Vinaka vaka levu . . . thank you

ALL SMILES: Olive Piper and Vuda District School pupils with their morning tea.

OLIVE Piper was chatting to her dentist about her travels the other day, and ended up walking out of his surgery laden with boxes of toothpaste and toothbrushes.

“I told my dentist David Edgar that my daughter Debra and I were going back to Treasure Island, our favourite spot in Fiji, for the third time and we were hoping to take some supplies with us to help the local people whose lives had been shattered by two cyclones in quick succession.

“David said dental health and hygiene were bound to be a problem post-cyclone, so he gave me boxes of toothpaste and toothbrushes to take to the children.”

Olive had a similar experience at The Warehouse where manager Tom Stevenson heard about her mission and would not allow her to pay for the $100 worth of school supplies she had ordered from the store.

“Tom gave us pencils, erasers, pens and book labels to take to the school on the island,” says Olive.

“Debra had also collected cotton baby clothes from her friends so we arrived bearing gifts, thanks to the generosity of Gisborne people.

“We knew that Fiji desperately needed tourists to return to the resorts but we felt we couldn’t go there just to enjoy a holiday without helping out in some way.”

Treasure Island is 50 percent owned by the villagers of Viseisei on Viti Levu. The staff on Treasure Island and the two adjoining islands come from the village to work 24 days on and five days off, but in the aftermath of the cyclone most of the staff were sent home unless there was repair work to be done.

Gifts for those most in needOn arrival, Olive and Debra were taken to Vuda District School where the deputy head received the gifts and assured the women they would be given to the pupils most in need.

“There are 371 pupils from Years 1 to 8 at the school and we were impressed with the discipline, the subject information on the blackboards, the manners of the children and the books they were working from, as we went from class to class.

“The school proudly proclaims on their noticeboard that they are ‘tobacco free’. Their motto is ‘We have the right to breathe fresh air . . . we shall be worthy’. Simple but admirable words to adhere to.”

The school receives a government subsidy of $250 per child and bus vouchers to help pupils who travel from far away villages.

While touring Viseisei, Olive and Debra noticed the ruined crops and cyclone damage to what was already basic housing.

“It was hard to equate the well-presented children we saw in their uniforms with the conditions they were living in.”

The damage on Treasure Island was mainly to the coconut trees, which were stripped bare of foliage, and bures and shade umbrellas with their thatching torn off. The staff were slowly repairing the damage with only minor work left to do, says Olive.

For Kiwis, the islands in the Mamanuca group, of which Treasure Island is one, are an easy holiday destination to travel to.

“We left Gisborne at 7.10am and were on Treasure Island at 2.10pm. What more could you ask for? It’s a 2½ hour flight from Auckland to Nandi, half an hour shuttle from Nandi to Vuda Point Marina and another half an hour by speed boat to Treasure Island.

“There are lots of activities to indulge in if you want to — Fijian cooking demonstrations, cultural performances, Fijian music lessons, canoeing, paddle boarding, jet-skiing, fishing, snorkelling or doing absolutely nothing while being pampered by the friendly staff, not to mention massages and facials.

“Tourism is vital to the Fiji economy and their saying is ‘Fiji needs you,’ which they certainly do, but if visitors can take a few useful gifts with them, the gesture is very much appreciated.”

• Vuda District School thanks David Edgar and Tom Stevenson for their generosity.