Bula Fiji

 Our trip to Fiji was brought about by some unusual circumstances. A year ago, I had been asked to speak at a Church School Counsellor's Conference in Auckland.  After the talk, I was speaking to one of the counsellors and asked her to identify the next step the schools on the islands needed to take. Without hesitation, she said, "''We need to reach more of the kids who are struggling in our schools."  I immediately understood what she was talking about as that is a concern of most every school. Approximately 15 percent of the students struggle for a variety of reasons and responding to their needs is an ongoing challenge for teachers world wide,
A couple of weeks later I contacted our former School District [91] and asked what they were doing with the assessment resources from the years when I was conducting psycho-educational assessments. They said they were upgrading the kits and asked if I wanted the old ones.  I said yes!  That was the beginning of a long process to get them to New Zealand and arrange a means to train Counsellors and Administrators in the use of these resources.  Our first trip was to Fiji with more in the works. The school was less than a block away from the LDS Temple which is located at a high point in Suva, Fiji and is a guiding beacon for mariners, according to our taxi driver.

We had ten people in our training session and they were as excited and eager to learn how to use the materials as anyone I have worked with. After two days of training they expressed their gratitude and farewell with a warm and beautiful song in the gracious Fijian tradition.

Our stay was all too short.  We conducted the training at a Primary School - 430 kids from kindergarten to grade six.  They asked me to speak to the kids assembled as part of their sports day activities. Children throughout Fiji wear uniforms to school. Before school starts, during the morning rush hour, throngs of kids are walking in groups or climbing onto windowless buses. Given the number of young people I saw, I gather that large families are the norm.

Of all the islands, Fiji has capitalized most on the tourist trade with approximately 25 percent employed in various facets of the tourism industry. Fiji is a mix of Polynesian, Melanesians and Fijians of Indian descent. Their limited financial resources does not take away from their demeanor as everywhere we wen,t we were greeted with smiles and friendly greetings. "Bula!'

While we were in Suva a cruise ship was disembarking near our hotel and there were signs and preparations being made in spite of it being early on a Sunday morning. There are 333 islands that comprise the Fijian chain and resorts are on many of them. This warm tropical paradise is a drawing card for tourists from Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.