Back in Suva…again!

The Lost Fiji Boys It sure seems like we have been on the main island Viti Levu a lot lately, but we promise we really are getting work done in the village on Vatulele. Since we last wrote so much has seemed to happen, which is really quite unlike the typical Fiji Island way of life. Back in Lomanikaya village, the most exciting event in our personal lives was that we managed to catch 6 wild chickens. Yippee fresh eggs and chicken! You may think that sounds like an easy task, but an angry Hen with her 5 chicks is quite a challenging feat. Armed with a cane knife and beach towels we cornered them by our garden and jumped on the chicks. After putting them in our homemade coop, the mom hen just walked in- that was the easy part. Twice after trying to feed them though, they escaped, and we had all of our neighbors running in the bush clucking and cooing trying to help us get back our new livestock. They have never contained them before, but they do trap them to eat. It sounded great to us, but they don’t quite understand and yet again, we manage to look like the “crazy foreigners.” We taught our first swimming class to all the children, which proved to be much harder than we expected. Almost everyday you can find all the kids playing in the ocean, so most of them know how to dog paddle, but that’s it. Before we jumped into the water the kids serenaded us with a Meke song and dance.

Hello everyone!

We are back in Suva getting some work done and enjoying the city luxuries. Island life has been wonderful as usual, but lately we have been feeling the pressures of cultural differences. Gender roles have always been somewhat of a challenge to fall into, and we always seem to be trying our best to set a new example of equality in a relationship. This year seems to have brought an increase in domestic violence, primarily spousal abuse, and as sensitive as that issue may be we are trying to figure out ways to educate and make some change. We knew aspects of living in a new culture would prove difficult, and we just thank God that we have each other.

We are finally feeling like we are falling into a bit of a routine

and it's starting to make the days really fly by us. We taught a nutrition series together in the 8th grade and had so much fun laughing at each other because of all the kid's blank stares. We have also started our Saturday class for all 25 of the village kids.

So far we did a physicl health class where we taught them the hokey pokey, a little yoga, and played 20 games of freeze tag. We also did an adopt a tree class and the kids just loved it!

We went from tree to tree where Drew taught them about the differences and they did some climbing, and collected the seeds. Then everyone collected a plastic bottle from the beach and they each picked which tree they wanted to plant. It can be quite challenging with the kids all ages from 2 to 12, last time we had the waterfall effect where 4 of the youngest ones started a cascade of crying.

It is such a blast though, and the parents love the break.

Liss had a fabulous 25th birthday complete with a Betty Crocker double layered yellow cake with Chocolate frosting (compliments of Drew's fire baking skills). We actually found a cake mix in Suva at a big supermarket and real frosting. She took a run with Tave in the morning to watch the sunrise, and then we all hiked to Liku Beach to watch the sunset. Drew made a big sign, and built a table out of bamboo for her present.

The weather is starting to cool down a bit and the mosquitos are beginning to dwindle. The garden is healthy with beans, eggplant and the corn has just sprouted.

Malakai (Mala) has been over everyday pestering Tave, and eating all of our peanuts (he loves them!).

His Mom is always beating the tapa cloth so he's allowed to roam freely- which usually means he finds his way to our house. He's still not talking, but we have a feeling he's going to be a chatter box when he learns. On this particular day he showed up naked, and I walked in from the garden to find him riding Tave like a horse. Drew has been successful in monitoring the reef in front of our village (the main fishing area) and is already seeing an increase in more fish and octopus in the taboo fishing area. Melissa has been busy since we got a new nurse on the island and they have been planning a workshop, and a grand opening ceremony for our new village dispensary.

We completed a few project proposals this week so we are hoping they are accepted and so we can get some funding and start on some bigger projects in the village.

We hope everyone is healthy and doing well! We miss you all!

"Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory!"

Little Pita here knows all too well what Gandhi means by victory!

