A Very Poor Village, and an Orphanage

This week, we ventured further away from our comfort zone in the big city of Suva, and drove to one of the poorest villages in Fiji, and examined the eyes of 65 kids and 10 adults at the Mau Elementary School.  It was a real eye opener seeing how some parts of the world live, compared to the "bubble" that we live in Canada.

To fit in better, I picked up a "Bula" shirt.

We love these kids...

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This sweet girl enjoyed trying on the different funny glasses we had...

This boy loved his new glasses.  Now he'll be able to do much better in school.

"Girls just want to have Fun"

Here's a few photos of the school, and the beautiful setting it's in.

This is the library where we set up to do eye exams.

We weren't sure about using these bathrooms?

This is their big assembly hall where they gathered for lunch time.

These ladies sat on the floor preparing lunch for the kids.  Many of them didn't eat breakfast.
They are eating plain rice & boiled Taro Leaves.

Despite their poverty, they are still happy kids.

We felt guilty when the teachers fed us this beautiful lunch.

 

The next day, we went to this ORPHANAGE to examine the children there.  It was really touching to know that these sweet kids didn't have parents.

This is Lemba, who runs the Orphanage.
She was very happy to have us come to check their eyes.

The kids sat on floor mats while they waited their turn.
They sang beautiful songs while they sat there.

Wouldn't you just love to adopt this sweet girl?

I'm not sure what happened to this young girl.

This was a very interesting tree located just outside the Orphanage.

This was another beautiful spot near the orphanage.

On November 11, the Hindus celebrated "DIWALI" in a big way.

Homes were decorated and lit up, and lots of fireworks were set off everywhere.

Because the native Fijians love fireworks, too, they get right into the celebration, as well.

In fact, fireworks start happening each evening in different backyards for about a month before and after Diwali.  With it being so humid and green here, there's no fire hazards...

There's lots of Diwali treats to eat on this special occasion.
We tried a few, and then shared it with some of the local kids.

The kids are very creative in making up games.  They were having a blast rolling tires and trying to hit other's tires.  They certainly know how to have fun.

Here's the "In-Tire" Gang.

We're loving it here in Fiji.