“Things will come together Tim.
Just trust us when we say it will happen.” were the words told to me several
times by the Kioa Island Council and the head workman. Being the type A
American that I am, I couldn’t believe these words until I actually saw
physical evidence. The people of Kioa Island, my home here in Fiji have proven
what the word “community” truly encompasses. Let me give you a little
background as to how the SPA Kioa Island Sea Wall Project came about.
As Peace Corps Volunteers, we are
eligible to apply for grants through the United States Government. Here in
Fiji, we have two options: 1. Small Project Assistance Program (SPA) and Peace
Corps Partnership Program (PCPP). The Kioa Island Sea Wall Project was through
the SPA grant, which is funded from the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID). This type of grant is only given to certain PC posts, and
all projects must fit within certain program areas that are defined by USAID
and it must support the Peace Corps approach to development and pertain to the
work that we PCVs are doing our country. In Fiji’s case, that means it has to
do with Global Warming and Health.
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| Before the sea wall |
Now these grants are not easy and
there is a lot of work that goes into them! As a volunteer, I was responsible
for; collaborating with my counterpart (Kioa Island Council) in identifying and
making a plan for a project that meets the needs of our village, assisting with
the small grant application, handling all financial records and receipts,
giving regular reports to PC Fiji, and submitting the final reports. I had a
wonderful set of counterparts that truly made my work a lot easier because they
took ownership of the project, which was the ultimate goal. I wanted the
VILLAGE to be proud of their seawall. Each of these grants is also a lot of
hard work for the PC Fiji staff in our office. Everyone from the Country
Director all the way down to the Cleaning Lady had a role and responsibility to
help make the project a success. The majority of the financial administration,
signing off on documents, supporting the volunteer, and submitting the
application to PC Head Quarters is all done by the PC Fiji office. I could not
have done anything without the help and support of the PC Fiji staff!!! They
are truly an amazing group of people to work with and work for.
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| Collecting rocks from around the island |
When we identified what the need of
the village was, I had to start thinking of a way to make sure that the project
met the Peace Corps approach to development. Did the project provide capacity
building in the sense of “helping people develop the capacity to improve their
own lives” and is the “focus of the work on development of capacity of the
people, not things”? Did the project provide sustainability in the sense of
“continuing to meet the needs of the community once the initial grant or external
source of funding as ended”? All these questions I had to ask myself, and also
my counterpart because if we couldn’t meet even one of these, then I was not
doing my job as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
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| After we dug the trench and cleared the rocks |
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| Assembling the Gabion Baskets |
The Kioa Island Council
(counterparts) work very closely with the Fiji Government, and they write a lot
of letters and applications for funding. I decided to take this SPA grant and
turn it into a grant lesson writing opportunity for all the staff of the
council. I held a one-day training on what the application would look like and
how we could make our application stand out from the rest. To this day, they no
longer have me writing their business letters and applications. They all now
feel comfortable enough to write them on their own, and have me look them over.
One of the requirements for the SPA grant application is that it needs to have
goals, objectives, timeline, and a description of the community
involvement. The council and I
sat down and came up with 2 Goals; 1. The field of Salia (our village) will
have a reduction of seawater. As a result, within one month the community will
build a 55-meter sea wall, 2. To increase technical knowledge of safe
construction practices.
Goal 1 had
1 objective; There will be a 75% reduction in infections that are due to
wetlands within one year. Goal 2 also had 1 objective; There will be at least
10 persons who have increased knowledge on the technical skills of building a
sea wall and safe construction practices. Goal 1 was created due to our main
playing field, directly in the center of the village, floods with seawater
during the super high tides. Almost every person walks through this field daily
and or plays in it daily. Here in Fiji, people do not wear shoes - I don’t! The
bottoms of their feet are completely callused, which makes it hard to determine
if they have a cut. In the nursing station, we saw a lot of infected cuts on
the bottom of people’s feet that we believe were due to the wetlands of the
playing field.