Another Day in Paradise

Hi everyone! Can you believe it's been 8 months since we left? Only 19 more months to go and we know they are going to fly by! Life on Vatulele is heating up everyday. Now that it's the rainy season, it really has been coming down and everything is growing at exponential rate including the humidity. You know it's harder than you think to cut the lawn by hand. The mosquito's have hit frenzy status but somehow we are managing to cope with them. We recently received a small plot of land for a garden with the help of the village men and planted nearly 100 cassava plants (root crop that is eaten almost everyday). There is lots of room for vegetables still so we will see what the next season will bring. Since we came back after Christmas we have been very busy working on projects on the island. Drew is working to get running water into the village and is on the paper work phase of the project. Melissa has been working at the health center and recently conducted a dental survey of all 175 school children. We realize education is the key and we are pulling together our resources to get on it. We're still teaching at the primary school and we've decided to start a Saturday class for kids to teach them first aid and other life skills. Melissa's getting her yoga/nutrition class started while Drew is refining his fishing skills. We decided to go to Suva, the capital, for one week to get back in touch with the real world. Of course we have been enjoying all the popsicles, and cold water we can possibly drink, but it's really been meeting after meeting with Peace Corps Staff, NGO's, and other government ministries. It has been nice to have some good dinners, see a couple of movies, and not worrying about combating the bugs. We still love our little abode and our garden is booming right now with basil, eggplant, tomato, melon, and papaya. Our puppy 'Tave' is still keeping us entertained. He follows us everywhere, which can be annoying when he runs after you all the way to the next village. We taught him how to shake with saying "Bula" and he is pretty good at sitting and laying down by command. We still receive tons of seafood and recently someone gave us a lobster. It was such a treat! We are staying healthy with fresh island lifestyle and we are as happy as ever. We love you and miss you all!

Marau ni Siga ni Sucu! Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a beautiful holiday season--it's hard to believe this year is over. 2005 brought so many surprises an life changing events, but everyone sems a little bit wiser and more compassionate. Our hats are off to Tom "Dad" Loganbill! He is the man of the year in our books as a cancer survivor and eternal optimist! Well, it's the first week of the new year here and it seems the children have taken over the village. There is constant beating of the lali (the village drum), kerosene compression bombs, water fights, and so much shouting and singing you'd think a carnival was in town! The Styles Family came before Christmas and we had a lovely time on the island. WELCOME AT THE AIRPORT The villagers just loved seeing family and of course the food just kept coming. WITH THE VILLAGERS We then went on an express tour in Australia with the Fam covering most of the east coast. THE FAMILY IN AUSTRALIA We spent our Christmas with Aunt Lynne and Steve in their beautiful home they built just north of Brisbane. We spent time exploring the coast and chatting with their friends who were the first Aussie's to sail around the world! It was just wonderful to gorge on good food, good wine, unlimited ice, and of course, to spend time with family. DREW AND AUNT LYNNE After all the indulgence coming home was a bit hard, but we are still in love with our village life and especially our big bellied dog, Tave. We hope this new year brings new inspiration and happiness! Our love to everyone. "Be the change you want to see in the world" ~ Gandhi HERE ARE A FEW MORE PICTURES! MELISSA BAKING COFFEE CAKE MAKING TAPA CLOTH IN LOMANIKAYA READY FOR CHURCH SWIMMING IN VATULELE WATCHING THE AUSTRALIAN COAST

New Pictures!

Liss doing first aid to a local girl Here's a picture of inside the house From the kitchen into the bathroom Drew's Harvest Drew with the neighbor and Tave "the puppy"

