One thing I forgot to put on the blog before was the late night of star photos. I had to rest my camera on rocks and try to get clear photos of the stars. Brett, Madiha, Chase, and I were the last ones outside.
A few of us woke up very early to see the kids go to school.
And by very early, I mean that Elizabeth’s alarm went off at 5:15 in the
morning. Still, her, Madiha, Meghan, and I walked around and tried to see the
sunrise. Sadly, we realized that the sun rose behind the houses, so we couldn’t
see anything. Plus, Madiha stubbed her toe on a rock and I had to try to help
her clean it up. After more than an hour of wandering around, the kids were
finally waking up and getting ready for school. They really seemed happy that
we got up just to see them. I really became closer to Lela, one of my favorite
girls. It was sports day at school, so the kids were out of their usual
uniforms, and into outfits according to the color of their teams.
Since I was on cleaning duty, I didn’t have to work until
after meals, so I helped with the building. After that, one of the men in the
village led a group of us around to complete our photo scavenger hunts. We got
to see the chief, who was staying in the next village with his daughter since
he was sick. We also saw the youngest person in the village, a little baby, and
we went to the black sand beach and the Rock Beach. It was interesting to walk
around and see different aspects of the village.
I also did Brett’s manual test this day, which involved him
giving us a subject and telling us what to do to capture it. I ended up with
quite a few photos that I liked, so that was worthwhile.
We went up to the kids’ school to tour it, then see sports
day. I passed by Lela in the one of the hallways, and she looked so happy to
see me. Going to the sports day was so much fun, especially since we got to
play against the younger students in volleyball (which we actually lost one
game). It was a blast, and full of laughs.
Afterwards, our group and some of the kids (Janet, Vao,
Lela, Tina, and Rocko) were to go to a rockslide into some water. However, the
Alex’s, Bora, Lucy, Mrs. Simon, and I didn’t want to go, so we opted out. We
sat outside of a fire station by the school for a good half hour while waiting
for the bus. It never came, so our guide from the village got one of his
friends to pick us up in his pickup truck. The Alex’s, Bora, and I all rode
back in the bed of the truck, which I think was better than a rockslide.
Once we got back, Mariam was already there since her knees
were hurting, so we decided to do something a bit more relaxing. We visited the
oldest lady in the village, Mary, who was Wini’s mom. During that point, the
ones who went to the rockslide came back. It was too rough to go in, so they
came back early. From this, Madiha went with Mariam and I to visit Mary.
Mary was 84 years old, and didn’t speak English. Wini sat
with us to translate some of what Mary said. We were one of the first groups to
talk to her, and I could see why some had visited her before. She was to gentle
and kind, yet so dark She mentioned how if we ever visited the village again,
she would probably be up in heaven. Her dark talk, though well meant, was my
low of the day. When I showed her the photo I took of her, she cried and said
she looked like her own father. There was a lot of handholding and light hugging.
I thoroughly enjoyed the moving experience.
Since this was our last whole day, the music and dancing at
the end wasn’t the guitar. It was playing music from people’s phones. A lot of
it was still Fijian music, but Jacob did sneak some Beyoncé in. We all danced
for a long while, enjoying the fun we had before the sad that would come with
leaving the next day.
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