Goal 2 was created
due to building a sea wall created some new technical knowledge and skills,
which many of the village labor workers did not have. We had a few carpenters
around the island, and one structural engineer give a workshop on safe
construction practices and how a sea wall could be built. Both goals and
objectives were far surpassed by the end of the project.
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| Women presenting food for the workers |
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| Step 1 - construct baskets |
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| Step 2 - place large rocks in front of baskets |
Now I’m sure you are all wondering
just how much does a 55-meter sea wall cost? SPA grants cannot exceed $10,000
USD and the total that the project cost us was $8,193.50FJD or $4,428.25USD.
This covered the gabion baskets, the fuel for transportation of rocks, the
lacing wire, the cutting pliers, the cement, and transportation for picking up
the materials. Labor did not cost a single penny, because part of the SPA
application is that the village must have a community contribution of at least
25% of the total cost. This is all in-kind and can be in the form of labor,
food, materials, supplies, etc. My village in labor alone had a community
contribution of $10,560FJD or $5,708.11USD. We had over 40 men working from
dawn (sometimes earlier) to dusk!
As PCVs we attend a lot of
trainings and workshops that are either hosted by the PC or from our host
country. One of the many trainings we had through the PC is called Project
Design and Management (PDM) where we learn about the different grants that are
available for volunteers and also how to create a large-scale project design.
My counterpart and I took a trip to Suva and spent a week in May to attend this
training together. Pretty much directly when we got back we decided to take on
a major project and brought it to the council, who then made a list of needs
and then voted on the one they wanted most. Thus began the stress and
aggravation of paper work and trying to get people motivated in this project.
The beginning became extremely stressful and overwhelming very quickly! Many of
the council members wanted me to do the entire application, all the back work,
and wanted me to take control of the project because it was “my project”. Now it
wasn’t just their fault, a part was the application process, and a bit was my
fault too. The council and I had a debrief after all the paperwork and the
project was finished and we all agreed it was a learning opportunity for all of
us to work with each other and see how two cultures could work together.
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| Kioa Island Womne's Association |
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| Kioa Island Labor Workers |
From the first day of working, the
men’s labor force surprised me every day. They would set goals for each day of
work and worked at all hours of the day until the day’s job was finished. Many
days we started working before the sun rose and we worked until the sun had
set. The last morning sticks out in my mind the most. We had worked from
6:00am-5:00pm the previous day in the hot sun. A few of the workers wanted to
take the day off, while the majority wanted to keep working the next day. It
was voted that we would start work at 4:00am the next morning and work until we
finished. I woke up around 3:30am the next day and took my time getting ready
because I didn’t think anyone would be up just yet. However, as I started to
wake up more I heard the generator on and the voices of a lot of people. I got
all my stuff together quickly and ran to the sea wall to find lights were
strung on poles and all 40+ men were hard at work. I asked the head workman
what time they had started and he replied, “2:30-3:00 this morning! We couldn’t
sleep so we wanted to work more.” I was flabbergasted at this statement and in
shear awe at just how much pride they took in their project. The entire
building of the sea wall took only 10 days! We had 6 days of collecting rocks
from around the island, and 4 days of constructing the sea wall. Watching these
men dig, move boulders, and lift rocks for hours upon hours in the hot sun is
an incredible thing!
The
women also took part in their own special way. Each day the women cooked and
brought food for the workers and it was a total surprise to the workers and to
me. When they would present the food, they presented it in the Tuvaluan style
of placing the food in front of the workers and then performing a Fatele
(traditional dance). The entire community became part of this project and was
invested in the success and completion. I have never been part of a community
that has worked this hard.
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| Finished Product! |
Throughout
this whole project, there have been many days where all I wanted to do was give
up and throw the paper work into the sea and watch the paper work just
dissolve. However, I am so glad that I stuck with this project and pushed
through all the struggles. My counterparts also faced the same struggles, and I
am so grateful to have such incredible counterparts and an incredible
community.
Photo Album Links:
Small Project Grant - Sea Wall
Oct-Dec 2014
July-Sept 2014
April-June 2014
Jan-March 2014
2013
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