Home Sweet Home

Well here I am, writing in my own home in my village that I will be living in for 2 years! What I have worked toward has finally become a reality.

Before I get to my village however, I want to tell you all about Swearing In! The ceremony was absolutely stunning.  It was like nothing that I was expecting or even could imagine. The Minister for Health of Fiji, and the Ambassador of the United States were present and both gave little speech about how thankful they are that we are serving the people of Fiji. The actually swearing in part is encompassed into 4 steps; 1. Be recommended by our Training Manager 2. Be accepted by the Country Director to be sworn in 3. Take the oath given by the Ambassador of the United States (similar to the oath that Presidents take) 4. Be accepted into the country that you are asked to serve. All 4 steps were done and 27 new PCVs are now working all over Fiji. During a portion of the ceremony a Cultural Item takes place, where the new PCVs perform a traditional item and this year the men performed a “Toa Meke” – Dance of the Chicken. The crowd went wild with how we danced and by me yelling “Vakrou! Laga! Meke!”

I stayed in Suva for 2 more days before leaving for my village in the north. I had to fly from Viti Levu, to Vanua Levu by myself. Normally I am fine traveling alone and not worrying at all about really anything. Well, I ended up on the wrong flight and almost ended up in a completely different place! Thank god for the nice women who came onto the plane and told me that I was on the wrong plane. The airports here are nothing like the ones in the states! Its more like a regional airport back in the states.

I moved into my new village about 2 days ago with the help of JC (PC staff member) and Caitlin (PCV). We took the truck with all my stuff on a road that started out pavement, then turned to rock, then turned to dirt, and then turned to mud before reaching where my boat would pick me up to take me to the village. My village is only accessible by boat.  When I arrived, many men and boys helped me carry things to my house. 

It has essentially two rooms; 1 main room, which is my sleeping area and cooking area, and then the washroom, which is my bathroom and shower room. 

The reason why I am here is to work with the Ministry of Health in assisting on education and awareness of Non-Communicable Diseases. I am working in two different places here in the village. Three days a week I am working in the Nursing Station, and 2 days a week I am working with the Council. The council is the local government structure here. Normally in Fiji a single person runs a village, but my village is of Polynesian decent and still structures their day-to-day lives on that culture.

Well that’s all for now! I will keep writing when I learn more about my village and the culture here. Be excited because it is a completely different culture on this little island from all of Fiji!

I also now have a new address which is: 

Mr. Timothy Doak, PCV
Post Office Waiyevo
Taveuni, Fiji Islands South Pacific
Attn: Kioa Island

Pictures of everything that I described are at the links below:
 (New Village)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201066478328760.1073741828.1372260143&type=1&l=f1850ce443

 (PST/Swearing In)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200815283809054.1073741827.1372260143&type=1&l=77a89f4588