Assignment

I've just purchased The Rough Guide to Fiji by Ian Osborn for my Kindle.  Can't wait to read it and find out about some of the great adventures I could be having!

I've been assigned to a position as a Health Promoter in the Community Health Promotion Project (CHP).  The purpose of the CHP project is to assist all citizens of Fiji to improve their health status through increased health knowledge, better decision-making abilities, public health outreach programs, and improved access to health services.  This is accomplished through the project's four goals:

1. Fijian household members will have increased health knowledge, skills and attitudes, which will lead them to make healthier lifestyle choices.
2. Health and youth service providers will have increased capacity to conduct health promotion campaigns and provide improved services to the community.
3. Fijian health organizations and institutions will function more effectively and have increased availability and quality of materials and health promotion resources.
4. Fijian communities will have increased access to health services because of new or improved networking with health/youth institutions or other communities.

Assignment description aside, there are a few things that I'm hoping to work on while I'm in Fiji.  I have several years of environmental and construction experience and I love working with my hands.  I want any opportunity to build things and be actively involved in physical projects.  Being trained on the process of building wells and rainwater collection systems for clean water, composting latrines for environmentally-friendly human waste disposal and other similar projects would be a compelling challenge for me.  I have been gathering information about home gardening for small and beginning farmers, and I’m in the process of learning best practices for growing one’s own food.  I would be interested in a community garden or family garden project and nutrition education within my community.  Last, and I'm kicking myself because I forgot to add this to my aspirational statement, I wouldn't mind working in a school with elementary students for hygiene education. 

Oh, and I purchased the Survivor Fiji season (Season 14) on iTunes.  I absolutely know my experience won't be like this, but just getting to see the scenery is so exciting- I'm getting the chills just watching!