Rebecca's experience

I went on the Fiji 2003 program. We started off in Nadi and then traveled around north coast – the poorer region, stopping off at many little villages. Our visit to a small village called Namosi was amazing and my most memorable experience. The people were so welcoming and beautiful! I remember sitting around a single lantern at night with my host family as we told jokes and stories into the wee hours. I also have a great memory of how they looked after me when I was sick. They insisted I take the best bed and then the six children gathered around on the floor and sung to me (amazing four-part harmonies!) I didn’t get much sleep but it was very soothing! (Rebecca pictured second from right)

My most challenging experience was probably dealing with culture shock and seeing things that I didn’t expect to be confronted by. For instance, I really struggled with all the starving animals we saw.

We were there to be immersed into a completely different culture so after a while I think we all just surrendered any control we perceived we had over the situation and just trusted the experience. I think I had more culture shock returning to Australia because everything I had thought was important suddenly wasn’t.

In most places the living conditions were quite simple. I remember having a ‘shower’ by candlelight with just a bucket of water (which our host had kindly heated up for us), a cup and a small piece of soap. You learn to adapt pretty quickly and also to realize how pampered and luxurious our Australian lives are on a daily basis.

The Fijians were the most accepting and hospitable people I could imagine! We were welcomed into communities and villages as if we were old friends instead of complete strangers. The people showed us the most amazing kindness and hospitality. Even when the families had so little in the way of material possessions, they gave us the best of what they had. It was not unusual for the entire family to cram into one room just so that we could have the comfort of the best bed in the house. Their sense of genuine community and welcome was something completely foreign to me. How many of us would extend the same invitation to strangers? And then give up their bed to sleep on the floor?

I think life has really changed for many people since the coup. I met a girl on a bus whose whole family lost the home they had lived on all their lives and had to move in with other relatives on a different island. Stories like that really made me realize that it wasn’t something that happened years ago, it is an ongoing issue that still has an effect now.

Another issue that remains in my memory is how under-resourced a lot of areas are. The average wage we were told is less than $70AU per family, per week. However, all the prices of food, building materials, clothing, everything was pretty much the same as in Australia. Considering that most families are quite large there is nothing many people can do but make do. Every piece of timber or tin is precious. The things we waste and throw out would be recycled and put to good use in Fiji. We saw entire homes built out of old pieces of worn weatherboard and held together with rope. Some even used branches to construct shelter. It’s pretty amazing when I consider my landlord has left a huge pile of timber under my house which has sat unused for a couple of years. It seems so wasteful.

The experience was more moving and human than I ever could have imagined. It almost seems like there is an invisible equator on my lifeline now - ‘before Fiji’ and ‘after Fiji’. This was an opportunity to live and see the real Fiji - still exotic and beautiful, but more an experience of people than palm trees. It has confirmed my belief that the Church is more than ever about people, not a building. I believe that the only way people can move forward is through partnership - between people and between countries.
I would recommend this experience to anyone who is brave and willing to let go. I would certainly return to Fiji and relive the experience if I had the opportunity.