Running into the Wet Season

Yadra Vina (Good Morning), Spring is upon us on Vatulele! Never have you seen so many beautiful flowers and never have you felt so many bugs. We do believe butterflies fluttering on the beach is one of the most beautiful sights of nature on the entire island. With abundant tropical showers and the summer humidity right around the corner, our island is becoming a breeding ground for some interesting creepy crawlers. Palm-sized spiders, bat size moths, terydactyle dragonfly, black hornets, finger-sized cockroaches, beetles galore, and our all time favorite the black and white striped mosquito. Of course the mosquitoes are the worst, making anywhere outside our safety zone bed-net a battle ground. Night time is the worst when making an unexpected bathroom call and exposing your undeeted skin to the enemy. After running for cover, we always count how many times we were hit and tend to our injuries with vats of cortisone. We've discovered you have to thoroughly bathe in repellent several times a day due to their highly intelligent detector system. They have no mercy and they'll aim for below the belt, for between the eyes, and between the toes. The other crawlers aren't so bad, its only when the terydactyle flies into the house and you have to run and hit the deck or when you reach for toilet paper with morning grog to see your hand 1/2 inch from a spider that can literally cover your face. We both have let out more screams that have most likely been heard by the 22 houses of our quaint little village. And we wonder why we don't always get invited over :) Aside from the battle of the bugs, we are very much enjoying finding a productive balance. We both began teaching at the primary school. Drew is teaching about the environment and Liss on life skills and health. Liss is still working in the health center 3-4 times a week and has became the village health advisor as people come to her with aches, pains, rashes, and boils. Drew recently went to a workshop for composting toilets with a fellow villager and he has two compost toilets scheduled for construction. This will be a major milestone for the entire island as these new latrines require no water which will increase overall health and sanitation. Due to the scarcity of water, villagers either flush seldomly or go anywhere around their houses. It feels good to see some progress made and know there is still so much to do. Life as been a little more exciting last week since we adopted a 4 week old puppy, named Tave (means black shell in Fijian). He has given us a many sleepless nights with his whimpering and howling, but we just love having him around. He is definitely an island puppy because he can't get enough of the coconut, papaya, and the freshly fallen mangoes from our tree. Having a dog is making Lomanikaya feel more and more like home. We are just getting back from Diwali Festival of Lights in Raralevu. We spent our time with our host family eating tons of Indian sweets, scrumptious curries, and lighting off heaps of fireworks :) We just love spending time with them because they make us feel so at home and it's the closest feeling to family that we are going to have for a long time. We miss you all so much! Garcia's our prayers are with you everyday! Happy Birthday Mom Styles and Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad Loganbill!

Cola Vina (Vatulele dialect for Bula Vinaka)

These last few months have flown by, but it has been a truly wonderful eye-opening experience in our new home. OUR LITTLE ABODE!

Everyday we learn more about our hard working village, Lomanikaya. The women continue to beat the tapa cloth from the masi tree from dawn till dusk. The noise has dwindled down to a dull hum now instead of a hammering carpenter's convention like when we first arrived. The men of the village continue to play outside all day ~ fishing, gardening, and of course drinking the kava- bilo after bilo (coconut cup). They continue to give us food everyday, so much food! You would think we had six children the way they haul over bananas by the hundreds on the massive stalks. We also have our garden sprouting so rapidly we have about 50 Chinese cabbage ready to pick and eat. We love being apart of a community that shares everything. DREW IN THE GARDEN/BACKYARD

Our biggest obstacle at the moment is the language barrier. The island dialect is completely different from the dialect the Peace Corps spent 2 months teaching us, so we are in a constant state of confusion. We usually just nod or give the Fijian equivalent, a double eye-brow raise, followed with an "Io, Vinaka." Which translates as "Yes, Thank you" or "Sure, Good". We never quite know what we're agreeing to, but so far we seem to be staying out of trouble. The island nurse has been tutoring us 2-3 times a week which has been helping- gradually.

HEALTH CENTER WOMEN/Liss's Co-Workers

Lately we've been helping with the village projects-- mostly fundraising events for our new church.

ROAD TO EKUBU AND HEALTH CENTER We walk every single day

A few weeks ago Drew helped with a fish drive where all the men of 2 villages (almost 100 men) made a giant Fijian-style net out of palm leaves ( around 1000 meters long). They dropped boat fulls of men out at the reef and they swam in with the net scaring the fish towards shore. They gradually enclosed the fish wrapping the net in half circle next to the beach while the men held it secure ensuring no escapes.

