Busy as a bee

It is August! That means so many things for John and me: 1.) We have been at our site for a full year, 2.) I have completed phase 2 of my Beekeeping Development Project focused on Small Business training for beekeepers, 3.) my water projects in the Indo-Fijian settlements are finished 4.) John and I have received funding for a water project in our village (funded by Rotary Pacific Water for Life) and construction of the new pipeline begins this month, 5.) and finally, we are taking our first real vacation.....we are going to AUSTRALIA!!!



I am excited to have finished my business trainings. This was a first for me; I had never before taught adults. The trainings were organized by the Business Incubation Center in Rakiraki town. I facilitated the training with John Caldeira, a friend and retired Peace Corps Volunteer who lives here in Fiji. My role in the training was to teach the "Managing Your Money" portion of the training. This section of training focused on personal finance, goal setting, prioritising, and saving. Day two of the business training focused on Business Finance. John taught the majority of this training section. John and I planned the training to be as interactive as possible. Participants completed income and expense worksheets, wrote up a personal savings plan, put together a financial plan for a business and participated in a few small games. In total the training reached six communities (5 villages and 1 settlement) in six different tikinas (districts) and over 120 participants. I like to think that the participants enjoyed the training and learned something useful.



The water project in our village was a surprise. We did not think that it would ever happen due to lack of funding. The issue in the village is that many faucets are broken and constantly leak causing low pressure for the village. In addition, the pipe bringing water to our village is shared by three other villages, one of which operates a fish pond. As a result, very few houses in the village are allowed to have taps, while the ones that do have inadequate pressure. There are no shower heads in the village and no sinks. All taps are low to the the ground so dish washing, clothes washing and showering is done using a series of buckets while in the squat position. The village planned a soli (fundraiser) for new piping, only serving our village, and to fix the broken taps. As we guessed, the soli had a low turn-out and did not raise the required funds. John and I were very disappointed by this but not surprised. The only fundraisers that raise significant funds in the village are for the Methodist Church. Well, the day after the soli I attended the grand opening of my water project in the Volivoli settlement. After the ceremony, trying my luck, I asked the director of Rotary Pacific Water for Life if she could help us, telling here that we are about 6K short of our goal. To my delight and surprise, she answered that she would be happy fund the remainder of the project. Construction is set to begin in the next few weeks and should be complete upon our return from Australia.



These last few months have been busy with visitors and projects. Now, it is time for a break, Australia here we come!!!