TWO BUSY DAYS IN SUVA

Joe and I were in Suva, the capital city for two days for our mid service physicals.  We had teeth cleaning, eye appointments with new reading glasses, x-ray of Joe's foot, bloodwork, flu shots etc.  I guess we are healthy for another year!!!
   We visited with Eddie and the Peace Corps staff, we went to the Indonesian Trade Show and saw Sr. Anna and her staff again.  We had lunch with Sangita Sharma and discussed breastfeeding promotion. We enjoyed dinner with Bubba, Michelle, Clare, Josh, Tricia, Shadae, Matt, Joe and Allegro at a Japanese restaurant, we spent the night with Tricia and Shadae, had a great coffee and bagel at Bullacino's with Tricia and Matt, and toured the Pure Fiji factory!  Great to see everyone......

We are going back to Suva for the 4th of July celebration at the US Embassy....no cameras are allowed in the Embassy but I will take a few outside......The President and Prime Minister of Fiji have been invited.  Happy Independence Day.

ORCHIDS AND BOILED PEANUTS

I thought Charleston was the only place with boiled peanuts but.....boiled peanuts are sold along the road in Fiji also.

 Happy Birthday Mary McCarthy.....  We loved all the beautiful orchids at the Sleeping Giant.

OUR FIRST 5K

Joe and I ran/walked our first 5K.  It was a beautiful morning and I came in dead last!!!!!  I walked with another lady and her young daughter.  We ran over the FINISH line and you would have thought we won the Boston Marathon!!!!!

PROJECT BUTTERFLY

It was a beautiful day.....  Lauren, a PCV from Nabuawalu on Vanua Levu, was our guest presenter.  Her creativity and enthusiasm was great.  We created and painted butterflies for our new Breastfeeding/Family room at the clinic.  We also talked about Hand Washing, Teeth Brushing (Colgate Palmolive donated 200 toothbrushes! ) and Nutrition.  We all had fun!

Using glitter to teach about GERMS and Hand Washing....

PICTURES

Guava....our favorite fruit right now.  Moli, a small orange/lemon that I squeeze into my filtered water that keeps me drinking water instead of Diet Coke!  They both grow in our yard.  We will really miss all the wonderful fruits and vegetables that grow in Fiji.  I am going to try to make guava chutney.

 Our staff plays volleyball most afternoons after work.

 

Centipede - This centipede gets 12-16 inches long and villagers call it the "tolu vula" or 3 months because that is how long it takes to fully recover from the bite.  It is reddish in color and it even looks scary!

Our favorite Chinese Restaurant in Lautoka..... Chelsea, Mary, Lauren, Kayla, Ashley.

 Lauren at the Lautoka market.

Happy Birthday Aki....


Playing Cribbage on a Saturday night.....

This lady speaks Hindi, Fiji and English fluently..... She came for her first pap smear and breast exam.  She is 68.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Lautoka - Sugar City

Lautoka, is Fiji's second largest city and according to legend, derives its name from a battle cry that means"spear-hit".  The story goes that when an argument erupted between two local chiefs, one cried out the words," lau tok a" as he killed the other by spearing him through the chest.....!!!!

Lautoka Sugar mill opened in 1903 and is now the largest sugar mill in the southern hemisphere.

We take a bus to Lautoka ( about 20 minutes), at least once/week to their market.  This is what we see on the way.......

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This area is one of four major sugar growing areas in Fiji and the main sugar export port. It is estimated that 200,000 people in Fiji depend on the sugar cane industry for their income.

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The story of the Fiji sugar cane industry is a long and involved one. But one of the most important factors that still has implications for life in Fiji today was the use of indentured labour from India to help make this industry a viable one.

In the 1870‘s, the British Colonial Government began to recruit indentured workers from India and South East Asia to help develop the sugar cane industry in Fiji.  Over 37 years, 61,000 such workers arrived in Fiji. They came from different regions and from different backgrounds and castes. Many came from rural Indian villages.

The indenture contracts required them to work in Fiji for a period of five years in often difficult conditions.  Most never returned to India.  From the early 1900s, Indians started arriving in Fiji as free settlers.  Nowadays, most Fijian Indians have lost touch with and feel no connection with the country of their ancestors. They feel as much Fijian as their native ethnic Fijian counterparts.

Fijians of Indian descent are concentrated in the so-called Sugar Belt and in cities and towns on the northern and western coasts of Viti Levu. Differences between the two communities, ethnic Fijians and Indian Fijians, have characterized Fijian politics since independence in 1970… and still do. But the intermingling of peoples makes Fiji a colourful, multi 

ethnic country.

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A few of our favorite places in Lautoka...

Bargain Boxes are like Dollar General......