more to do

It's been a while since I last updated the blog and theres a lot to catch up, so I'll try to keep the stories from last week brief

Monday was a normal day in the office- some typing, watching the Olympics (which I'm sad to say is now over- boohoo, there goes my entertainment at work), and wandering around with other staff. Later in the day I received a phone call from someone I had met over a beer at the Northern Club. He turned out to be the vice president of the Rotary Club in Lautoka. Since Rotary does quite a bit of outreach and philanthropic work around the west, we both agreed that attending a meeting would be a good idea for me.

The meeting was very organized. Introductions, speeches, future plans and ideas, etc. The district governor came for his official visit that night so a lot was mentioned about Rotary's involvement with eradicating Polio around the globe and further initiatives on the international level. It was great to hear, but by the end of the night I still wasn't sure what this Rotary branch was doing locally. This week, I plan to attend another meeting which will hopefully clarify current and upcoming local projects.

The next day I expected to go into work and have another normal day. The slow pace made me nervous so I decided to step out and find something else to do- write my blog, yay! Unfortunately the library was closed, so I sat accross the street under a nice big tree and started working on my project reports while I waited the 15 minutes for it to open.

While waiting and writing, a group of people began calling me from the 4th story of a building. hmm, what to do. Ignore them? yes, I'll do that, I'll just sit here and pretend to be working hard. My forehead wrinkled up and my pen began to move more fluidly. Uh oh, they're coming down, running towards me trying to get my attention. What to do? Confront them, yes, thats what I'll do. I sat there as they came towards me, only two this time.

"are you busy"

"umm, well, I have this paperwork to fill out"

"so, are you busy?"

hmm, what to say now? "no I'm just waiting for the library to open"

"well, would you like to have a massage, manicure, pedicure, and you hair styled? we're a part of the cosmetology school and we're doing our practicals today." I'm sure she sensed my confusion and skepticism so she said "dont worry, its just for practice. we have an exam coming up, so it's all free."

Okay, sounds good to me. I went upstairs where students were learning how to cut, color and style hair, do manicures, pedicures, body wraps, massages, etc. Four hours later I left feeling relaxed and refreshed, not to mention my newly painted nails and nice straightened hair :o) -- needless to say I never did get to write my blog for the day... but, I will have you know that I did make it back to work!

Wednesday afternoon another call came. A project working with sex workers of the west created an advocacy group, and I was allowed to sit in on their meeting. The project that had originally brought the sex workers together is opting to take a back seat role in the advocacy group (the politics of the whole matter is still a little unclear to me) so the ladies, men, and viaviayalewas (transgender- mtf) were told that the advocacy group would only survive if they created their own project outside of the organization- though there would still be help and support from the original project. The meeting was all about the development of the new project created internally from the sex workers themselves.

Anyway, it went well and the participants created the 'Pacific Rainbow Project' -the new name for their advocacy group, and I have offered to be the health liaison for it. This means that if any or all need condoms, materials, or testing, they will call me and I will link them to the necessary resources (i.e. the Hub Centre where I work).

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On Thursday, I made it back into the interior. I went to a village called Nadrau, much more rural than I was expecting, where I helped with a combined TB/HIV workshop. The ride itself was 3 hours straight into Viti Levu, which essentially means I went to the center of the largest island of Fiji. The workshop was a day event in itself and my brain was exhausted by the end. My Fijian is coming along very slowly, and its always frustrating when I go on full day events like this one.

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Yesterday was a very long relaxing day. A good day, a fantastic day, I would say. My friend and I hopped on a boat out to an island called Beachcomber. Its a day trip island and resort. Since it was my first time out on the island I decided to go exploring... I wanted to trek the WHOLE thing. About 15 minutes later I realized I had walked the entire coast of the island, hehe. It's tiny! A few bure (thatch roof huts), perfect white sand beach and beautiful trees.

My day was spent under the sun snorkeling, napping, and reading. A good wrap up for the week I would say.

energizing the energized

This past Thursday I was able to finally get out to the Prison. Natabua Prison is about 7 km outside of Lautoka proper, it has about 200 inmates who are in for a short period of time- all others would be sent to the Suva prison. It isn't what you would call maximum security...

Upon entering the prison I was quite nervous, not because of the inmates themselves, but because of what was expected of me- I was asked to do 'energizers.' It was explained to me that these 'energizers' were useful as trust activities. So, I chose to do two; one where the group tries to get into line according to their birthday without talking, and a game of two truths and a lie.

So there I was, standing outside the gates of the Prison about to treat convicted felons like primary school children. I walked through the grounds to the 'classroom.' When we got there, it was just the two of us- me and the life skills educator who had initially asked me to come with her.

We waited while the inmates came in one by one dressed in their full orange or blue outfits. As they came in a few stopped at the sinks just outside the 'classroom'- farts, jokes and laughter came wafting in. It was amusing to see how embarrassed they were when they saw me sitting there. All I could do was giggle and suddenly I was no longer nervous...

Once the session started I got up and explained the 'energizers' and their purpose. The 10 of them seemed happy to be moving around, communicating and doing something a little different. Yes, there were a few that gave off the vibe of disinterest, but overall it was just fine under the overall circumstances.

