interesting to see the different styles of mats and fans that were sold. Every Fijian woman knows how to make the two items but the style in which they are weaved and the materials they use depend on the area of Fiji they are from. Rural Women's Day not just a fun place to buy handicrafts, it was also a good opportunity for the visiting women to get ideas from each other. For example, there was one group of women from Vanua Levu selling coconut oil.....not an unusual product but the way it was packaged was very different. The women used recycled Bounty Rum (yucky rum!) bottles for their oil (also not unusual) but instead of leaving the label on the bottles like most other women do, they took them off, polished up the bottles, and covered the lids with nice pieces of bula material and bows. Now, I really don't have any use for coconut oil but I was tempted to buy a bottle just because it looked pretty and professional :) I took a picture of the bottle to show the women back in Rakiraki.

After Rural Women's Day ended I made my way to Suva to meet John and Natalie. A large group of volunteers met in Suva to say goodbye to every one's favorite FRE-6er - Heath! Unfortunately Heath was Medically Separated from Peace Corps Fiji after having to be sent to Australia for surgery. He did not want to leave but did not have a choice. He plans to contest the separation upon his arrival back to the States. We are rooting for him!

I like to think that we sent Heath off in style. We hit up karaoke and did a lot dancing at Traps! We even made time for a hiking and swimming day at Colo i' Suva park.


As a side note: it is HOT AS BALLS in Fiji right now! To fight the heat John and I finally found a fridge (the most wonderful invention in the history of everything!). We have been putting our clean underwear in the freezer which offers a nice, cold, tingle when we put them on in the morning. We also freeze bottles of water and stick them down our shirt, pants, skirts (as a reminder John wears skirts too). The ice thaws on our skin and then we drink the cold water. God bless the fridge. AMEN!

I will post pictures from Nadi and Suva as soon as possible (if you're lucky, I might even post a picture of our fridge).