I feel bad for not having posted on my blog for over a year. A lot has happened since. I travelled to and fro Australia a lot due to personal reasons besides work and community service and that kept me extra busy. WE spent 9 good years in PNG and decided it was time to move on. With heavy hearts we bid farewell to PNG and moved to Suva, Fiji. I am absolutely in love with Fiji, beautiful country with beautiful and warm people.
We, after much thought decided that it was time to pack bags and move on to see a new place. So when Atul got this offer from Suva, Fiji, we decided to take it against all odds and now have absolutely no regrets whatsoever. Fiji, as I said is a beautiful country and people are very friendly and warm, so we are very pleased that we decided to come here.
There is so much to see and do, we are overwhelmed! Its been 3 months since we came here, we left PNG on 18th May and arrived here on 20th May, still settling down. I resigned from my job to come here with Atul and not working here as yet. But I have kept myself very busy ever since we arrived here.
After a week in Suva, I started looking around for "Soroptimists of Suva' (there are five different Soroptimist International clubs) and different women's group that engage themselves in community work. I came across 'International Women's Association' and attended their meeting the second week, It is a nice mix of women who actively fund-raise and hand out money to different groups for some project work. In that meeting, the President announced that 'Fiji Vocational and Technical Training Centre for persons with Disabilities' (FVTTCPD)wanted IWA to look for a person who could help them coordinate their 'Open Day'. After the meeting, I asked the President if she could take me to this Centre since I was interested in fullfilling their request but before I commit I wanted to see for myself what it was like and whether it was worth it. I am very pleased that I went the IWA meeting because then I went to FVTTCPD and my heart fell out for them and I took up the challenge. I got four IWA members to assist me (they came forward and expressed their willingness for which I am so grateful to them) and all the section heads, JICA volunteers and centre manager himself. Because they wanted to use the exercise to fundraise too, I asked them to call it 'The Inaugural Fete and Open Day' and we set for the task, it was to be held on 27th July. My daughter once again helped us with flyers. She made 7 different flyers and each consists of image which is actually the work done in different sections. If you look at the 7 flyers carefully (I am attaching it here), each contains an image which is adapted from work done in different sections. It was a lot of work since I was very new to the country, I had to establish a rapport with the business houses with intention that they had to be convinced to donate, and I am very pleased we did it very well. Also the media coverage was there, the centre had a very good exposure during this time. It was a very successful event with Japanese Ambassador as the chief guest and students had a good time dancing with the Ambassador. To top it all, the centre made a handsome profit. This was a good 2 months effort.
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