Within moments of boarding an aeroplane to Fiji the hearty greeting „Bula!“ (Hello! Cheers! Welcome!) became part of my Fijian vocabulary. Pacific Islanders also love to welcome guests with traditional music and dancing. So, upon arrival at Viti Levu’s international airport in Nadi („Nandi“) I was not surprised to be greeted by a band of Fijian singers and musicians in the arrivals hall early in the morning. Talking of time, one of the concepts European visitors find difficult to get used to is „Fiji time“, which refers to the natives‘ extremely (sometimes annoyingly) elastic sense of time with things hardly ever happening on time.
This is my fourth week of teaching at Pacific Harbour Multi-Cultural School on the South Pacific island of Viti Levu, and I have been enjoying every minute of it, although adjusting to the time zone (Fiji is 10 hours ahead of Germany) was not as easy as I thought it would be.
PHMCS is a very small school for classes 1 to 8 and also accomodates a kindergarden. Students come from very diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, the majority being Fijian, Indian and expatriates from all over the world. As you can easily imagine, teachers are faced with enormous challenges doing justice to this cultural and educational diversity, and students do not always find it easy to fulfil the demands of the curriculum. Absentism poses a problem as well, because in Fiji schooling is not compulsory. But despite such difficulties, there is a strong sense of community and willingness to make progress in the students, staff and parents at PHMCS. People keep telling me that just like many other institutions and customs transported to Fiji from overseas, school educati on is regarded as a ‚planted flower‘, which needs patience and proper care for it to blossom.
One of my first days at school was the annual World Teachers Day, a day celebrated by more than 100 countries worldwide in honour of the work, done by teachers. On that day students and parents went to great lengths to show their appreciation. Not only had they brought in all sorts of traditional Fijian foods, but the teachers were also invited to attend an assembly full of items prepared by the students. Some held speeches praising their teachers, others performed a dance and made us join in. All day there were numerous activities and opportunities for chats among teachers, students and parents.
In the course of the past few weeks I observed that in addition to conventional classes and activities, elements of the daily and weekly routineat PHMCS are the pledge of allegiance to the flag of Fiji, assembly at the start and at the end of the school day, tooth brushing after lunch and St. John’s training. Being that the school is beautifully situated in tropical surroundings just opposite a palm tree beach, one of the school’s policies is to place great emphasis on the protection of the environment. An example of this is a regularly held beach clean-up day.
As you can see in the photos, some of the boys wear the traditional sulu, a kind of skirt worn by native Fijians. In one of the photographs you can see me wearing a Sulu Jaba („Chamba“) a very colourful floral-design dress preferred by most Fijian women. I wore this when I attended a Bula-Night in one of Viti Levu’s traditional villages.
This is all for now.
Vinaka vakalevu!
Corinna Pahlke
Within moments of boarding an aeroplane to Fiji the hearty greeting „Bula!“ (Hello! Cheers! Welcome!) became part of my Fijian vocabulary. Pacific Islanders also love to welcome guests with traditional music and dancing. So, upon arrival at Viti Levu’s international airport in Nadi („Nandi“) I was not surprised to be greeted by a band of Fijian singers and musicians in the arrivals hall early in the morning. Talking of time, one of the concepts European visitors find difficult to get used to is „Fiji time“, which refers to the natives‘ extremely (sometimes annoyingly) elastic sense of time with things hardly ever happening on time.
This is my fourth week of teaching at Pacific Harbour Multi-Cultural School on the South Pacific island of Viti Levu, and I have been enjoying every minute of it, although adjusting to the time zone (Fiji is 10 hours ahead of Germany) was not as easy as I thought it would be.
PHMCS is a very small school for classes 1 to 8 and also accomodates a kindergarden. Students come from very diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, the majority being Fijian, Indian and expatriates from all over the world. As you can easily imagine, teachers are faced with enormous challenges doing justice to this cultural and educational diversity, and students do not always find it easy to fulfil the demands of the curriculum. Absentism poses a problem as well, because in Fiji schooling is not compulsory. But despite such difficulties, there is a strong sense of community and willingness to make progress in the students, staff and parents at PHMCS. People keep telling me that just like many other institutions and customs transported to Fiji from overseas, school educati on is regarded as a ‚planted flower‘, which needs patience and proper care for it to blossom.
One of my first days at school was the annual World Teachers Day, a day celebrated by more than 100 countries worldwide in honour of the work, done by teachers. On that day students and parents went to great lengths to show their appreciation. Not only had they brought in all sorts of traditional Fijian foods, but the teachers were also invited to attend an assembly full of items prepared by the students. Some held speeches praising their teachers, others performed a dance and made us join in. All day there were numerous activities and opportunities for chats among teachers, students and parents.
In the course of the past few weeks I observed that in addition to conventional classes and activities, elements of the daily and weekly routineat PHMCS are the pledge of allegiance to the flag of Fiji, assembly at the start and at the end of the school day, tooth brushing after lunch and St. John’s training. Being that the school is beautifully situated in tropical surroundings just opposite a palm tree beach, one of the school’s policies is to place great emphasis on the protection of the environment. An example of this is a regularly held beach clean-up day.
As you can see in the photos, some of the boys wear the traditional sulu, a kind of skirt worn by native Fijians. In one of the photographs you can see me wearing a Sulu Jaba („Chamba“) a very colourful floral-design dress preferred by most Fijian women. I wore this when I attended a Bula-Night in one of Viti Levu’s traditional villages.
This is all for now.
Vinaka vakalevu!
Corinna Pahlke