After my little stint (which took about 25 minutes out of the two hours spent there), they all sat down and the life skills session began. The day was focused on making a priority matrix for reintegration into their communities. Many of them had families and support structures to go back to, others were focused on where to go, and everyone was concerned about money, land, and employment.

My job shifted to transcribing what was written on the board onto large sheets of paper, so I was able to listen and not feel completely useless.

I was supposed to return to the prison the next day, on friday, but unfortunately there were logistical issues that needed formal paperwork for me to enter again. Prison reform is really cool and I hope that 'Fiji time' doesnt take over and the paperwork is processed in a timely manner. Also, the life skills educator seemed to like having me around because I was able to give suggestions when she asked for it.

Anyway, so friday at the prison didnt work out, sad, so I went down to work and decided to see if I was needed there- or to watch the olympics, which has been on in the lobby all week, yay! I did neither because when I arrived everyone was getting ready for 'sports day'- a friday afternoon activity where all the nurses and medical staff get together at Shirley park and play soccer and volleyball. It was fantastic! Most people had no idea what they were doing, but we were all having fun and laughing (side note- I did get invited to play on the Lautoka Medical 7's soccer team by the medical officer, we'll see what comes of that). I was among the last to leave and was very sweaty at my departure, which was unfortunate because I was off to a family barbecue at a friends house.

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Saturday was a big event- a black and white formal function with an open bar, uh oh. I beautified myself and headed down to the northern club (a place where people go to swim, play tennis, squash, and drink) with two friends. The whole club was transformed and everyone looked wonderful- I'm used to seeing most of them in a t-shirt and board shorts. I danced, ate plenty of delicious food (sashimi, dumplings, curry, etc.), drank lots of wine, and chatted the night away with many of my new friends. It was a great time, and the night that started around 7 pm ended around 2:30 am.

The next day was a day to sleep in and have a small barbecue at my house. We made hamburgers. My room mate is finally starting to move in, so it was nice to have her and some of her Japanese friends around.

Nagisa's friend Hiro, funny boy, gets very drunk off of one beer, in fact it was the one he's holding that did him in that day.
Sitting down for lunch in the front room


nagisa (the room mate) and tim (another volunteer) cooking at the house- me? I'm setting the table

At President's night- the black and white function

Things are slowing back down as the week starts up again. My projects are dependent on other people right now, so there's only so much I can do while my counterpart and supervisor are both on leave.

the 'youth' workshop

Since the last entry I have been to a youth workshop. The workshop was for high school drop outs. The basis for this 3 week long workshop is income generations for squatter settlements outside of major cities.

Initially, the program itself didnt seem to have anything to do with income generation- it was a day of yoga, energizers, and learning a play. There were about 10 'youth' (in fiji this word encompasses any person that is unmarried up to the age of about 35), the youngest 14, the oldest 23. I participated in all of the activities, except for the play...

The play was centered around the issue of alcohol and domestic abuse- educational entertainment, if you will.

It was later explained to me that the 'youth' doing this workshop would have the opportunity to continue to pursue creating a theater group in the community. Currently, there is a lot of funding for programs like these. The community theater group would have to commit to doing outreach programs for the local villages and other squatter settlements.

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Oh... and on Saturday I went to an island and sat on the beach sipping on a strawberry daiquiri. It was fabulous, but I was a little grumpy this weekend because I slept in late the morning my friends went out on the 45 ft yacht... sad :o( --- ahhh the trials of a volunteer.

the interior

A reproductive health workshop in the interior of Viti Levu. Woo! the first one.

Two hours straight into the interior. There are really only one paved road that goes around the island- everything else is unkempt gravel, so the ride was bumpy... We traveled to a village called Tabalei, a small village in the mountains of Ba. The two peer educators I went with were requested- by the village, how cool!- to come and talk about STIs and HIV/AIDS.

The workshop lasted the entire day and was done completely in Fijian. It started with introductions (which is always embarrassing for me because I have to stumble through my Fijian while everyone giggles), sign up sheet and expectations.

The village expectations for the workshop were mostly questions like; what is HIV, how can you get it, how do you know if someone has it, etc. So, the program proceeded and they answered the questions while also giving the basic training for all reproductive health workshops. We had our break for, tea (and kava of course- I dont know if I mentioned that most if not all community workshops and events are done around the tanoa bowl, where the kava is mixed and consumed), lunch, and tea again.

Around 2:30pm (just after afternoon tea) there was sense that the end of the session was coming so people began to pass up pieces of ripped paper with their own personal questions on it. The mood changed, people were suddenly more interested. The questions were very specific, which was surprising because everybody knows everybody elses business in a village. The questions came, and floor was open for discussion... though everything was in Fijian, I was able to pick up enough to know what was going on, with help from a colleague who would translate when she saw wrinkles form on my forehead. It was fantastic! This was the first workshop I had been to with the Ministry of Health, and it seemed to be more or less effective and worthwhile. Whether behavior change will take place or not is another question, but with community outreach we can only hope that a difference was made.

On the ride home, we stopped on the top of a mountain and watched the sun set over the ocean while blasting oldies (like the Four Tops) out of the SUV. Sitting on the car and looking out at my new home was a perfect way to end the wonderful day :o)