In July, I am flying half way across the world to Fiji : a country that has a history interwoven with devastating Cyclones, or storms, which even in February 2016 forced an astonishing 62,400 people out of their homes.
Think Pacific is a small but crucial charity that sends volunteers each month into different villages of Fiji to help restore the poverty-stricken communities. I will be one of these volunteers, living with a Fijian family and each day working with the locals to address an array of necessities. As a student and a massive geek myself, I am particularly enthused about the educational focus: each morning I will work with teachers and students to regenerate a safe learning environment for the Fijian children, including Maths and English and general support. In the afternoons, the focus will be more on extra-curricular activities, which are currently non-existent: specifically sports, drama and enterprise: all arguably the most memorable and enjoyable parts of a school experience. To reiterate, however, the underlying significance of these activities is to re-establish a sense of safety, support and community into the lives of the children and their families.
Aside from education, the charity also runs building and refurbishing projects: they have built community kitchens, installed water sanitation systems, created ‘kindergarten,’ built jetties: all to address the severe absence of basic infrastructure. Think Pacific also looks to conservation, investing in sea defenses and ways of helping the wildlife which is also severely damaged by each Cyclone.
Therefore, the childhood I have been blessed with of safety, security and opportunities is one that I not only fully appreciate, but one I believe everyone should be entitled to. Obviously, with natural disasters constantly knocking at your door and over 250,000 members of your population below the poverty line, this cannot be achieved without our help.