and some more

Bula vinaka na noqu itokani kei na noqu matavuvale (Hello my friends and family)~ (YES, those are real words .)
I hope America is treating everyone greaaaaaaat and you all are enjoying air conditioning and pizza and hamburgers and cpk salads for me and raspberry lemonade with ice cubes….just saying, enjoy that..mmmm, pizza.. 
Fiji is wonderful. The projects seem to be really coming along and I am enjoying working with the kids, youth, and women especially.
The women of Youladrou and the surrounding villages are amazing and very proactive, though often they do not have the opportunities to gain knowledge or have tasks that are empowering or uplifting. Often we don’t think about the various opportunities we have as humans in our culture to set goals and how good we feel when we accomplish them. Often we don’t recognize how important it is to encourage one another, to endure projects that are difficult, and to feel proud and successful. As humans we need self-esteem, empowerment, and a sense of pride. These are basic needs that are often limited in struggling third world countries. And even more often we find that the women suffer the most in this area. I remember last year in Africa I didn’t work with women groups as much as I had hoped because I was busy doing other things that I loved. This year I decided I wanted to work with women primarily as well as the youth and public health issues. SO, I am the project lead for women’s group ( and emergency preparedness..) and so far it has been really quite enjoyable.
In case you want to know more:
Problem: The women of FIJI work hard and have great potential but they are often stereotyped and not given the opportunity to learn new skills or gain knowledge. They do not know how to help their children or one another in regards to first aid, prevention, and good health. Often the men are considered the leaders and the women’s opinion are not as important which is detrimental to self-esteem and motivation.
Short-term Objectives: Build relationships with the women and include them in projects that will build self-esteem and empowerment with one another.
Long-term Objectives: Women will be empowered and confident enough to teach others the skills they have learned and continue to be motivated to find new opportunities to gain knowledge. The women will have stoves that are better for their health and gardens that they can attend to so that they might be more independent and live healthier lives.
Project Summary: We will meet with the women’s groups once a week (or whatever they feel necessary) and teach them the skills they want to learn such as gardening, stoves, health, and perhaps sewing. These skills and knowledge will be sustainable and helpful for the women’s lives as well as their family and community. Self-esteem and empowerment will be a main objective throughout the lessons and projects.
Partner Organization (Describe partner and history of HELP’s involvement with them):
• Name- Women Groups in surrounding villages: Tavua, Youladro, Korovo, Ruku Ruku, Nabuna
• Address-
• Phone Number-Youladrou,Ashu 9726432
• Email-
• Description-
• History-All new villages and settlements we have met and established relationships with the women.

Project challenges and limitations (Include how these might be overcome): Challenges include: communication. Often English is a second or third language for many of the women. Usually we are able to communicate by gestures and the English they know and the little Fijian we are learning. It is harder with the Hindi women, but so far we have had translators at our meetings so it has turned out well. Sensitivity to culture: We want to empower and support the women without being demeaning towards the men or insensitive towards the culture. (Aka, we don’t want to start a revolution.)yikes!
Impact on Stakeholders (Include possible positive and negative outcomes):
• Community-positive: opening of small businesses could improve local economy, women’s self-esteem could be improved thus making community happier. Negative: opening of small businesses could be detrimental to existing businesses.
• Partner Organization-
• Volunteers-positive: women empowerment.
• HELP International-

Financial and Work Responsibilities (Community/partner must provide at least 5% of monetary needs):
• Community-women attend classes
• Partner Organization-translate
• HELP Team-teach classes, provide teaching materials

Sustainability (Explain the steps you are taking to make projects sustainable): Each lesson with these women will impart knowledge and skills that will allow new opportunities for them to grow intellectually as well as address physical needs and concerns. Skills such as square foot gardening and adobe stove building both support better health and more effective ways of growing and cooking food. These tangible projects will encourage self esteem as well as empowerment and goal setting as they accomplish each task. As the women become more confident they will teach other women or men in the local village. As teachers they will become leaders and only increase the feeling of empowerment and encourage good self esteem for themselves and others. Through the health classes we will teach good nutrition, exercise and physical therapy, prevention for non-communicable diseases, hygiene, sanitation, and first aid. This new health knowledge will be useful for their entire lives as they adjust to a healthier, better way of living. By participating in these lessons they will learn healthy decisions they can make for their own personal lives as well as their family and community. It has become obvious that these women are excited to learn and that this new health knowledge will only motivate them to teach their loved ones and friends. All of the lessons taught will include visual aids or a type of pamphlet and notes that the women can keep and refer to for years to come.
Timeline:teach classes once (or more) a week.
First Lesson: Gardening
Second Lesson: Check up on Gardening, teaching or preparing Stoves
Third Lesson: stoves
Fourth Lesson: Health—non communicable diseases and prevention
Fifth Lesson: Health—mind/body/health, goal setting and empowerment
Six Lesson: Health-hygiene
Seventh Lesson: Health-nutrition
Eighth Lesson: Health-exercise
Nineth Lesson: Health-(piping for Youladrou) sanitation
Tenth Lesson: women’s health
Eleventh Lesson: Health-first Aid, first part
Twelve Lesson: Health-first aid, second part
Additional Information: There are many different women’s groups we will be teaching throughout Tavua town and the villages surrounding it. Depending on the needs of the women and the skills they want to learn, each project may be different. However, we have found a consistent desire for health classes, stoves, and gardening.

Yesterday we did a project with the women of Ruku Ruku. We did an adobe stove which is a project we did a lot in Uganda last summer and we were not anticipating doing AT ALL here. However, ALL the women want to learn how to make these stoves and today we had our first one. We taught the women first and had an overview of the benefits of the stove. (better health for lungs and eyes and safer for their children as well.) It was amazing. The women were so excited and participated in getting the clay and sand and mixing it and pounding all the adobe mixture into the frame. The really understood the concept and were excited that they could build it independently of the men.
OKAY! MOce!
gotta go to work!
heart,
tor