World Health Organization training

I'm guessing at this point you are all wondering what good I'm doing in Fiji. Trust me, I was wondering the same thing as of Wednesday morning. Luckily the rest of this week has been jam packed with information on the projects we are able to work on.

On Wednesday I went to a World Health Orginization training. They are working here in Fiji doing their Health Promoting Schools (HPS) Campaign. Each week WHO hosts a training in a different city of the island and invites head masters and principals to learn about the campaign and begin setting goals to make their school an HPS. Similar to the US, one of the major health issues in Fiji are Non Communicable Diseases (i.e. diseases that can not be passed from one person to another, e.g. heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.). The five major areas of improvement for educating children are tobacco, alcohol, sexual activity, physical activity, and nutrition. Sound familiar? Wednesdays training was the introduction to the campaign along with brainstorming for solutions to these five problems. After the trainings are completed in the next few weeks schools are expected to set and implement goals to make their school an HPS.

A girl here is working closely with WHO and I am helping her make an evaluation form to evaluate the schools once the proper implementation has taken place. While it's not exactly what I came here for, I'm finding that so many of the projects that are available to me can use my business knowledge and will teach me more about development and growth that I would be able to learn in the US.

I'm heading into town (it's Saturday here) for lunch and shopping but I'll update you on the other project I was able to learn about this week later.

Moce from Fiji.

Natadola Beach

Monday was the Queen's Birthday (a public holiday here in Fiji) and our ward organized a picnic to celebrate our day off. We decided to go to Natadola beach (pronounce Natandola) which is about 1.5 hours away from Lautoka. It's known as one of Fiji's best beaches on the main island and it is on the Coral Coast in the south of Viti Levu (near Sigatoka on this map).

I played in the ocean, watched volleyball, read a book, found sea shells, and ate tuna fish sandwiches. 

New home & movie night

 View from the entrance

 My room

 Living room

Movie night! Holly, me, Nikki, Tacy

Church in Fiji

Church was great today. The people are so welcoming and I can tell that they are really happy we are here. It runs a little long- making 3 hours of church 3.5 to 4 but we just chalk it up to Fiji time.

Walking to and from church, however, is a pain. It was fairly cool this morning so we made it without sweating too much but on the way home it felt like I was walking through a waterfall. Luckily the only temperature of water is cold so I've been having a few showers per day in order to cool off (our new flat doesn't have fans as of yet).

In other news, I am ALWAYS hungry here. The first morning I was here I had eggs and toast and we've been eating at a lot of restaurants (because of the homelessness) but besides that I've been living on peanut butter and breakfast crackers (thicker than saltines), oreos, and tim tams(another form of cookie). I just need some protein, you know? Luckily, I brought a few protein bars.

Fiji Time

There's a little thing here in Fiji called "Fiji Time". And I hate it.While we are learning about being punctual and on time to everything in the states, Fijians take more of a come and leave as you please position. Thus, "Fiji Time" means I'm not coming when I say but I'll be there when I feel like it. This is how the bus' run, how taxis run, just about how everything runs. Even my team has adapted to the Fiji time. We were supposed to leave for town at 11:00am and it's currently 11:30 and some aren't even showered. 

Here's to getting use to Fiji time!

Moving pains

We are very lucky to be in a good ward here. The bishop and his wife have been helping us everyday (we're not quite sure what they do for a living). Yesterday we were homeless still when we came home from the resort so they offered to let us stay at the church in the primary room. 

 Home for the night

 LDS Church in Lautoka, Fiji

Packing some of our stuff up in the van

Catching Up

Day One: Continued

Guess what I got to do my first day in Fiji? Move an entire house. Haha, well actually we had a LOT of help from the Bishop and his wife along with some members. We became homeless the first night I was in Fiji. Luckily we lived very close to town and were able to find a fairly cheap hotel to stay. The room was even air conditioned! (Apparently a luxury here). We went out to the BBQ Chicken restaurant, which I hear is about as American as you can get here and the jet lag hit me HARD. We wandered back to the hotel and I crashed.

Day Two

Guess what I found finally? A Diet Coke! They usually drink Coke Zero (which I would have settled for) but I found a delicious DC at the store around the corner. 

Go figure the first photo I post is of me and a Diet Coke

We found out that one of the volunteers (Annie) fell out of a tree in one of the villages after watching the sunrise and after all the commotion of moving and tree trauma Kat decided that we should get out of Lautoka (where we are staying) and go to Roki Roki to a resort. Day two and I'm already heading to the beach! I will post pictures and continue the story very soon!

p.s.- I won't be recounting every day like this for very long. I just happened to keep a little journal for the first days and wanted to update you all :)

xoxo

Contact Info

I was seriously mistaken when I told you friends that I would have WiFi. I must have misunderstood the directors here. I was finally able to go into town and buy an internet stick though so I have plenty of access to the internet but not on my phone (i.e. no iMessage or FaceTime).

The different ways you can reach me:
email- karliwoolley@gmail.com
skype- karli.woolley
facebook (obviously)
gchat- same as e-mail

I'd love to hear from all of you even though I can't reach out to all of you right now. I'll be posting pictures soon- I just need to steal them from some of my new friends.

xoxo

Day One

Post date: 6/5/12

My first international flight went well. My uncle Geoff brought me to LAX and while I did have to ask a few questions along the way I made it to my gate and on the plane without incident. I sat next to a lovely Samonan woman from Salt Lake (there was no one in between us – BONUS). My TV didn’t work and I had a bit of trouble getting sleep but luckily I had a few good books on my iPhone and they made the 5 hours I was awake fly by.  

The plane landed and we all went through customs and that’s when I learned my first major international travel lesson: pack light carry-ons. I brought a backpack with the basics for flight entertainment – laptop, magazine, books, etc., a small bag for my wallet and cell, and a duffle bag. It wouldn’t be too bad if the duffle wasn’t filled with children’s books to give to the Fijian children we meet on the way. It really is a great idea because books are so hard to find in country but it was just a major burden before getting on and after getting off the plane. Oh, I also brought a pillow (the ones here are less than comfortable).

I got a taxi and he took me from the Nadi airport to Lautoka, where our house is. (Well, we actually just moved out of that house but I’ll save that story for my next post.)

 I am here and safe and really like the people. I’m looking forward to the next two months and I’m really hoping I’ll be able to find a Coke Zero somewhere tomorrow.