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Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji
By richhagen, Section Diaries Posted on Tue Jun 5th, 2007 at 08:53:22 AM MST
2007 trip to Fiji with BTHumble

In March and early April of this year I took a trip to Australia and Fiji to help out BTHumble on a mission to repair and upgrade a small computer lab at a school on the remote island of Vanua Balavu Fiji.

Be forewarned, the posts have lots of pictures, most of which are around 50K each.
I uploaded all of the photos and three HTML pages linking them to my user files here. There are no external links. The links below tell the story of this adventure.
Part 1:
http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/742/trip_to_vanua_balavu_1.htm
Part 2:
http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/742/trip_to_vanua_balavu_2.htm
Part 3:
http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/742/trip_to_vanua_balavu_3.htm
In summary, it was an unforgettable trip, and I met lots of wonderful people. I will try to do something like this again in the future. Thanks to BTHumble, BruceS, Commanda, Ghurd, NTL, and all of the other members who contributed in some way to this venture. Rich Hagen

Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by wooferhound (tim((NoSpamAt))wooferhound.com) on Tue Jun 5th, 2007 at 09:11:02 AM MST
(User Info) http://wooferhound.com

Too Cool !!
I can't believe that I read the whole thing.
Very Interesting . . .

W o o f -={(

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by dinges on Tue Jun 5th, 2007 at 09:18:36 AM MST
(User Info)

Me too. Started reading and didn't stop till I was through...

Good story and a lot of beautiful pictures. Thanks.

As for you looking like a tourist in the last picture of part-2; I disagree, in fact, judging by the shirt the former prime-minister is wearing I'd say you have blended in perfectly.

Good to see that youse have been doing a great job there, though the remark about the workshop not being used and some tools getting scattered has me a little worried.

I looked very hard in the picture of the toasted PCB but I didn't note any LM317 in there. Did see a shadow of a TO-220 case in the top right of the PCB. Must've gone up in the majic smoke... :)

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by Bruce S (bruce(dot)stahl <at>gmail (dot)(com)) on Tue Jun 5th, 2007 at 09:33:10 AM MST
(User Info)

Rich;
Very nice !!! you are correct, I would've in heaven with those peppers!!
It was a good thing they weren't tried right there, they are known for being some of the hottest in the world (:->
And I'm sure I would've been stopped trying to bring seeds back home.
Thanks for the story and photos they are awesome.

Cheers
Bruce S

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by ghurd on Tue Jun 5th, 2007 at 10:05:11 AM MST
(User Info)

Words that never belong together:
non-DOT approved and bridge,
old and Chinese airplane,
3rd world and water...

Very interesting.
G-

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by Drives (drivesdeanw at yahoo.com) on Tue Jun 5th, 2007 at 10:46:04 AM MST
(User Info)

Thanks, and well done.
---------Dean-----------
[ Parent ]

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by DanB (danb@*no spam*otherpower.com) on Tue Jun 5th, 2007 at 12:03:02 PM MST
(User Info) http://www.otherpower.com/

Excellent story Rich! Thank you.

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by jimjjnn (jimjjnn at yahoo dot com) on Tue Jun 5th, 2007 at 04:47:34 PM MST
(User Info)

Great story and pics. Like others, I too had to read it all the way through at one sitting. Looks like you guys did a great job . Helping others is really gratifiying.
Jim Denver,CO
[ Parent ]

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by nothing to lose (nothingtolose175 at yahoo.com) on Thu Jun 7th, 2007 at 12:43:23 AM MST
(User Info)

Wow Rich,
That's a great write up and some nice pics!

I think the line that most caught my attention though was

"There is plenty of food just for the taking on this island. Seafood, fruits and vegetables galore."

That with those great ocean and coastline pictures, WOW.
I wasn't able to make the last trip, but I'll sure be trying hard to make the next trip. Looks like lots of fun working on the projects and some nice quite time too.

Looks like you guys did a great job and got lots done while there, but still looks like a relaxing and peacefull place to be, even when working, Eh.

So what was it about breaking your phone? I read you did, but didn't read what happened to it. Did I miss it or you just not say? Was it saltwater mist ate it, or did it wash out with the tide?

Well Back to fixing computers and sleeping an hour or so, I almost got them fixed I think!
.
nothing to lose

Spelin and tpying are my strong points, not electronics.

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by richhagen (richhagen (a t) Juno.com) on Fri Jun 8th, 2007 at 08:58:41 AM MST
(User Info)

It got to close to the ocean and got a bit wet. The phone still worked, but it wouldn't charge anymore. Rich
'A Joule saved is a Joule made'

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#10)
by BT Humble (bt_humble@bigpond.com) on Mon Jun 11th, 2007 at 03:58:40 AM MST
(User Info) http://www.humbletown.org

Nice work, Rich! I knew you had a story in you! ;-)

Notice how nobody has accused me of looking like a tourist? (Or indeed of complimenting me on my pasty paleness? I can't believe that you got a tan within a week!)

BTH

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#11)
by Stonebrain on Tue Jun 12th, 2007 at 07:18:50 AM MST
(User Info)

Thanks,Rich
I enjoyed your story a lot.

"There is plenty of food just for the taking on this island. Seafood, fruits and vegetables galore."

I have the impression quality of life is very good over there.In some ways even better than in Europe or USA.So when we are thinking of raising their living standard maybe we must keep this in mind.To be more clear if these people change there traditional food for McDonnald and coca cola it might be bad for their living quality and their health.

Sorry for this little side road.I don't have any doubt about your generosity and will to help these people.

cheers,
stonebrain

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#12)
by richhagen (richhagen (a t) Juno.com) on Tue Jun 12th, 2007 at 03:48:15 PM MST
(User Info)

I thought about those issues while on the island and after leaving it. There are many facets of this, and there are a lot of trade offs. The more carefree, less rigid lifestyle, out of the office so to speak, is more relaxing. Medical care, and services, are generally less available, although maybe cheaper. Manufactured goods are less plentiful and more expensive, although a good argument could be made that we don't need, or benefit, from much of the stuff that we have.

For some reason most of the youth I talked to wanted to leave this island to go the main island of Fiji, or even out of the country. If they go anyway, then in order to earn a decent living, they are going to need skills which people will pay them to use. In that sense, it is pretty easy for me to conclude that the computer lab is probably a very good thing.

Even if they don't leave, I have a firm belief that one can make better descisions, and create a better standard of living with increased knowledge. I do not think that increased knowledge through education means having to destroy the lifestyle of the island, but may allow for better decisions to be made in general, and hence a better quality of that life. In this case, improving the education is still a good thing. Richard Hagen
'A Joule saved is a Joule made'
[ Parent ]

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#13)
by Stonebrain on Wed Jun 13th, 2007 at 04:24:36 AM MST
(User Info)

I didn't mean to critizise your mission.
They need education,and electronic communication is a means to
improve of their knowledge of the world today.I hope it will help them
to get conscious about their situation.

Of course they get exposed to the agressive propaganda for our lifestyle
and our economical-political doctrines.
Instead of assuming that they need this we should tell them that they have a lifestyle that western people are only dreaming of.

cheers,
stonebrain

[ Parent ]

Re: Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji (3.00 / 0) (#14)
by DamonHD (d@hd.org) on Tue Aug 28th, 2007 at 03:50:09 PM MST
(User Info) http://www.earth.org.uk/

Just read your story: very interesting!

Rgds

Damon

Trip to Vanua Balavu Fiji | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 editorial)

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