Our First Week in Fiji

Our first full week here in Fiji has been one of preparation and administration, and occasional frustration, but everything has turned out okay in the end.

On the day we arrived in Fiji, the customs officer gave us a 14 day permit to give us time to go to the Immigration office in Suva to apply for our 6 month work permit to allow us to stay in Fiji to do our humanitarian mission.  On Monday morning, we learned that we had all the proper paperwork, except for a "Letter of Request" from our sponsor.  When I explained that we were doing this on our own initiative, time & expense, and didn't actually have anyone sponsoring us, They thought it was an admirable thing we were doing, but their system didn't allow us staying here doing humanitarian eye exams without a sponsor; so we set off to find a sponsor!
We first went to the biggest eye training center and humanitarian center in Fiji, called the Pacific Eye Center, and spoke with one of the head people there, followed by another head person in another department.  Both rejected us, saying there were too many legal and liability issues for them to deal with.  We then arranged to meet with the Lion's Club President, and much to our relief, he agreed to write us the Letter we needed.  Two days later, we received the letter, and took it to the Immigration people, and it was accepted.  We pick up our 6 month work permit on Monday next week. Hurray!!!
We learned a lesson, that we can't be successful without help from the locals, here.

And yes, the surf board on top came with the vehicle.
Can't wit to use it!

After many different obstacles and challenges, we were successful at securing a 4 wheel drive SUV, a Toyota Prado, at an outstanding price.  We're actually renting it from a respected mechanic for about 25% of what it would have cost to rent one through normal channels.  It's going to be great not having to worry about repairs or selling a vehicle at the end of our six months, here.

We've also spent the week going to a number of different grocery stores trying to find foods that are familiar to us.  Some things are not found here at all, while other things can be found, but at a price 4 times higher than in Canada.  It does help, however, that some others food are plentiful and very inexpensive.  We are enjoying a number of new and tasty foods, as well.

On one of our spare mornings, found a beautiful park and had a wonderful walk.

This week, we met with the principal of a school with over 400 children, to arrange doing eye exams for them.  They are thrilled and will have us start next week.  As a way to test out all our equipment and prepare for doing our first humanitarian eye exams, we had a couple of the students come to our rental house to allow us to practice, to get all of the kinks worked out before we start the real thing this coming week.  Some of the equipment was donated to us by the CVC (Canadian Vision Care) charitable group, and some was purchased by myself.  It's great to have the support of the CVC.  

These two Fijians were wonderful.

We found out these two sisters live in a tin shack and sleep on the floor.

Healthy Eyes!

Today, we ate at a wonderful restaurant in a Rain Forest area, appropriately called the Rain Forest Inn

We then went for a two hour hike into the rain forest, walking around and through rivers and beautiful waterfalls.  It was absolutely breath taking.

If you look closely, you'll see someone swinging on a rope...

A great finish to the week.!