Here I am in Vanuabalavu

1 October 2010

I am so excited today! I have all these great ideas of what I want to do here on the island and how I’ll be able to help the people on Vanuabalavu. But, I won’t be able to do it on my own. I am asking anyone willing and able, to help me give these people that have crept into my heart, a little piece of ‘heaven’ that we take so for granted. 

According to people that I have spoken to here on Vanuabalavu, and people in Suva – which is the capital and largest city of Fiji – Vanuabalavu and other islands of the Lau group, are known as the ‘Forgotten Islands.’ This is because they’re very far from the main island and that’s what made it an easy target when in 1855 the Tongan Prince Enele Ma'afu conquered the region. The Tongan influence is still very evident in the culture and architecture on the island.  

All supplies and necessities are either flown in from the main island or brought in by boat, which pushes up the prices significantly. Only the absolute necessities can be bought because it’s just too expensive to even consider any so-called luxuries.  As it is, most of the daily things that are needed are brought in from Australia or New Zealand and even then a lot of it is unaffordable for most of the people on the island. The plane trip from Suva to Vanuabalavu takes about an hour and a half and that only happens once a week.  The boat only comes out once a month and that trip takes 28 hours – if the weather permits.  If not – you wait another whole month. So many times goods have been ordered and paid for and people are left waiting for two months to receive the stuff.

But first, let me give you a bit of background about myself and my work:

I came to the island from South Africa, to work as the island manager of the Nabavatu Plantation where coconuts are processed and made into Virgin Coconut Oil. That’s only one of the many tasks I have. I love being here and the challenges and growing opportunity it’s presented. Skapie  (the Afrikaans name for a baby sheep) is one of my big challenges – or should I say Skapie’s stepmothers are my big challenges! Skapie’s twin was eaten by a pig and Skapie’s mother died when Skapie was only four days old. And so – Skapie was put in my care and trying to find a step-mother for her has been a very frustrating task! There have been 3 that I thought were good candidates, but all I seem to do is wrestle for a teat to suck on– for Skapie that is – not me! I have bite and bump marks to show for my efforts.

Other responsibilities include paying salaries to staff, general maintenance and managing the minute shop in the village. A village with a whole six houses.  

It’s quite a sacrifice I made to be here and had I known what was waiting for me, I probably would not have come in the first place. But here I am and I do want to make a difference to the lives and lifestyle of the people here on Vanuabalavu, and offer something to them that they haven’t had before. I would also like to teach them to do and make things with their hands so that they can occupy their time with creative activities and hopefully be able to generate extra money from their efforts.

My apologies for not putting up photos, but the computer says no.  Well, it's actually the computer connection that says no. It can take more than 20 minutes to get connected (if I manage to get connected at all!) and then all I have to do is press a key (any key) and it all disappears. The back button is the biggest culprit because it just shuts everything down.

I’ll be back to tell you more about the plans I have of how these people can be helped and I look forward to having you along with me on this very interesting journey.