THE FISH DRIVE

One by one the fish were speared and thrown onto the sand while the women gathered their share. They drove about 300 fish up ranging from 2-3 pounders to 30-40 pounders. They sold all the fish to one man who sells them on the mainland making $1500FJ. We took home 10 fish including a 15 pounder which we happily made tempura filets. We also helped with their eco-tourism project when 13 toursist came for a day trip to the island. It is purely arranged by the village and begins when enough people sign up with a villager working on mainland. They do no advertising, so people only hear about the opportunity by word of mouth. We were impressed to see the whole day in action and the mass effort behind it all. LIKU BEACH

They arrive by our village boat about mid-morning to a small band playing traditional island music at the entrance of the palm tree lined project area decorated with tons of flowers. They are served fresh coconuts to drink and they relax in the bures ( traditional houses made of bamboo and palm). They have a sevusevu with the chief (formal kava session) and spend the most of the afternoon at the remote beach Liku. They return to a feast of roasted chicken, fish, fresh picked veggies and fruit, and traditional dancing and entertainment. We tried our best to hide when they arrived, hoping to blend and not look like vavalagi (foreigners), but as we were ducking in the trees the chief yelled "Peace Corp" and we had to graciously wave and help entertain. When it was all over we felt more blessed than ever just thinking that we live amongst this beautiful culture and paradise island. Plus anyone who visits will get so much more than the average vavalagi vacation!

LIKU BEACH SUNSET

Dad Styles, Dad Loganbill, and Brother Brandon Happy August Birthdays! Prayers to the Garcia Family ~ We love you all.

Disclaimer

"The contents of this website are ours personally and do not refelct any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."

Lomanikaya Life

We are officially Peace Corp Volunteers and we even made it on the six o'clock news. We are now living in our small house on the island of Vatulele in the smallest village called Lomanikaya. There are only 90 people in the village and about 1000 on the whole island. It is absolutlely beautiful and the people are so kind. They bring us food almost everyday ranging from banana scone to fresh octopus. Our house is surrounded by breadfruit and mango trees and we started a little garden with around 160 cabbage and 50 tomato seedlings from the mayor's garden. It's been two weeks and we already facing the issues concerning the villages. There is no running water and we have to fetch all of our water from the well. We get our drinking water from rain water collection. Melissa has been working in the health center with the only nurse on the island in the neighboring village. Drew has been scoping the out the island checking out the eco-tourism project and looking at the water situation. We are very happy here and living healthy with the large amounts of food we get from the villagers.

Our going away dinner in Raralevu

Our going away dinner in Raralevu
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

Liss, Katie, and Tina

Liss, Katie, and Tina
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

Wearing Indian outfits at our house in Raralevu (Indo-Fijian community)

Family in Vunivaivai

Family in Vunivaivai
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

Drew, Cama, Nasoni, and Runuku ready to go to church in their sulu's

House in Vunivaivai

House in Vunivaivai
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

Kids in Bega

Kids in Bega
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

Starfish at Beautiful Bega Beach

Starfish at Beautiful Bega Beach
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

Bega

Bega
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

Grace (the volunteer living in Bega), Devon, Liss and Drew outside of Grace's house

Drew's Mustache and Award

Drew's Mustache and Award
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

Our brothers and sisters

Our brothers and sisters
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

In the living room in Vunivaivai

The Family-Vunivaivai

The Family-Vunivaivai
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.

Paulini next to Liss, Runuku in blue, Bu Lo and others

We're going to Vatulele!

After weeks of antagonizing anxiousness, we finally found out where we will be spending the next two years! The Peace Corps staff set up a large map of Fiji on a big field with rope, and put little trees on each site where each of the trainees will be going. Slowly, one by one, they called our name and walked us to our little tree and gave us a sheet of paper that describes our job description, and village. We were ecstatic when we found out we will be living on a small island called Vatulele, famous for its bright red prawns and beautiful tapa cloth. We will be the only volunteers living on this island in a small house recently built just for us. There are only 4 villages on the island, one resort, and roughly about 1000 people. The island is a one hour boat ride from Sigatoka town on the southwest side of Viti Levu the biggest island. Also, we found out that it is only $25 for family and friends to fly to this little island from Nadi (the international airport). Drew will be working on an ecotourism project, monitoring the coral reef, and doing environmental education in the village. Melissa will be working in the only health center on the island with nurses promoting health, and also counseling single moms, teens, and people with long term diseases. We will be arriving on site around the 14th of August after our official volunteer swear in date on August 12th. Congratulations Scott and Dana! Happy 25th Anniversary Mom and Dad Styles!