Whanganui Girls' College students build the foundations for a better life in eye-opening experience in Fiji

Brook Rhodes (left) and Sunny Solomon (right) took some time out from house-building to visit a local school in Fiji. Photo / Supplied

A Fijian woman who had been living in what looked like a tin shed could not stop kissing the hands of the workers that built her a house in Nagado, near Nadi.

Iloi Drawa is visually impaired, she was living in poor conditions and her son-in-law cried at a dedication ceremony in which the house was handed over to her.

Three of the workers were the Whanganui Girls' College contingent of teacher Rochelle Howard and students Brook Rhodes and Sunny Solomon.

They flew to Fiji for Habitat For Humanity, an organisation that builds 115 homes every 24 hours worldwide for those who have been struck by disaster or are struggling to live.

Rhodes said the experience was a real eye-opener.

"You always see the tourism side of Fiji, you see the flasher and fancier places, but once you get there, you see the dramatic differences," she said.

"You go to the resort and then you go down the road and you see these real poor shacks. It was a lot different than I thought it would be."

Although they had the chance to do some sightseeing and visited a local school, Rhodes said the build was the main focus.

"I was surprised, we did a lot more building than expected.

"I'm not a trained builder or anything, but we did the digging and the concrete, we put a lot of work into that house."

Outside of building hours, they took old sports uniforms, balloons, resource books and library books to a local school.

Solomon said that it was one of the best experiences of the trip.

"They welcomed us with a special ceremony which was cool because we got to see the kids do a dance and it gave us a taste of their culture," she said.

"The kids grabbed our hands and dragged us down to a tree and then picked up sugarcane and tore it off with their teeth. It's so different to here at home."

Solomon had thoughts of becoming a builder before the journey and the experience solidified her prospects of pursuing it as a career.

She said in Fiji she saw things like goalposts made out of sticks.

"New Zealand kids are quite privileged and because everything is on billboards or on ads on TV, we see what we want and what other people have."

"They don't have that in Fiji, so the kids are happy with a flat ball or banana leaves and sugarcane.

"They're happy with their lives."