Fiji: Treat Others
There are few things as rewarding as having a bunch of small kids screaming in joy about how much they love and thank you for doing something so trivial. We volunteered for a week in Narere, a small town near Fiji's capital, Suva, and could not have dreamed of a better experience.
Suva's public transportation-including some pretty awesome Fijian-pop music to keep the party going!
I found this volunteering company called IVHQ while scrolling through Facebook, and boy am I glad I did. I saw that they were offering a one week volunteer program in Fiji and I jumped at the opportunity. After a thorough application process which made me feel very safe, we were accepted into the program and put in touch with the local organizers, Green Lion.
The whole crew! An amazing group of people who I will not forget.
All the administrators at Green Lion were very professional and prompt with their responses. They told us where to go, and our taxi driver from the Suva bus station knew the spot. The program was set over four buildings, three of which were housing and one was where the center was, along with where we ate food.
Green Lion provided us with the option of a private room for an extra cost, which we declined. Gotta rough it out sometimes, you know? So I was placed in a room with three other bros, on a top bunk, with a tiny pillow and static sheets. All a part of the experience.
Not quite the one bedroom suite at the Intercontinental, but sufficient for the five nights we were there.
Quick aside here. Fijian dogs SUCK at night. Like to the point where I, along with everyone else in the program, were seriously considering getting a muzzle for the dogs. In the middle of the night, every night, the dogs would without fail wake everyone up with their incessant barking. So yeah, screw those dogs.
You may be ridiculously cute, but you can absolutely go and screw yourself. With love though <3
The bedding at Green Lion sucked, but everything else was actually solid. The food wasn't bad, although I think something on the last day made my stomach upset for the next three days. There is a small TV in the common area which we used to watch Inglorious Bastards one night and some English comedy another night.
The best part of this experience was without a doubt the kids at the school we volunteered at. I signed up to volunteer in construction, which ended up being just painting the walls of one of the classrooms, alone and without much interaction. So after my first day, I requested to change into sport, which was the best decision of the trip. I got to interact with kids of all ages, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. All these kids had such love and reverence for life even though they had so little, and it truly was enlightening to me. They didn't need anything besides a ball to be entertained. In fact, they didn't even need a ball, as at one point the kids branched off and started a new game of rugby using a water bottle as the ball.
Just making some new friends!
Side note: sorry if this offends anyone, but rugby sucks. There are so many odd rules for a sport that seems otherwise so unruly. I'm not a fan.
Painting - rewarding but too boring for my taste
Leaving on the last day was incredibly difficult even though I spent such a short time with the kids. They all showered me, along with the other volunteers, with love, and even formed bonds with my mom and sister who had been painting the whole time. We made dozens of friends from the program itself, and memories that will last a lifetime.
Volunteering abroad is something that I know can highly recommend, and doing so in Fiji with Green Lion was simply fantastic.