Family Volunteering Fiji: Day Two

Stuart joined the team today after some flight delays so we saved one last hole for him to dig this morning as his initiation! By morning tea all the poles were in place and waiting for the concrete truck to arrive. Its arrival disrupted all school classes with 200 students outside to watch the action as most of them have never seen a concrete truck. It was the quietest the kids have been since we arrived! Emma is currently typing this blog surrounded by a bunch of class 4 & 5 students trying to help out!

Team kids and local students were more comfortable with each other today. This morning Class 2 created origami, and then Tarli and Kiarra ran the class – teaching the students how to do invisible writing with lemon juice as part of their Australian homework activity sheet (Thanks Mrs Phillips!).

Tane joined kindy briefly this morning before retiring to his role as site supervisor in the shade. Harrison, Lorelai and Sarah had a better morning at kindy – the team came armed with donations of books, paper, crayons and puzzles.

Students took some of the team on a tour of the school. We saw how proud the students were of their school, their vegetable garden project and chook raising initiatives. Team members found it a bit confronting to see the boarding houses jam packed with so many beds and very basic facilities.

Megan and Jacqui undertook some interviews with the kids in front of the video camera – and will try some more tomorrow. The sign board was painted and tomorrow is scheduled to be full of painting poles with students assisting.

Today’s reading was a more coordinated approach by the whole team. We had kids and parents reading to all classes – in the smaller classes, older prefects acted as interpreters. Following this while the concrete dried, team members (with the help of our team experts Millie, Mima, Aimee, Amir, Tarli and Kiarra) we ran some more loom band workshops in the other classes – it has been a great highlight for the students – and we ran out of bands! Team members also assisted with running outdoor activities (rugby, duck duck goose, tunnel ball, hand knots, and more). Amir taught his class how to play Aussie Rules. Mark was so enthusiastic he lost his voice.

After a day of construction and a rugby game, Geoff decided to run the 15km home over rocky terrain in the heat of the afternoon. He was sure to receive strange looks from the locals. Needless to say, he won’t be doing it again!