Soroptimist International of the South West Pacific

Social networking site facebook has paved its way through the Soroptimist International of the South West Pacific. While the SISWP facebook page is still in its infancy stage and its actual potential is yet to be tapped, the Welcome page is quite impressive with photos of our (SISWP) project 'Birthing In Pacific' based in Papua New Guinea. Here is a screenshot of the welcome section for Soroptimist South West Pacific facebook page.





The SISWP facebook team (11 members from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Fiji) had their meeting today utilizing Go To Meeting software to discuss various aspects and logistics of their federation's facebook page. It is interesting to see how technology is integrating into various domains of our lives to enhance growth and productivity!


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Travel and Cultural diversity

Travel and Cultural diversity - I love it. Just came across this lovely video, it is a must see for all those who are into travel and cultural diversity and appreciate it!

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Movie night - A Rotary charity event

For some reason, I always enjoy the movie nights organised by Rotarians - a diverse group of people, interesting conversations, etc etc. Atul is overseas (it is his Rotary club that has organised this one) and I had planned to go to support the event; we always support each other's charity events/ projects. So my Srilankan friend and I attended the cocktail followed by the movie (Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows). Sherlock Holmes is one of my favourite fiction - that was another motivation to go. It was interesting to see inspite of the fact that it was a mid week event, it was a well-supported event. Good on you Suva-siders, looks like 2012 has renewed the community spirit!

2012 Day One

So 2012 is finally here for us in Fiji, the date appears 31st on the blog though!

1st January, 2012.

Started the morning with a cup of freshly (ground and) brewed coffee while watching news to see how well 2011 will be recapped etc etc. Al zazeera shows a clip where according to Mayan calendar 21st Dec 2012 is the end of the world?!? Should news channel convey something like that to its viewers considering there is no substantive evidence for that! Or is it journalism gimmick! Or is it to attract tourist (so says the reporter!)!

After my breakfast, I caught up with a group of senior citizen friends after a considerably long period! It was lovely to chat with them and share stories. At the same time it was sad too to hear how their children sometimes have no time for their parents and they feel neglected and ignored! I also gathered two lovely ladies, Keleti and Maria are no more, RIP Keleti and Maria. Keleti was a retired school teacher and it was always a pleasure listening to her world of wisdom in her calm manner while Maria was also a lively old woman whose presence in the room could not go unnoticed!

Got back home and thought of blogging straight away while listening to some Ethiopian Jazz and sipping away green tea!

Goodbye 2011 and Welcome 2012

Another year passes by...what have we achieved! It is good to spread a bit of niceties around if you can. I sometimes wonder how we the human-race behave and act! I hope and wish with the new year approaching the human race will learn to be more tolerant, respectful and sincere in their action more than just words!

A few issues put me in a reflection mode:

"Netiquette" seems cliched but cannot be emphasized enough considering an ever increasing community interacting online whether it is writing emails/ online forum/ VOIP etc etc. I have no idea how one can be taught 'netiquette', this is something that simply translates from a physical to virtual world, it is just more dangerous since the reaction reaches faster as it is just a 'click' away!

On the other hand "taking a person for granted" seem to be the most common issue with the ignorant ones! Or should I say its easier to choose to be ignorant perhaps because it serves our purpose, I wonder, again...

There is this young man (a very courteous, ever smiling, energetic with a good sense of salesmanship) who I have been buying vegetables from for the last 4 years - he is a constant reminder of how our society is yet not ready to assimilate school dropouts but hardworking and talented individuals into the mainstream workforce! Solution...

Food for thought as we get ready to welcome the new year 2012...

A fine play by a group of fine team : Fine Dancing

"Fine Dancing"- Finally being staged in Suva these days. A play by a group of talented artists, choreographer, writer and director - all Pacific Islanders. An excellent home-grown production!

I went to watch it tonight and came back mesmerized once again! In a nut shell, the play revolves around this abused woman who is struggling with her emotions and finally returns to her husband. In the booklet, the director informs that when this play was staged first time in Honolulu, he was confronted by a lot of women on the 'ending' with the arguement - abused wife should never return to the abuser. After the play I was thinking what is my take on this! I am pretty sure if I watched this play 25 years back I would have said the same as women in Honolulu. But now...what is my take! One angle: the abused wife has two small children and she returns for them! Another angle: she still loves the husband- she must be out of her mind to love the abusive husband, right! Even though I am passionate about women's rights and status in the society, I still cannot just think that she should not return or she should...there is obviously more to it...children to consider, the abused woman's frame of mind, her sense of security/ insecurity, may be the love is still intact which I doubt! I don't know and I am still thinking...

