Some Fiji Facts

So Fiji... Wow. Fiji. FeeeeeJeeee

For those of you irate with jealously, don't worry your country will be just as cool... Sort of ;) or for those who are dear enough to me to read my blog...just come visit so you can see all the beauty that Fiji has to offer to!! But let's have a little history lesson while we wait the arduous 7 weeks before I leave!

The Republic of Fiji is composed of 332 islands, of which approximately 110 are inhabited, spanning approximately 500,000 square miles of the South Pacific Ocean. It is known as the soft-coral capital of the world and thousands of miles of coral reef thread throughout the islands. It is home to a population of approximately 883,000 people.

Fiji obtained its independence from Britain in 1970. A succession of coups - in 1987, 2000, and 2006 - has left Fiji struggling to regain political and economic stability. Leaders of the most recent coup in 2006 established an interim government led by Commodore Bainimarama. The Fijian Court of Appeal declared the December 2006 coup and the interim government unlawful and the 1997 constitution was abrogated. A state of emergency was imposed in April, 2009 and in July 2009 the interim cabinet appointed Epeli Nailatikau, a former military commander, diplomat, and speaker of the House of Representatives as the new President.

Following the coups, Fiji has suffered a high rate of emigration of skilled and professional personnel, causing shortages in the service sectors and in the areas of education and healthcare. Half of the population lives below or close to the poverty line, particularly in rural areas. Over-fishing and environmental degradation have reduced food security from traditional sources. Revenues from tourism, expatriate remittances, and exported sugar and garments remain the largest contributors to the economy, though these have dramatically fallen with the current worldwide recession. Fiji ranks 86 of 169 comparable countries on the Human Development Index (composite indices .669), and places above the regional average of East Asia and the Pacific (composite indices .650).

The currency of the country is the Fijian Dollar.

Although the country has a combination of both native Fijians and Indians it is an English Speaking nation. They do however speak their own dialects but all staff at resorts, restaurants, shops and the like are English speaking.

One of the most common words you hear in Fiji is a cheerful "Bula". This is the Fijian word for "hello" but in Fiji it can also mean a plethora of other things too!

The country's capital is Suva which is located on the eastern side of the main Island, Viti Levu. Suva is also the largest city in Fiji and contains one of the two ports in the country.

Fiji’s current government is headed by the military, per the 1999 constitution. In April 2009, Prime Minister Bainimarama and then-President Iloilo nullified the constitution, restricted the press, and pushed the date for elections to 2014. As a result, Fiji was excluded from the British Commonwealth and the Pacific Islands Forum and has ongoing disputes with other countries over its governance, most notably with Australia and New Zealand.

Indigenous Fijians have a well-developed local system of government, beginning at the village (koro) level. Each village is represented by a village headman (turaga ni koro), who is elected by the villagers. Villages are grouped into 18 districts (tikina) and these districts are grouped into 14 provinces (yasana). The Fijian Affairs Board appoints a “Roko Tui” to head each province.

Indo-Fijians and other non-Fijians are served by a provincial administration that represents ministries at the local level, provides funding for infrastructure projects, and maintains government services. An advisory counselor represents Indo-Fijians’ and other non-indigenous Fijians’ interests at the provincial level. The traditional sociopolitical governing system of the indigenous Fijian people is the chiefdom system. The chief can be male or female, though most are male. The Fijian word for chief is ratu for men and adi (pronuounced “andi”) for women. The chief has sovereign power over the people of his or her village.

(references: Wikipedia, Fiji Welcome book, and CIA World Factbook!)

INVITATION!!!!! FIJI!!!!

HELLOOOOO FIJI!!! 

  Or should I say Bula!! Can't believe it!! I'll be leaving September 4th for 27 months to Fiji!!! :) 

  The unfortunate part is that I am in Ghana still so I haven't actually received my invitation just a welcome packet, and job assignment!! I will be working as a Community Health Promotion Facilitator! Working with several different outreach programs with a long range of items to educate communities on! 

  Of course the over achiever in me has already looked up information from WHO, the Peace Corps Fiji Program Evaluation, and the Fiji Health Systems Review. Yea I'm awkward like that. The opportunities are endless! Can't believe I ended up in Fiji when I was so sure I'd be in Africa!! Everyone keeps telling me we've hit the Peace Corps lottery and I can't help but agree. Not only will this be a great experience but if I live in a more rural village, and when family arrive they can see both sides and still get an actual vacation out of it too!! Now I know since there are 8 weeks away something could happen to not go through but I'm hoping for the best!! 

  Just want to give a shout out to everyone who has been following or supporting me through this process! Thank you so much for everything :) can't wait to see what the next few years bring!! 

Dreams...they do come true!

