This has been our last full week of work here in Fiji. It has been a very busy five days, as we examined 854 patients, more than we have ever seen in the past. We went out to five different villages, examining adults in the community halls, and lot of children in the different schools. It was a very hot week, and there was no air conditioning or fans in any of these villages, mostly because they are still without power since the cyclone 3 weeks ago.
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This is the road we took to some of the villages this past week. It was this spot that was completely flooded over when we attempted to go to these villages 2 days after the cyclone. |
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This is what the road looked like 3 weeks ago |
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When we got to the village, the man (named "Api") who was hosting us this day, showed us what was left of his house following the bad cyclone. |
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Api put some tarps around the walls to help keep the rain out until he can rebuild. |
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Api spent three days looking for all the parts of his house and gathered them together so that he can begin the rebuilding process. |
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Despite the severe damage to his home, Api is still Happy! He and his seven kids and wife will have a home to live in, again. |
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This is the kitchen of another home where they do an amazing job cooking and baking over an open fire. |
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They shared some of their good baking, buns & sqaures with us this one morning before we began doing eye exams. It's always a unique experience eating on the floor with flies buzzing all around. |
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When we arrived at this school, we knew it was going to be a busy day when we were met by these 170 students waiting for us to check their eyes. |
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This kids are so happy as they sit on the floor waiting for their turn to get their eyes checked |
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These kids were fortunate to have a bench to sit on while waiting their turn. |
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These kids were all waiting at the door for their turn... |
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Others were peaking through the windows |
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As is common, there were no chairs in this community hall. Everyone is happy and comfortable sitting on the floor mats while waiting for their turn. |
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This young girl was proudly wearing her "Brownie" uniform today. |
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Don't you just want to hug this poor child? |
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It's always helpful to have a teacher provide the names of the students Ann is checking in |
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This is our good friend, Noa Seru, who was helping us in this village school on this day. |
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This kids are so well behaved as they line up both on the bench and against the wall. |
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We found this system to work well to keep things moving quickly. When one student is finished, they just slide down the bench for the next child to have their eye exam. |
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Although we see a lot of patients each day, it's still one child at a time. |
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After some of the eye exams, it's always fun to hi-five the kids. They love it. |
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This Fijian family has 7 children, 3 of whom are Albino. Their white blonde hair and blue eyes and light skin makes them really stand out here in Fiji. All three of these Albino children were found to need glasses, quite badly |
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This is a typical library for the schools, here |
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Ann had fun one day with these Fabulous Five Girls who worked in the same room we were doing exams. Ann gave them assignments to write stories, and asked them lots of deep questions |
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At recess, I had a blast entertaining the kids teaching them my great dance moves |
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They really got into it! |
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At this one village community hall, they didn't have a single chair, so we did all the eye exams standing up. This can be quite a challenge when examining a 6' 7" man! It turned out that this whole village had taller men & ladies than we'd seen in any previous village. In fact, many of these tall men are on some of the major sports teams here in Fiji. |
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With no air conditioning, we really work up a sweat. You can see I am soaking wet. |
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When we return to our home each day, we would immediately throw our clothes in the washing machine and have a refreshing cold shower |
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This nice man prepared a coconut for us to enjoy |
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They provided a grass tube for us to use as a straw to enjoy the coconut milk. |
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After drinking the milk, we then scraped out the nice soft coconut flesh. |
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It sure tasted great! |
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This 88 year old lady is actually the "Paramount Chief" in the area, and was so thrilled with her new glasses. She really loved me when I told her she looked ten years younger with her new glasses! |
Ann & I feel so fortunate to have had this amazing Fiji experience over the past six months. It's been a lot of hard work, often in less than favorable conditions at times, but we wouldn't have traded it for anything. The joy we receive from giving of ourselves and providing service to others far outweighs any sacrifice we have made in our lives for this humanitarian mission.
We want to thank the Fijian people for their wonderful hospitality and Frank & Susan Stanford for all their guidance & assistance.
We couldn't (and wouldn't) have done it without their constant help. We have been blessed in so many ways, and have learned so much through this "once in a lifetime" experience.