One year on from Fiji
It’s now just over a year since I left for the most amazing experience of a lifetime. My trip to Fiji has influenced my life in so many ways. Not a day goes past where I don’t think of the village and my Kaiviti family. The transition to uni was a breeze as Fiji really threw me in the deep end, I feel so much more confident in my abilities now.
I made an incredible amount of friends and have just spent the past few days having a reunion with two other volunteers – one visiting from England! You make so many amazing contacts and never ever forget the friends you make.
I have successfully completed my first year of university and will be returning to Uluibau at the end of the month. I am so excited to see my family, my class and especially my namesake who will be about 8 months old now! The experience teaches you so much and each day I look at lasting momentos: my hand-woven mats and the photos up on my wall. It feels incredible to know I have a whole other family in a tiny little village.
My Lattitude placement taught me so much about sustainable volunteering projects and I am much more aware of their importance. I’m studying a Bachelor of International Development and my placement gave me an incredible insight into the developing world. It taught me that giving money and material possessions are not necessarily sustainable ways of developing a community. What is needed is an understanding and respect for the local culture and dedicated effort to improve the knowledge of that community.
I taught my class for the last term before they went to the mainland for secondary school. Their English improved substantially and I’ll never forget the happiness it bought both myself and them. Village life taught me to be happy with what I have: my family, an education and great friends. It put things into perspective and I still find myself jealous of their easy-going way of life.
My placement was such a huge turning point in my life and since then I have felt much more aware of things. It has motivated me to travel more and broaden my horizons as I work towards a career in cultural studies and development. It was truly an incredible experience that I will never forget and Uluibau continues to be such a big part of my everyday life.
Submitted by: Jessie Pellizzer
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