Your week of volunteering on our Construction & Renovation programme will be a busy one! So, take time on the day of your arrival (Sunday) to relax and be refreshed for the week ahead!

Mandatory Orientation Day

On the Monday of your first week at this location, you will join our orientation day, to familiarize yourself with the surroundings as well as local culture. Thereafter, your programme will continue as usual from Tuesday onward throughout the rest of the week.

Schedule

• Welcome, introduction to Fiji and projects, House rules, Code of Conduct and handling of documents
• Sigatoka City Tour
• Kava Ceremoy – The Traditional Fijian Welcome Ceremony

Weekly Schedule

Monday

On your first day, after your orientation session, you will start planning the project with the coordinator assigned to you. Once you plan the project and receive the relevant information, you can have lunch and then leave to work at the community location. Finally, at the end of your volunteering day, you will return to the centre and attend a meeting where you can provide feedback on your day on placement.

Tuesday to Friday

Your day will begin early. You will be taken to our project site and assigned tasks for the day. Importantly, know that you will have plenty of support, and that your coordinator will be around to guide you during the project. After lunch, you will work at the community location where you will continue with construction and renovation activities.

Please note:

This schedule can be changed depending on weather conditions and unforeseen circumstances.

Evenings and Weekends

After a day of working as a Construction & Renovation Volunteer, you can choose to explore the area or simply chill. Many of our volunteers enjoy mixing with their new volunteer friends through the week and plan bigger outings at the weekends!

Places to Visit

• Sigatoka sand dunes
• Kila Eco Adventure Park: enjoy high rope courses, a leap of faith and a giant swing.
• Scuba and snorkelling
• Tavuni Hill Fort
• Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course
• Sigatoka Market.
• Arts Village at Pacific Harbour: Enjoy the footbridges, the water-lily ponds, the pathways, the Fijian bure and experience how life was in the olden days which is one and hour drive.

Here’s what you can expect from our Volunteer Kindergarten Teaching programme on the Coral Coast of Fiji.

About the Accommodation

Depending on the project you are moving on to, you will stay at our beachfront centre which is located in the Sigatoka area. Here, your room will be within a male/female separated dorm and will usually have between 4 – 6 people in each room with a private bathroom. In addition, there are refrigerators at the accommodation for volunteers to store their own food and snacks if they choose. The house also has a communal garden as well as a volleyball court. Lastly, please note that whilst there is Wifi available at the accommodation, volunteers staying for a long period may choose to get a local sim card to stay in touch with family and friends.

Food Arrangements

During the week, you will have 3 meals a day, and at weekends we serve breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is western style and lunch and dinner are typically Fijian style cuisine.

Facilities

ATM’s: There are many ATM’s near the centre which is about a 5 to 10 minutes from the house, and the local supermarket is a 5-minute walk from the centre. Also, for those who wish to buy a personal SIM card for their mobile, these are available at the local shop. Additionally, if you wish to visit Nadi, the closest city, it’s about 1.5 hours from the centre, with public transport regularly available. Finally, should you need medical attention at any point during your stay, there is a medical centre, 10 mins away from your accommodation.

Capital: Suva
Language: Fijian
Currency: Fijian Dollar (FJD)
Time zone: ICT (UTC +7)

Country Information
Fiji is an archipelago of 333 sun-kissed, picture perfect islands tucked away in the South Pacific, close to Australia and New Zealand.

It’s famed for its rugged landscape of blue lagoons and palm-lined beaches, and eco-activities from mountain climbing and surfing to soft-coral diving and zip-lining. Its major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, contain the lion’s share of the population, meaning much of the country is uncrowded.

The 20th century brought about important economic changes in Fiji as well as the maturation of its political system. Fiji developed a major sugar industry and established productive copra milling, tourism and secondary industries.

As the country now diversifies into small-scale industries, the economy is strengthened and revenues provide for expanded public works, infrastructure, health, medical services and education.

The country’s central position in the region has been strengthened by recent developments in sea and air communications and transport. Today, Fiji plays a major role in regional affairs and is recognised as the focal point of the South Pacific.

Fiji is now home to many other races — Indians, Part Europeans, Chinese and other Pacific islanders living in harmony, and keeping their own cultures and identity. Fijians, slightly over 50 per cent of the total population, are essentially members of communities. They live in villages and do things on a communal basis.

Climate
The climate in Fiji is tropical marine and warm year round with minimal extremes. The warm season is from November to April and the cooler season lasts from May to October. Temperature in the cool season still averages 22 °C (72 °F).

Rainfall is variable, with the warm season experiencing heavier rainfall, especially inland. Winds are moderate, though cyclones occur about once a year (10–12 times per decade).

Culture
Fiji was first settled about three and a half thousand years ago. The original inhabitants are now called “Lapita people” after a distinctive type of fine pottery they produced, remnants of which have been found in practically all the islands of the Pacific, east of New Guinea, though not in eastern Polynesia. Linguistic evidence suggests that they came from northern or central Vanuatu, or possibly the eastern Solomons.

Before long they had moved further on, colonising Rotuma to the north, and Tonga and Samoa to the east. From here, vast distances were crossed to complete the settlement of the Pacific to Hawaii in the north, Rapanui (Easter Island) in the east and Aotearoa (New Zealand) in the south.

Unlike the islands of Polynesia which showed a continuous steadily evolving culture from initial occupation, Fiji appears to have undergone at least two periods of rapid culture change in prehistoric times.