Back in Fiji

We’re back in Fiji again, and finally recovered from jet lag after our 34 hour trip, door to door.  It’s been a good week of catching up with things here, and also getting to know our newest students---- and learning their sign names!  We’re thankful to be finding children at younger ages now, and getting them started in school early. Our preschool class so far has 4 students, ages 3 to 5, all living in the hostel.  The children are such a joy!  And nothing can beat the warm Fijian welcome we always receive on arrival! There’s never a lack of hugs here, and as you can see, no shortage of smiles, either!

School and hostels are running well, with no damages to speak of from Cyclone Winston, thankfully. Two of our students from Savusavu, the next largest island, lost their homes, and one student from Ba, on this island, also lost his home. Families of two of our students from Taviuni Island had their farms completely wiped out. But help came quickly from Australia, the USA, the Fiji government, and the Fijian people themselves. (Fijians are such a generously giving people!)  We’ll be preparing boxes of food at school to send to families of our students. We’ve also arranged for a new fence to be put up at the main hostel, and are having a new replacement sign made for the school. Those were our only losses here in Suva. We enjoyed a Saturday morning prayer breakfast at Suva St Chapel, praying for those who suffered losses in Cyclone Winston, and also for the deaf ministry and chapel concerns. 

Last November we said good bye to our old home near the school, and turned it over to our senior girls, to be used as a hostel--- a move that saves us quite a bit of money in rent. The girls moved in, just in time for the start of the new school year in January. We recently visited the girls and Fine (pronounced Feenay), their hostel mom. Fine is a wonderful, humble, and sweet woman, affectionately called “Mother Teresa” by Jim!  She loves her girls, and is one of the most selfless people we have known.  Fine is also the mother of Tema, our Hostel Director. 

Students are now approaching the end of first term, and preparing for Easter Camp, which will be held at the school over the long Easter weekend. On Palm Sunday, also known as Children’s Sunday in Fiji, the children all wear white to church, and perform ‘mimes’ and songs, and recite Bible verses they have learned.  Here are a few of our students all dressed up for Palm Sunday at church.

More to come later----