Help, Connect, Grow & Be Inspired in Fiji. Non-Profit Org & Charity 30 Years

Fiji:
Highlights:
The highlight for me was the home stay option, being able to stay with a family and make a real connection was the best experience. I was so sad to leave the first family, only to be greeted by another really nice family who welcomed me into their home. It was great to see how they lived including eating, sleeping and everyday chores.

Team, food and accommodation:
Masi, his wife Mere and their son Marika were so nice! Marika was there waiting for me at the airport. They made me feel very welcomed (even had Mere check my hair for head lice). The accommodation with them was very nice, clean house, very comfy beds and I felt safe. Also a great location, easy to walk to town and back. Mere made nice food for dinner every night.
The food at the first accommodation was really good and traditional, getting me to try a lot of local cuisine. My room was nice and the bathroom was also nice, very clean house.
The second family on the island also provided delicious food and plenty of it! However I definitely was missing fruit and greens. The bathroom could do with some work but I understand with a large family and children it can get dirty very quick along with the rest of the house. My bedroom was the computer room next door and was clean and big.

Highlights of the trip:
Being greeted at the airport by our drivers, and our first night staying in Lautoka with Litea and her family – she went above and beyond to welcome us to Fiji and ensure that we felt comfortable in her home. She took us shopping and to church on Sunday before serving us lunch and making sure we made it to Port Denarau in time for the ferry.
Getting to experience daily life and culture on the island – our hosts were extremely accommodating and attentive to our needs, and the kids were great tour guides for our afternoons after school. By the end of the week, it already felt like I was becoming a member of my host family.
It was interesting to see how developed the school was despite being in such a remote location – the classrooms were well built and the teachers were very professional and knowledgeable.
The kids, although a little rowdy, were eager to learn and share with us. It was a pleasure and an honour to have the opportunity to teach Class 1 for a couple of mornings, as well as some sessions with Class 2 and 5.
Comments on the team, food and accommodation:
Masi made sure our transport and accommodations at arrival in Fiji were all taken care of – even though he was in Suva, he made sure to phone in and check on us, and explain the arrangements for our transport to Yanuya – this was much appreciated. His son was also very helpful in arranging for our water and kava root to be bought and delivered to the ferry terminal.
Litea and her family were amazing hosts for our first night in Fiji – her home was very comfortable, the food was delicious, and we enjoyed interacting with her daughter and grandchildren.
The transport to and from Yanuya was well organised. We appreciated the efforts made to pick up and drop us off in the longboat from the ferry across to the island.
The headmaster and teachers at the school were very welcoming, and helpful with any questions we may have had during our stay. I appreciated the efforts they made to include us in their classes on the first day / orientation.
My host family were a joy and pleasure to stay with. They were very welcoming to both myself and my travel companions.
The room prepared for my stay was large, clean and comfortable. I was surprised to find that there was electricity / wired lighting provided in the room, and I could have my bedroom light on as late as I wished.
My host mother, Oni, went to great efforts to prepare all meals from scratch, including rising early to prepare fresh bread rolls for my breakfast on several mornings. She was also accommodating of my dietary requirements, making sure not to include any foods I was sensitive to, and making a special trip to the markets to get pineapple when she found out it was my favourite.
When I fell ill on the Thursday night, she was also very attentive to my needs, and prepared only the foods I requested for the remainder of my stay.
I did not see her husband very often whilst I was on the island, but appreciated him meeting us at Port Denarau on our return from Yanuya, and arranging transport for us to the resort.

The highlights of the trip were of course the children. They are such happy children, keen to learn and I was really impressed with the generally neatness of their bookwork and their handwriting.
The people there are so welcoming and accepting of people into their village. They showed great concern for me and my comfort and for my age (apparently I was the oldest volunteer they had ever had at the school) and I know a lot of work went on behind the scenes to make sure I was comfortable and safe.
Some of the highlights were travelling with the students to Mololo Island and Sigatoka for sports events. The logistics of organising up to 76 students 7 teachers and a couple of volunteers to travel in small fishing boats and the school boat to Mololo and in the case of the trip to Sigatoka transferring to the ferry off the island of Tokoriki and catching a bus from Denarau to Sigatoka were pretty formidable but were managed very impressively.
I loved reading with the students. They work so hard and are so keen to learn. I also enjoyed walking along the beach with the students after school singing songs we had learned that day or collecting shells and also spending time with the women who were so very kind and generous. I felt I really made some good friends. I’ve enclosed a photos of the children but I’m afraid I am not a very good photographer and I also missed a lot of photo opportunities. I am truly grateful for the opportunity of being a volunteer at Mamanuca school and I would love to do it again. I would need to save the money, which I’m sure I could do, and I would have to do it before I get too much older but let’s see how I go. Could you please give me the email address and the postal address of the school? I have some books from a reading programme I would like to send and also gifts for Master Te and Mala, who took such good care of me while I was there.

Highlights of the trip:
The trip would not have been the same without the amazing pals I shared it with. Sharing this experience with them was bonding to the max haha. The rural villages were definitely a highlight of the trip! The villagers are incredibly friendly and caring, and they were grateful for our health checks as much as we were grateful for their hospitality. One particular villager, which was our live-in rooster, was most entertaining. Every evening he would climb the tree outside our bedroom and would wake us up no earlier than 4am, all I can say is that we were very ready for the day ahead haha.

