Day Five

Today was a day for celebration – Fiji style! A formal church service was scheduled for 9am to kick off proceedings, but the school operates in “Fiji time” and so the service was delayed until 10am! The school and village were celebrating the retirement of one teacher, and the opening of the playground. The team did some last minute shopping the evening before so we were all frocked up in bula shirts, sulus and bare feet. John, Jacqui and Kylee took an early morning trip to the market to purchase some savusavu (kava) for presentation to the village elders. There was heavy rain overnight so the sign writing didn't happen. The villagers improvised with a temporary sign on butcher’s paper. We sent team delegates to sit up the front as VIPS whilst Kylee and Emma did their best to keep the kids quiet down the back during the church ceremony. Sarah's balloon popped in middle of prayer causing lots of giggling by students in the back rows. Next on the agenda was a kava ceremony followed by traditional dances (meke) by the students. A lovo lunch followed – chicken, dalo, cassava cooked in a pit underground, accompanied by numerous traditional dishes including a seaweed coconut dish and our favourite – pineapple pie. Little Sarah enjoyed her meal so much that she vomited all over her new bula dress!

Afterwards we were ready to hit the road but we couldn’t go anywhere until the car keys and Riley were located. Riley was way out the back joining in a whole school game of rugby. The keys eventually re-appeared.

A big afternoon in the pool followed by a full team dinner at Raffles next door…..Tane didn’t think much of the meal and fell asleep!

A few post-project tasks to complete including sorting through hours of video footage and photos, some participant questionnaires and most importantly some R&R on a beach in the Yasawas.

Almost the whole team!

Temporary signage

The sandpit

Kava ceremony

Meke dancing