Fiji Power 2016 Day 11 : 05-10-2016

When we walked into Mere’s home over a week ago we instantly felt a connection and feelings of being welcome and at home. There are no words to express how grateful we are that we have found Mere, Mary, Ti, Ben, Mela, Koli and Lewa, our Fijian family. Thank you so much for giving us a loving home for this trip and for welcoming us in the future. 

Last night we presented Mere with a card.  She burst into tears and shared with us how she wasn’t expecting us to come a day earlier but when we did she was extremely happy, she also talked about how she loved having us around because we are also her family and it takes away the loneliness she feels and she wasn’t expecting anything like a gift from us because to her our company was enough. 

After everyone had finished saying thank you, we went outside and set off some fireworks and sparklers. The personal light show was spectacular and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

In the morning following a teary goodbye we first stopped at a nursing station where Bua was now stationed. She was the nurse at Naqarawai when the Fiji 2015 team installed solar power for the fridge. The purpose of our visit to Bua was to interview her about some of the effects that having solar panels has had on the nurses, the patients and the Ministry of Health. From what she told us that the panels had made a huge difference to the health centre and means the vaccinations can now be safely stored.

Lunch at the Fijian Shangri-La’s resort and spa was a bit of a shock as it was full of Australians and very expensive. It doesn’t seem like the “Real Fiji” however, it was still lovely and we walked anyway feeling a bit heavier because of all the food we consumed.

Back in Nadi we booked in to our accommodation then went for a swim at the pool and had great fun mucking around and playing a charade game called “walk this way”.