Fiji Time, Shopping, Short Entry

Friday, January 18, 2008 (late entry on Jan 19)

Suva Motor Inn, Suva, Fiji

It is only a few days since we arrived in Fiji yet as usual it feels as though we have lived more in those few short days then months wherever we came from. After some discussion we all agreed that this is difficult if not impossible to explain to those who have not experienced it. None of us, least of all I, are naïve enough to think that this is always the case once you are living permanently in one place. The idea of having such ‘fullness’ is in part that is due to the unpredictable nature of life here in the sense that things may or may not work out as you intend them to. Then there is the infamous idea of ‘Fijian Time’ that is called the same thing in different locales the world over . . . the idea that things will happen when they happen and there is nothing that one can do (sometimes) to make it different or to happen when you wish it to.

We have unloaded two 40 foot containers and one 30 foot container of $2,000,000 (U.S.) of medical supplies, unpackaged most of it and repackaged it for redistribution to outer islands villages, health clinics, infirmaries and hospitals. We carried a bunch of anesthesia drugs to our dinner last night and gave them to the Chief Anesthesiologist of Colonial War Memorial Hospital (I hope to be adding photographs to these narratives at a later date!).

I’ll end this here as we have a chance to head into town and try to find a place to email this, pick up some cash and send photos. My aloha and Bula (the Fijian traditional greeting, much like aloha) and Vinaka (thanks) to all who may read this.

David (Tevita in Fijian).