FIJI VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE Geun Jung, Year 11 student from South Korea. Geun has participated in volunteering opportunities at the Adelaide Oval and wanted to pursue a volunteering experience during the school holidays. “I spoke to our careers counsellor. Cathy recommended Rustic Pathways so I contacted them through their website. They provided lots of information, and I had a choice of Fiji, Taiwan or the Caribbean. I chose Fiji. It was the trip of a lifetime. I’d do again!” “On the first day we got orientated, visited the beach and generally relaxed while getting to know one another as everyone was pretty tired from their flights. There were students from all over the world, including Europe and Lebanon, but most were from America.” Some of the things we did included: •
Building a 77 year old local Fijian woman a toilet in the Momi Bay area. Her home had been destroyed by a storm in 2010, and although the government had built her a house, it was without this basic amenity.
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Learning traditional Fijian recipes, including a pumpkin curry which we served to women at Loloma Womens’ Shelter. It was delicious!
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Playing soccer with local children who live with their mothers at the shelter. We also taught kids from the Koropita Indo-Fijian settlement in Lautoka how to play Aussie Rules football. It was also my first time playing Aussie Rules which was confusing at first but enjoyable.
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Enjoying entertainment at night with an opening and closing ceremony with traditional clothing and music, a karoke night, and bonfire with stories by the Chief.
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Scuba diving for the first time and hiking in a beautiful National Park where we collected rubbish and built stabiliser teepees on the Sigatoka Sand Dunes.
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Treating a dog with an injured leg with my first aid kit. This was a highlight as I aim to become a doctor when I graduate.
2018
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Painting a house in the Momi Bay area and visiting another village with a mud pool!