Not to put all my eggs in one basket as I am still two months away from when I could possibly leave... But after speaking with my placement officer and getting the questions such as: How is your family support, where are you in terms of safety and precautions, what have you been doing to live the life of a volunteer, really everything that they should but after the phone call and a check with legal my placement officer emailed me the most amazing news, I did the happiest happy dance I've done in years:

Hi,  

I checked with the Legal Eligibility  Office and was informed that your ticket was/is not a problem. So, I am clearing you for Peace Corps service and issuing you an invitation to serve in a Peace Corps health assignment departing for the Pacific Islands September 4th .  However, there is one condition.  I will need a final transcript that has the words “degree conferred” and the date by the first week of August at the latest.    

Your invitation should arrive in 5-10 business days.  After reading through your invitation materials, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.   Otherwise, please follow the detailed instructions in your invitation packet on how to accept your invitation.  

Thanks for the information regarding your address. I suspect that our mail room will not be too keen about sending a packet to an addresses in Ghana without numbers.  Therefore, I would be inclined to use the P.O. Box address, as it seems a bit “safer” if you will."

seriously can't believe this...

Sometimes I really do wish I was a crier. I feel amazing. I know it's all speculation and things could happen to make me not be apart of it but... Im on cloud 9 right now so I'm just thinking about all the positives. I probably won't be too crazy until I'm on that plane over and have fully be swore in after training to know that everything is real, but until then I'll be in my dreamland just happy to know that my dreams are coming true. <3 thank you everyone for their support. It's been an amazing ride just to get this far. I love you daddy, my life would mean nothing without you.

PLACEMENT OFFICER!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh omg!

I just received this email:

Hi,  

Greetings from the Peace Corps Placement Office.  My name is B and I am your Peace Corps Placement Officer. I believe that you are overseas now; however, I would like to arrange a time for a final interview for Peace Corps Suitability. Please let me know a number where you can be reached and a time this week (or next) when you are available to speak for 30min or so. I can call internationally, and am usually in the office from 8:30 AM EST through 5:30 PM or so.

  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.



Then we confirmed to talk Wednesday evening after I get done with my after school club I have here in Ghana!! Ohmygosh!! I'm so excited!! I'll keep you posted for more news!!!!

Peace Corps, Peace Corps, Peace Corps :)

It's taken me a while to update because well... I did have some complications with my grades unfortunately but I got really lucky and found an online Developmental Psych class at the University of Florida through their Flexible learning department. It's all set up and I'm just working on submitting my final projects now while I'm in Ghana. Yay for my last class as an Undergrad!! It's amazing how one mistake can feel like the end of the world one day, then a great life lesson the next. I'm sad it's postponed my assurance with the Peace Corps but I'm really privileged to have such a supportive father to assist with my bigger mistakes that cost me. 

But bad news aside I talked to my pre placement officer and am passed preliminary review!! I'm not sure how well off that makes me but I can only pray that it means I am headed in a good direction!! It's a little difficult living in a small village in Ghana and trying to be patient with all this down time. I can only hope my trials in Ghana will prepare me for a more successful time with the Peace Corps. 

Something funny I did realize is that, it's okay to be nervous about living in a developing country. I was really excited for my time in Ghana but then realized a lot of the experiences I'd have and wasn't sure I'd be ready for them. Bucket baths, power outages, limited Internet access, no air conditioning, different foods, constantly being reminded I'm a foreigner, limited wardrobe, lots of downtime, slowing down the go go go attitude, all of that. And yet, those are some of the easiest things I've adjusted to, if not real problems at all!! 

I think the biggest difficulties I've overcome were missing my family, talking to my friends everyday, not knowing if I am making a lasting impact, evaluating my worth to the community and certainly how uncomfortable I can get when I'm not in control of the situation and can't express how I feel in their language!! But even with all that to think about I can only say, I am so glad my time in Ghana is what it is because it has prepared me for so much. I won't lie and say I don't get down on myself but most days I think how happy I am here and wonder if I'll ever want to leave. I've read so many Peace Corps blogs that I'm starting to understand what some of them are talking about. I'm glad too because it's made me understand how committed I am to joining the Peace Corps and how I know it's the right avenue for me because of the personal journey it has taken me through already with the application process. I really want to do whatever I can to make an impact, understand more cultures, put myself out there and initiate change as much as I can!! 

My time in Ghana is amazing, and I'm so thankful to all the people that helped me get here. Crossing my fingers for good news with a placement officer soon!! Thanks for reading!! Good luck to you if you're going through similar struggles.

Graduating? Maybe..maybe not

This past semester has been crazy and I never would've thought I could let myself go the way I have; not necessarily physically but mentally. My grades are slipping, my motivation is closing, my ability to persevere is dissipating, everything seems to be slipping away. I didn't think I could be as burnt out as I am, and I want to leave for Ghana for almost four months?? What was I thinking? I'm crazy, but I love myself enough to know it's okay.

