Fiji

My time here in the beautiful Fiji has been short, but thanks to Frontier it has been full to the brim with sports coaching, assisting staff with lessons, and all the extra-circular activities that Fiji has to offer. My weekdays have been tiring, but satisfyingly so. Going to sleep at 9pm is considered extremely late in the mind of volunteers. The days go by so quickly, and the energy that the volunteers and I brought to the day-to-day life of the schools was matched by the never-ending energy of the children. I could tell that we were greatly appreciated for all our efforts. One thing I definitely learnt whilst helping the children, was that the energy I put in gave the children that little bit extra during their school days. I would definitely recommend going through Frontier, as they have heard all that previous volunteers have said in their post-reviews, and have improved the project as best as they can.

I was in Fiji for one month with Frontier and I love it there. It has by a wide margin exceeded my expectations.

I was placed at a local primary school with 2 other volunteers, and I gained invaluable work experience. The teachers were welcoming and inviting and made us feel like part of the staff faculty – allowing us to be in charge and make decisions whilst guiding us and helping us on our way. The children at the school were little gems and were eager and willing to listen and learn from us.

We travelled outside of the island at the weekends and each retreat was as fun as the next even if in very different ways. One of the islands we visited had a very relaxed atmosphere and we spent our days swimming in the sea, eating and lying on the beach. The Bay was more upbeat with a younger crowd of travellers and a lot going on.

Overall my time here has been spent well and I wouldn’t take this experience back ever!

Having arrived from New Zeal winter, the first impression of Fiji was the heat, however, this was soon replaced when we received a welcome from three Fijians playing guitars in the airport and I decided I was going to love this country.
After a cramped 4 hour bus journey we reached Suva and despite it seeming very sleepy for a capital city the friendliness of the locals again shone through as we were greeted by shout of “Bula!” (Hello) everywhere we went. A day later and we were on camp which had exceeded my expectations and I was very impressed with the new bure (house) built for our arrival. We were quickly assigned roles around camp and various duties. The one which stuck out as the hardest was cooking as I had never cooked for this many people before, let alone on an open fire. Think I did a good job though as everything got eaten.
Other than the amazing diving there have been plenty of things to keep us occupied such as Friday nights Kava welcoming ceremony which was great fun and Sundays visit to church in Qarani. It was here we got to spend some time with our Fijian families and once more the friendliness shone though from the adults cooking for us to the kids wanting to play rugby on the beach and teach us Fijian.

The best decision of my life was my semester off volunteering, and Projects Abroad made it so amazing. The staff in my country took me and all the other volunteers in and we felt like one big family. We have weekly meetings and dinners all together, then usually would go out after, and once a month we would do a Community Day and go out to a village or shelter or anywhere that needed help and just helped out... In my three months, I painted kennels at SPCA, went to a women and children's village on a holiday called Diwali, and built a fence in a village's farm to keep the pigs out. The best part was the people you got to meet while helping. They also place you in a school or whichever program you applied for (mine was a special needs school) and are there every step along the way, from meeting the other staff, to complains or concerns, or in some people's cases, a placement change. You're also placed in a host family, which I believe was the highlight of my whole placement. The families you get to meet and live with take you in and you really become a family member while you're there, and even still after you're gone! Another relationship you hold onto after you leave are the friends you make in other volunteers and natives of your country. Everyone has Facebook nowadays, so it's not hard to stay connected. One of my closest friends now, who I met in Fiji, is from Denmark, and we still talk every week, if not more! Volunteering really helped me grow and find myself while making life long friends in my staff, natives, and other volunteers! Really a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it's a easy one to get to with all the help you receive from Projects Abroad!

Two weeks into the project I couldn’t be happier that I decided to volunteer. The scenery is breathtaking and the Fijian locals are extremely welcoming to everyone involved. The change of lifestyle is a bit of a challenge at the start, but the staff has made the transition seemingly effortless.
Getting back into the diving regularly in a new environment had my nerves a bit rattled but again the staff succeeded in reassuring me everything would be okay. The diving is awesome. Meshing with a group of RA’s that has all been on the project together before my arrival was trying, but after spending the past 2 weeks together we’ve all gotten close. I am very much looking forward to the rest of my stay here.

My name is Phoebe Amato-Pace, I am 21 and I have recently returned from a
four week project in Fiji, volunteering at the Fiji Times newspaper and
living in a homestay. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and
am so pleased that I decided to take part in the Frontier volunteer
abroad program. I only wish I had chosen a longer project because at the end of four weeks, I didn't want to go home.

My placement at the newspaper was really interesting and lived up to
my expectations. I was able to experience what being a
full time journalist is actually like and contributed a large number of
articles to the newspaper. I was able to use transfer vehicles to go out
and conduct interviews on my own and I was also able to shadow other
journalists while they carried out their work. The staff at The Fiji
Times welcomed me from the word go and were very encouraging
throughout.

