Kadavu Island - Fiji Aid Project
Donation protected
Kadavu Island in Fiji is one of the most special places on the planet. This may even be the first time you’ve heard of Kadavu. It is a lush, tropical, south-pacific island setting settled by the most humble and genuinely kind people in the world. It is a slice of paradise that you can’t help but to connect, so innately, with. The people are rooted in their culture of striving to help anyone and everyone without expecting a single thing in return.
Vunisei District School is located in the middle of Kadavu Island and hosts children ages 5 to 14 from five different surrounding villages. The children coming from different villages than the home village of Vunisei are brought in by village boat on Monday’s and picked up on Friday’s. The children and teachers stay in their respective dormitories near the school during the school week and each lends a hand in their communal style of living. Meals are prepared by volunteering parents whom take turns staying the week at school.
Right now, the biggest issue Vunisei District School faces is the condition of the staff and student quarters. It has created a high turnover of teachers to the point where the school is significantly understaffed each school semester for the last 10 years. The children’s dormitories have just been revamped with new beds back in 2016 thanks to the local resort in the area’s guest fundraising efforts. However, the staff quarters remain outdated by at least 25 years. Rotting mattresses, dysfunctional restroom facilities, and leaking roofs have made it extremely undesirable to work for the Vunisei District School. Currently, when trained teachers registered in Fiji’s Ministry of Education quit their positions at the school due to poor living standards, the village of Vunisei is forced to put in a “sub” teacher, which comes from the village itself and is often one of the students’ parents. The issue here is that the children are not given the opportunity to gain most of the little education available to them.
Our efforts hope to raise enough funds to remodel the staff quarters at Vunisei District School, as well as, build a pathway from the dining hall to the dormitories. The school children get very dirty on their way back from dinner and unintentionally create a mess in their newly remodeled dormitories before packing it in for the night.
The villages get together once a year for a large annual fundraiser in the island nation’s capital city of Suva. They will work their hardest to raise funds for the remodeling of their school’s staff quarters in hopes it will help with teacher turnover. Our goal is to give them a significant boost toward their fundraising so that more of their allotted ministry of education annual funds can go into teacher resources for educating the children in our modern-day world. With only two “high schools” (age 14 – 18) for the 75 different villages on Kadavu Island, most Kadavu Island children at age 14 become an ‘adult’ and live to contribute to their village.
As the world becomes ever more connected, we believe that these children have more potential than ever to share the beauty of their island and culture - contributing as globalized citizens. The world that has become so impersonal and insincere and often times forgets to share a great story out of being caught up in the 'noise'.
Our monetary goal is set at FJD 45k, or $22,500 USD. This will be used to purchase supplies, transport them to Kadavu Island, and pay for the contruction. We will run this online GoFundMe for Vunisei District School until December 31, 2018. The plan is to revisit the school, funds in hand, to assist on ground with the school's reconstruction efforts.
By supporting this project, you are supporting the future of educated Fijians. They say it takes a village to raise a child, what they may have missed in that context is that villages in third-world countries can only do so much. Let us be these children’s supportive village guardians and contribute toward them having more opportunity than ever in their youth. We know in our hearts that if given the opportunity - they would do the same for you without even knowing you. Your contribution represents a wave of impact similar to the way a local Fijian has the tendency of making others feel. Genuine. Good-Hearted. An altruistic way of reminding the local people of Vunisei on Kadavu Island that they are not in this alone. We are one world. One village. One people. Vinaka Vakalevu for your donations to the children of the Vunisei District School!
Vunisei District School is located in the middle of Kadavu Island and hosts children ages 5 to 14 from five different surrounding villages. The children coming from different villages than the home village of Vunisei are brought in by village boat on Monday’s and picked up on Friday’s. The children and teachers stay in their respective dormitories near the school during the school week and each lends a hand in their communal style of living. Meals are prepared by volunteering parents whom take turns staying the week at school.Right now, the biggest issue Vunisei District School faces is the condition of the staff and student quarters. It has created a high turnover of teachers to the point where the school is significantly understaffed each school semester for the last 10 years. The children’s dormitories have just been revamped with new beds back in 2016 thanks to the local resort in the area’s guest fundraising efforts. However, the staff quarters remain outdated by at least 25 years. Rotting mattresses, dysfunctional restroom facilities, and leaking roofs have made it extremely undesirable to work for the Vunisei District School. Currently, when trained teachers registered in Fiji’s Ministry of Education quit their positions at the school due to poor living standards, the village of Vunisei is forced to put in a “sub” teacher, which comes from the village itself and is often one of the students’ parents. The issue here is that the children are not given the opportunity to gain most of the little education available to them.Our efforts hope to raise enough funds to remodel the staff quarters at Vunisei District School, as well as, build a pathway from the dining hall to the dormitories. The school children get very dirty on their way back from dinner and unintentionally create a mess in their newly remodeled dormitories before packing it in for the night.The villages get together once a year for a large annual fundraiser in the island nation’s capital city of Suva. They will work their hardest to raise funds for the remodeling of their school’s staff quarters in hopes it will help with teacher turnover. Our goal is to give them a significant boost toward their fundraising so that more of their allotted ministry of education annual funds can go into teacher resources for educating the children in our modern-day world. With only two “high schools” (age 14 – 18) for the 75 different villages on Kadavu Island, most Kadavu Island children at age 14 become an ‘adult’ and live to contribute to their village.As the world becomes ever more connected, we believe that these children have more potential than ever to share the beauty of their island and culture - contributing as globalized citizens. The world that has become so impersonal and insincere and often times forgets to share a great story out of being caught up in the 'noise'. Our monetary goal is set at FJD 45k, or $22,500 USD. This will be used to purchase supplies, transport them to Kadavu Island, and pay for the contruction. We will run this online GoFundMe for Vunisei District School until December 31, 2018. The plan is to revisit the school, funds in hand, to assist on ground with the school's reconstruction efforts.
By supporting this project, you are supporting the future of educated Fijians. They say it takes a village to raise a child, what they may have missed in that context is that villages in third-world countries can only do so much. Let us be these children’s supportive village guardians and contribute toward them having more opportunity than ever in their youth. We know in our hearts that if given the opportunity - they would do the same for you without even knowing you. Your contribution represents a wave of impact similar to the way a local Fijian has the tendency of making others feel. Genuine. Good-Hearted. An altruistic way of reminding the local people of Vunisei on Kadavu Island that they are not in this alone. We are one world. One village. One people. Vinaka Vakalevu for your donations to the children of the Vunisei District School!Organizer
Timmy Leichliter
Organizer
Koloa, HI