Comments on the team, food and accommodation:
The amazing Danielle, our super coordinator, my personal hero, what a babe. Mere, my mother from another country. Food wise, I’ve learnt that my body can eat way more carbs than I thought possible haha. This trip has expanded my recipe book, not sure I can live without roti parcels and that marvellous spinach recipe now haha.

Sharing the accomodation with the rest of the team made it feel like home, which eased my apprehension.

Highlights:
The whole two- week trip was a highlight from me. From being picked up at the airport by Masi’s son to being driven to the Denaru by a family friend. I arrived on the island with the headmaster’s family in a small fibreglass boat and it is certainly something I’ll never forget. Fiji is such a family orientated culture, which made me feel so comfortable from the start. Everyone welcomed me with open arms and I felt right at home from the beginning. The children melted my heart with their beautiful smiles and cheekiness, the locals always greeted me as I wandered past with the kids and the pristine beaches and coral reefs that surrounded the island were stunning. My host family were incredible, so generous with everything they had. They answered my questions, talked to me, laughed with me and my two Fijian “brothers” I had for two weeks,I will never forget. I left Fiji feeling like I was a part of their family. The teaching staff were so appreciative of everything I did and they made me feel like part of the school.

The island is such a picturesque island with natural beauty everywhere you looked. I loved waking up in the morning to the sun shining and the sounds of the children going about their morning jobs. I felt that I have experienced the “real” Fiji in staying on a remote island and living like a local. I would not have wanted it any other way for my first experience as a volunteer.

Comments on team, food and accommodation:
Lauren was fabulous with her communication and any questions I had were answered promptly. Even though I had no reason to contact her whilst in Fiji, I felt 100% supported the whole time. Masi and his family were incredible hosts and I felt right at home staying with him and his family. He was informative and extremely helpful when my bags went missing (haha) and more importantly a kind soul. The food on the island was quite bland compared to what I was use to back home but there was plenty of it and I enjoyed trying out the various Fijian foods that were prepared for me. As we were briefed, vegetables and fruits were few and far between but this was expected. Once again I was expecting clean but no frills accommodation in comparison to what I am use to. The toilet for me was somewhat of a challenge in the beginning (haha) and the shower was buckets of water. You just have to embrace it and go with the flow because that is how they live and it was important for me to be grateful for what they had given me. This experience was out of my comfort zone but hands down one of the best things I’ve ever done.

My time volunteering in Fiji with the IVI public health program was one of the most rewarding and exciting experiences of my life. It was a fulfilling experiences to help such beautiful people that are facing very serious but preventable health issues. The services, accommation etc. provided by IVI were far better than I could of ask for. The other volunteers were all wonderful, friendly people, with a shared desire to give their time to help others and work as a team.’

Highlights of the trip:
The biggest highlight for me was the connections and time spent with Fijian people in the village. The people were without reason so genuinely friendly and beautiful even though by ‘our standards’ they have little in terms of everyday living. It was a real privilege to stay in the remote villages and see how the people live, eat there food most of which was grown in the village and stay in there homes. Health checks was also a great experience and I really enjoyed the face to face time with the villages gathering information on the lifestyle and health. It was an extremely rewarding feeling at the end of the day after doing health checks, especially when we would find people with dangerous reading and send them away to hospital as simply as presences there may have saved that persons life. I really did love every minute of the trip to be honest.

Comments on the team, food and accommodation:
Jules our program manager was amazing I feel she was perfect for the role as she really knew how to keep things in order, get things done and had confidence to deal with serious and confronting situations in terms of some of the medical emergency BSL and BP reading that we got. The food was great as we got to have lots of traditional Fijian food which was just what I wanted. Accommodation was better than I would have asked for even when we stayed in the village homes on the floor this was exactly the experienced I wanted.

Highlights of the trip:
Living so close to the local people and spending all my time with them.
I remember that one day where the kids showed me a secret beach. Another volunteer and around 20 kids, including my two host brothers climbed over a hill, just to arrive on this breathtaking beach. We played in the water and in the sand all day, the kids climbed trees to get coconuts and papayas. One of my favorite days ever!

Comments on the team, food and accommodation:
Masi was really helpful and it was easy to communicate.
The food is very basic. It’s basically instant noodles, taro and cassava every day, some canned vegetables and chicken. For me it was not a problem and I got used to it very quickly. Some more fruits and vegetables would be great though.
My host family was amazing! I have rarely met such a caring and hospitable family. I had my own room to sleep in and I shared bathroom, toilet and kitchen with them. The standard was higher than I expected. The house is on the school compound, so it’s close to where the boarding students live and close to the village.
It’s a fantastic island, there are many pretty beaches and the village is beautiful. Of course there are problems, for example the stray dogs that are treated very badly or the insufficient drinking water supply.

I did an internship in Fiji for 1 month in the framework of food advice and insist people to practice physical activity. I enjoyed this course immensely and I had a wonderful meeting, the people in Fiji are very friendly and they are open to esprits, they love to make discover their cultures as well as their histories and make discover their magnificent islands. this internship allowed me to realize that by giving advice to people we could change them better and that is felt in their behavior. it is an unforgettable experience and I recommend everyone to visit this beautiful island to see for yourself the beauty of the country and the population.

I am convinced that everyone who goes to fiji is happy, I hope this message has reassured you to go to fiji and you can only appreciate this place