With the turn of the new year we have been on a roll in the village. In the middle of January we finally opened the dispensary in 
Lomanikaya village. The dispensary was funded by guests from the resort and it has taken nearly 5 years to finish. The village conducted an opening ceremony for the dispensary and had the nurse practitioner and Melissa as the chief guests. Now that it is open, it serves the two villages with access to medicine, minor first aid services, and check-ups. It is especially convenient for Melissa because the dispensary is only about 100 meters from our house. She has been very busy with training the village health workers and providing check-ups and health advice for all the villagers. It has actually become a popular place to hang out as all the kids stop by on the way home from school and many villagers come by for a break from their daily chores.
Shortly after the dispensary opening we experienced our first cyclone on the island. Cyclone Gene came through Fiji on Monday, January 29th bringing vast quantities of rain and strong winds. Luckily for us and our village we had minor damage and no one was hurt.
The cyclone did manage to bring down quite a few trees including a 50 foot coconut tree that came 2 meters from hitting our house. Unfortunately, the strong wind and waves pushed the village boat up the beach and a coconut tree fell on the boat breaking off the engine. Once the storm broke there was a big village effort to clean up all the debris and of course swap stories of the wild night. 
Recently Drew was able to finish the Water Distribution Project. This project provides the village with easier access to water within the village by pumping the well to three tanks dispersed through out the village. The first two tanks were connected to the pump before Christmas and all the villagers and their visiting families were overjoyed at the ease of accessing water. After the holiday season the village finished up the project by installing a hand pump and covering the well to keep it clean. The third tank was recently connected so now water is easily accessible for everyone. The tanks require pumping every night when the generator turns on and the village men have taken the initiative to begin a rotation amongst themselves.
Thanks to the very generous managers, Nick and Chris, at Vatulele Island Resort we recently got certified to scuba dive. The diving around Vatulele is absolutely beautiful
with tons of big fish, reef sharks, and colorful corals. We celebrated Melissa's 27th birthday with a shark dive in the Bega Lagoon. It was an amazing experience to face our fears and observe the huge beasts of the ocean. We saw and touched 8 nurse sharks ranging from 8 -12 feet, white and black tip reef sharks, and two 12 feet long bull sharks came by to have a snack. Other than the sharks there were plenty of giant trevally as well as other fish circling around the buckets of fish. If you are a scuba diver this is a must see in Fiji.
of our vacation time to travel around Viti Levu. We went to the island of Caqalai to enjoy a few days of snorkeling and relaxing. Caqalai is a tiny island that you can walk around in 15 minutes and it has amazing reefs filled with brilliant corals and fish. We then took a short boat ride in the pouring rain to Levuka, Ovalau which is the old capital of Fiji. This small town has an old colonial feeling with a backdrop of tall, jagged mountains. We spent a few days touring the town, small museums, and landmarks from the first settlers. From Ovalau we made our way up to Nananu-i-ra to spend our Easter weekend with fellow volunteers. It was a terrific vacation and it makes us sad to think that it will be our last real vacation in Fiji.