So here's my dilemma of the week: I wasn't a responsible student and slacked off in one class- Developmental Psychology. I went to class for the first month, and realized that I wasn't learning a thing: the class was 8 am, the professor was terrible and disastrously boring, his drone was worse than Stephen Hawkins and the topic just as bland. I am probably too much of a skeptic to believe in Developmental Psychology, but regardless I have earned roughly a 69% (not sure exactly because he hasn't graded 4 major sections of our entire grade) in the class probably but need a 70% to pass the class and graduate. I'm not asking for an A, I'm not asking for 10 points. I'm not saying that he should "give me" an extra point, I said I would earn it if possible. This is just being ridiculous and it's frustrating. I'm freaking out. I've never been in this predicament before. I'm sorry to rant, but this could make or break being apart of the Peace Corps.

But here's the good news for the week in relation to the Peace Corps

PEACE CORPS UPDATE

I received an e-mail April 16th asking for my updated resume, completed "graduated college transcripts" and an experience portfolio of the past year.
This is exciting news, but just as stressful due to the problems of me graduating. But I guess that's life.
Ghana is so close, I can taste it. I'm nervous though. I'm going to miss the states.
I have a lot of thank you letters to write in the next couple of days; there have been so many people who have helped me get to where I am right now. I have no idea where I would be without so many of them. My greatest gift from God has been the blessings he gave me from my university. Truly a remarkable place.
But onto other things... if I do graduate, which I hope and pray that I do, my resume and experience will be wonderfully updated well enough to hopefully make a great candidate to leave in September as nominated!! :)

God please bless me and the path that I pursue in these next five months!

As always, thanks for reading :)

Anxiety

Officially Medically Cleared, 34 days until Ghana, 29 until Commencement... reality hits.

I am really doing all that I thought. I submitted my service learning hours, just the basic ones even though when I went through my service at FGCU I had well over 400- but I didn't have the time to drive over to every supervisor just to get them signed especially since my car isn't working. Haha this time my tire blew and unfortunately with Ghana to pay for and visa applications, vaccinations and malaria pills also clothes to pay for items for my car are the least of my worries.

It's all so real and it gets really scary. The start of something new, the idea of figuring out where I'm going in my life. I have all the emotions inside of me, ones that I've just started to even acknowledge, let alone try to understand them. I'm nervous about graduating. What if my GPA is too low? Over a 3.0 means you're "above average" but I've always thought of myself as an Exceeds Expectations kind of person. I've always been a "goody-two shoes" and have enjoyed my naivete in many of my paths throughout college, but am learning what it means to be "put together". Just because you're a mess on the inside doesn't mean you need to show it. I used to be good at that, but with all this pressure from family, friends, professors, mentors, advisers, Student Government, Housing (Resident Assistant stuff), boys, jobs, really just life in general, I'm more anxious than ever.

I'm anxious to leave for Ghana, but in an great way. To make a difference in the months that I'm there, to experience life in a completely different culture than I've ever experienced. I'm anxious about all this work I still have to do for my classes, it's extensive: a grant proposal, two research papers, two final exams, two presentations and a service project that I have no clue how I'm going to finish in time, 20 credits my senior semester wasn't my smartest move. I'm anxious to graduate, more so because it means I did it in four years and have a hell of a resume to show for it. I'm anxious to wonder if my dad is proud of me. I'm anxious to think about all the things I've been through in these past four years, what a way to live life. I'm anxious about where I'll be in 5 months. Will I be leaving for Africa again? Or will I be in D.C living with my best friend, figuring out what I can do to make a difference in the HIV/AIDS community there. I'm just a bit anxious about that.

I have been so privileged over my last four years. To have finally met my mother, to have met my two best friends that will be by my side until the day I die, to have met the most wonderful little sister I could've ever dreamed of, to have seen love, to have seen life, to have seen hard work and perseverance make a difference, I have been so honored to have served the students of my university, gosh I just can't explain it. I have lived my life in such a crazy pace, from my very first breath I never stopped going. I am blessed by God to know that I have been given and searched for the resources to make my dreams a reality.

This Peace Corps process, though daunting has been such an experience in itself. Learning patience, perseverance etc. I have learned more about who I am, and have pushed myself to be better. I still make mistakes but I acknowledge them and recognize when I am acting as a bad person would. But then again there are no bad people, just mistakes and insanity.

I am so proud to be a member of the Peace Corps Family and can not wait until I hear from my placement officer!! It will be an amazing experience to discuss all the things I might have the ability to do while I'm serving.

So privileged. So honored. So Anxious.

have a great month of April everyone :)