Hello! My name is Laura, and I am (one of) Janae’s favorite nieces! I’m currently attending BYU and I just started the nursing program! I am soooo excited and I am looking forward to be following in my Uncle Andrew’s footsteps.
I recently returned from a month-long study abroad trip to Fiji. The group consisted of 25 students from BYU Provo, BYU Hawaii, BYU Idaho, and a nursing school in Bristol, England. My study abroad focused on cultural immersion and humanitarian work on Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu.
The company that coordinated the effort, Think Pacific, assigned us to an itty, bitty village in the center of the island, up in the highlands. Koro Village (which you can’t even search for on Google Maps) has about 40 homes, many of which were host families to our group. From the airport to Koro was a two-hour bus ride followed by two hours on a military-style transport carrier through jungles and mountains.
A screen-shot from my dad, stalking me on FindMy
During our month-long stay, our humanitarian work focused on building! Each weekday we spent seven hours constructing a medical dispensary that will serve Koro and a few of the surrounding villages. Several of the men from the village helped us throughout the build, and they were very patient with our low-level handtool skills. Now that we have built it, and it is officially opened, the dispensary will hold basic medical supplies and be taken care of by a local nurse. 🙂
The other half of the Study Abroad was cultural immersion in village life. Here are some of my many unforgettable moments…
THE STARS. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a place quite so remote that I could look up and see the Milky Way every single night. I learned quickly to time it so my bucket showers were at night to have this magical view. (Also, I was shocked that my phone camera could capture this kind of pic! Have you tried the Night Mode? Life changing!)
My Nene and Momo!! (Mother and Father.) Students were assigned in pairs to live in Fijian households. From our first day in the village our cute families called us their daughters and sons and we were treated like family. We were also given Fijian names: mine was Mimo (rhymes with Nemo 🐠), and the student I lived with was called Makarena (yes, like the dance💃).
There were always lots of kids running around to teach us rugby, braid our hair or destroy us at Uno.
As you could guess, my living situation was quite different from my college apartment in Provo, Utah. We ate many meals crossed legged on mats woven by our host mothers. My hips were mega sore, but much stronger after a month. Phone connection was spotty: I climbed a hill and held my phone up toward the towers to call my parents, haha. I got sick with an obscure virus for a week and spent that time lying down in our house behind a curtain, eating water crackers. I’m thankful for the perspective those experiences taught me.
On one of our last days a village cow was killed and cooked, Lovo-style, as a celebration. Lovo is a traditional cooking method that creates an underground oven. First, a hole is dug and red hot stones are placed at the bottom. Then, the meat is wrapped in banana leaves and roasted in the ground for several hours from hot coals that are placed on top. In other villages (not ours) villagers will walk across the hot coals with their bare feet. 😨 The resulting Lovo is mouth-watering, the most tender beef that I’ve had in my life.
Cana Vaca Levu: Fijian for “eat a lot.” Our families said that every meal, as they served up plates of cassava, curries, taro, and always LOTS of coconut fish.
We were warned when we first got into the village to be wary of the cows… they would walk around the village at night, and eat any laundry that had been left on clothes lines. We thought it was a village tall-tale… until we woke up one morning to find Makarena’s laundry had been chewed up and was blowing in the wind. lol.
And would I even be Janae’s relative if I didn’t start my mornings with a little run? Whichever direction I left from the village was uphill, so I got a good month of hill training in.
And strength training afterwards featuring DIY cinder block weights and bench press.
In Fiji, the most spoken language is Fijian. Although many people also spoke English, there were always certain things that were difficult to communicate. Because of that barrier, we found unique ways of connecting with people in Koro. One way was the Hop Hop: aka the best dance ever!
🕺🪘Many times, when a group of people was gathered, someone would roll in a loudspeaker, turn on island music and suddenly the whole room would erupt in spontaneous, improvisational dancing. All the village moms LOVED getting up and yelling “shake it!”
What stuck with me most throughout this wild adventure was the inspiring attitude of the Fijian people. If you walked anywhere in the village, you would be invited in to have breakfast/lunch/afternoon tea at each house you passed by. No matter the situation, they always found a way to be happy.
Thank you so much for reading!! I’ve been reading Hungry Runner Girl for many years, so it was so fun to be on this side of the screen!
What experiences in your life have provided you with a new perspective?
Have you ever tried chicken feet?
Where was your best dance party ever?
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