My in country coordinator was also hugely supportive from the very beginning when he
collected me from Nadi airport. He accompanied me to my
initial meeting with The Fiji Times, made sure I was happy with the
contract drawn up for my stay and regularly checked in with me to
make sure that all was going to plan. I felt completely comfortable
talking to him about any difficulties I faced (though these were
minimal) and can't thank him enough for making it so easy to settle in!

In addition to this, my experience of living in a homestay was great.
The family picked out by Frontier made it feel like a home away from
home, always making me feel welcome and going out of their way to make me
comfortable. This element of my trip made it something that I will
always look back on with fond memories and I already miss them all very much.

All in all, my time volunteering with Frontier was great. I feel I
have gained a great deal from the experience and would definitely
encourage others to get involved and give it a try!

I had never traveled abroad before in my life, but this summer I decided to volunteer through Projects Abroad in Fiji. I had the opportunity to work at a school for special needs students while I was there for one month. The experience was absolutely amazing, the best experience of my life! Projects Abroad was also an amazing organization to work through. They are extremely supportive from the very first time you express interest in volunteering abroad. I wasn't positive where I wanted to go, but after talking multiple times with one of the Projects Abroad staff members via email I decided on Fiji. She was very honest about the advantages and disadvantages of each place. I decided on Fiji because the majority of the population speaks English. When I arrived in Fiji one of the staff members picked me up from the airport, brought me and introduced me to the host family I was living with, and then took me around the town to orient me to where I was living. The next day a staff member took me to my volunteer placement at the school and helped assist me in determining what I would do at the school and what my schedule would be. It was extremely helpful to have this to get started and oriented. The rest of the trip you are on your own, but the office is always close to your home location and you can stop by anytime. The staff members in the office gave me their personal cell phones and assured me to not hesitate to call at ANY time. This was also very reassuring. Every week the staff will put on a workshop for all the volunteers at the office so that all the volunteers can get together and learn about some things that would be helpful to use in our volunteer placements. We also had a social one night every week where all the volunteers go out for dinner together. It is not required that you do this, if you wanted to stay by yourself the whole trip you could, but I did not. My favorite times were getting together with all the other volunteers and getting to know such a diverse crowd. We worked monday through friday, although my placement was very lenient and would allow us days off if we wanted, and then we had the weekends off to do whatever we pleased. I would typically travel with other volunteers. My host family was awesome, I absolutely loved them. I had a host dad, mom, and brother who I am still in communication with via Facebook. One other volunteer also lived in the same home as I did and traveled to the same school with me. I would definitely recommend Projects Abroad, especially for the first time volunteering abroad, they are very good and quick about orienting you and helping you fit right in to the culture. The only thing I didn't like about projects abroad was the price. It was a very expensive trip and a large portion of the money went to the Projects Abroad organization itself. My host family did not get paid as much as I expected, especially considering they provided us with all of our meals, laundry, and living. Its a good organization to support, the money is helping the organization expand across the world, but it was overall a pretty expensive trip. But if I had the opportunity to do it again I would in a heartbeat!

I have never left my home country before,I wanted an adventure and to help someone and try to make a difference in the world.

I did some research and found GVI was the company that would be the support and environment that I wanted to be apart of.

I have a history in child care so I had an idea of some different ways to help these children learn and further develop their understanding and knowledge of the English language. I was lucky enough to not have a huge language barrier the children were able to communicate with me.

This experience has opened my mind to the differences we can make in the work. I was only there for 2 weeks and I felt I helped one child in particular and gave him the confidence boost he needed to keep learning.

GVI all the way, I would 100% recommend this program for any first timers or even experienced volunteers

I am living with an amazing Fijian family where the mother of the house insists on being called “Mumu”. Mumu is always cheerful – laughing constantly. This not just my Fijian family but all Fijians who are willing to take as much time out of their day to help you out, no matter what you need. I never go hungry, with plenty of tasty food to eat for breakfast, lunch and supper.

The volunteer teachers are making great progress with their classes and have found that they are not only teaching but being taught by the children with their enthusiasm to learn and for sharing their culture that they are so proud of.

The sport coaches broke boundaries and gave an entire primary school of girls their first EVER opportunity to play and compete in football. The resounding response of interest from the girls has meant that the volunteers are able to put a proposal together to open up a holiday football club in August.

The medical Volunteers have recently completed their health screening of Suva and are currently investigating the results. These results will then be prepared to be presented to the ministry of health.

With over 10 articles and numerous number of photos published with their name by-lined the journalist have report on all manner of subjects ranging from activity at the American embassy, court cases, new education policy and natural disasters.

In order to support the fantastic work that is currently being done, please do consider volunteering in Fiji.

Last sumer I spent a month in Fiji with GVI on their Community Development Program. This was one of the best experiences I've ever had. The people were all amazing, the staff, the locals, the other volunteers. The staff made it very easy to get there and settle in and made sure I knew what I was doing at each part of the program. For me the highlight was teaching at the local school, you can really see it makes a difference to the children out there and they want to learn which makes it even better. On top of all that, the time off was incredible too, at weekends we were allowed to explore Fiji which is the most amazing lace I've ever been. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone who wants to volunteer abroad.