We’ve finished presenting the series of compost toilet workshops at all 10 villages around Moturiki. The feedback was very positive and many villagers expressed keen interest in having compost toilets in their villages. The key advantage this would bring to them is that it helps them save water used for flush toilets. Water is a scarce resource on their island, with rainwater being pretty much the only water source. So if compost toilets are used instead of flush toilets, which most of the villages use right now, more water can be used for drinking, cooking, washing, etc. The next step for GVI is to explore options to support the villages in getting compost toilets, this could be in the form of training volunteers to build the toilets, or support fundraising efforts so villages could pay professional companies to build them. Any of that will probably happen way after I leave though.
We’ve started on a new workshop series about waste management, to increase awareness on plastic pollution and how to sort rubbish properly for recycling. This ties in with lessons we are teaching in the two primary schools in Moturiki. Tomorrow, I will be teaching in school with another volunteer. We planned the lesson such that there will be time for the students to set up a small recycling station for their own school.
Last weekend, I had the chance to take a short trip to Levuka, the old colonial capital of Fiji. Caqalai is very lucky to be only a short boat ride away from Levuka, many people have to take a 5 hour long ferry from Suva just to visit there. It was a good break from project work. We tried traditional snacks from the local market, visited the cession site where Fiji was ceded to Britain, and hiked up to the peak for a panoramic view of Levuka town, the mountains of Ovalau island and the surrounding outer reefs.