Overall, it was a fabulous show - the execution was simply brilliant, what better way to enjoy friday evening, it was worth the wait!

The beautiful coral coast of Fiji

A 3-day meeting in Naviti Resort last week once again gave me the chance to connect with the Pacific Ocean. Every morning a one-hour brisk walk along the coral coast beach not only helped me to keep up with my fitness regime and reflect but also appreciate the abundance of natural beauty that Fiji has to offer!

We must have driven over 50 times along the Queens road in the last four years, each time I learn something new. This time round, a colleague gave an insight into the cultural norms and communities/ villages on the Queens road. On the other hand meal-time conversations were equally enlightening - got acquainted with some of the defining rules of marriage in Fijian culture and a few terms such as 'vuda' means land; 'viseisei' literally means 'spread out' but according to a senior colleague it is composed of two words 'visei' means 'to fight' and 'sei' means 'spread/ disperse'. So I would try to interpret the meaning as 'to conquer the land and spread the community further on the land'. This is the beauty of our lifestyle of working in different places - learn something new everyday!

One small Step towards 'Equity and Education'

Informal education can be very effective and interesting is well expressed in the photos here. SI Suva organised a workshop in the Laqere settlement area with around 25 women. We had two main session - one on Health (concentrated on HIV Aids through a woman's perspective) and another one on Microfinance. The attention span of this group of women was amazing - one of the most eager bunch of learners I have come across. Lots of tears, lots of laughter, lots of information and lots of question in just a 2-hour session - It was an extremely satisfying experience. Like I said during my talk on 'Insight into SI' that one should engage in community work because it gives you immense happiness and you feel your time and energy well spent! Give it a try and experience the joy of community service!!

OCAPS Performance Space and the Culture dose!

Oceanic Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies inaugurated its refurbished Performance Space yesterday (15th Oct, 2011), the place looks very nice. I am sure that this performance space will be very well utilized and it will be a feast of performing arts for the lovers of arts and culture. A short cultural programme yesterday was an indicator of whats ahead for Suva folks. I am still mesmerized with all the music and dance we experienced yesterday. Allan Alo (Ta'aroa, Producer) and yet another graceful dancer Peter Espirito captured our undivided attention and left us mesmerized for the rest of the evening. Iglese Ete's (choirmaster from NZ for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) voice filled the evening with harmony and his choir (Pasifika Voices) was simply beautiful. The Oceania dance group, one of my favourite in Fiji once again performed extremely well. For now, I have had my culture dose that will keep me going for a while. I look forward to 'Fine Dancing' which will be staged from 1-3rd Dec and 8th-10th Dec. at the OCAPS Performance Space!!!

Have had unsuccessful attempt of trying to upload a video of dance performance by Allan and Peter but will keep trying, so keep a watch!

Belated Happy International Literacy Day

A belated Happy International Literacy Day (8th Sept)! And I must mention how Soroptimists in Suva marked it!

One of the slides from the Workshop on 'Stress Management and Mental Illness'

Stationary Items for donation

Yesterday (8th Sept.) was 'International Literacy Day'. With fellow Soroptimists in Suva, we organised a workshop for teachers in one of the highschools on 'Stress Management and Mental Illness' on 5th Sept. It was a satisfying experience as teachers indicated that this was a much needed exercise. And then on 8th Sept, we donated stationary items to another primary school which caters to students from nearby settlement area mainly. We also gave scholarship to three deserving students - this will now be an annual exercise for Suva Soroptimists.

And then last night I watched a TED talk and came across this quote while watching a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson on Learning Revolution.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."
— Abraham Lincoln

Food for thought...

And for me it was a double dose of niceties in a week!

Humbled by the work this technical committee does!

Hard working and lively bunch - The Technical Committee, RPWL

(From left to right are Etika, John, Diana, Amar, Navneet, Warren, Atul, Rashmi in this photo)

Rotary Pacific Water for Life is doing a great job by providing access to clean and safe water to the needy rural communities in Fiji. The technical committee meets once a month to discuss various apsects of each project! I had an opportunity to sit at one of the technical committee meetings and felt humbled by their passion, work and dedication. The enormous time and effort that goes into these projects is truly remarkable. This post is dedicated to the technical committee members - Thank You for doing this meaningful project.

http://www.rotarypacificwater.org/Index_new.htm

http://www.rotarypacificwater.org/TAC.php