Bula vinaka (a warm welcome) from Nadi, Fiji!
Anna here with a quick update (since we have a group dinner soon), so apologies for any typos and/or lack of detail. We just got to Nadi (the city) today and are taking the day off to rest and relax before we fly out to Auckland, New Zealand, tomorrow! It’s the first time we’ve gotten access to the Internet since the last blog post, pretty much.
That being said, it has been SUCH an amazing past two weeks in the lovely village of Nananu, up on the northern coast of Fiji. That’s where we kicked off our volunteering by working with the local Fijian guys to build a cement footpath at the nearby elementary school, from the kindergarten section to the rest of the school. It may not seem like a big deal, but when it rains there, the cement footpaths provide a really good alternative to the muddy ground.
In addition to working hard in the hot sun during the day, we also got the chance to dive into the culture and really connect with the community: attending a Fijian funeral, playing volleyball with the guys after work, going to church with our families, drinking kava (a Fijian custom) at night, eating lots of scones and cake at tea time, having some dance parties, and just getting to know our host families better. A lot of us were also able to connect with our creative side through watercolors, henna, and music during our free times. This past Saturday, we got the chance to ride on horseback with some of the locals out to a beautiful waterfall slide, which was a new experience for a lot of us. Our last day in Nananu (Monday) was family day, and each family got to eat lunch together and spend the day however they wanted. We also got to exchange gifts with our families–we gave them some souvenirs from back home, and in return, we got traditional Fijian outfits, made by our naus (mothers)! So beautiful 🙂 Monday night, we had a closing kava ceremony, followed by a dance party, and then we had a pretty emotional goodbye on Tuesday morning (pictures coming soon, hopefully).
It is an understatement to say that we all thoroughly enjoyed and cherished our time in Nananu and that we all miss it dearly. It was such an amazing new experience in many different ways, and we really got to experience so much genuine love and hospitality from each person, even though we were strangers to them two weeks ago. Nananu feels like another home to us, and we hope to be able to visit again sometime. We’re so thankful we got to kick off the trip with this homestay experience, and we’re looking forward to our adventures in New Zealand and Australia.
Until next time!
Love, FANZ Hongi Spring 2012–“Sarong it’s right.”