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.
1 comment:
This place looks like paradise. Did you end up cutting your hair? And you didn't even get a massage from me and you get one from me.
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