The Worksite

I absolutely love the Mau Village. It is beautiful. It's one of the larger villages in Fiji, but everyone is still really tight. It was a little intimidating coming into the village the first few days, but only because it was a new place. It was the kind of intimidating of going to a new school or something - where you aren't familiar with the area so you tiptoe around for a while. Not to worry, I felt right at home after a few days of work.

The first Monday we were there, we were each assigned a partner to work with, and a specific house to work on. My partner was Sethie, and we were assigned to Group 6. We followed a guy from the Community Hall, across the Bridge of Death, and to the house where we'd begin our work. We started digging a hole for the toilet itself to sit on, then we had to fill it in and relocate. Too bad. We moved to the other side of the house, and began again.

The progression of the bathroom building:

The septic tank pit

The foundation for the toilet

Stomping on the dirt to pack it down

The women of Group 6

Hole dug, beginning of septic tank in place - filled with water due to the rise in tide

Yes, I am in the septic tank

The structure's up!

Eddie, tryin' it out

This is where we got the gravel for cement. It was this random pit a ways up the road. We'd shovel the gravel into a bag, then haul it all the way back to the campsite. If we got on it in the morning, we could use the high tide to our advantage and ride a little canoe over to get more at once. This is how we got free gravel.

Oh, the cinder blocks. We had to carry TONS of these blocks back to our sites. They were used for the foundation of the toilets, and to make the entire septic tank. Sometimes I carried two at a time, but that was difficult. Usually, just one. The guys turned it into a threat to their masculinity. So, most carried two. Sometimes they'd bump it up to three, Colin tried four. He even had it for a few steps...until the village women came and took them from him.


This was the biggest problem with the blocks. They broke. Really easily. Which made it difficult to carry them. But we managed.

Sethie, hard at work

These pictures sum up the main purpose of our trip to the beautiful islands of Fiji. Hard work, but basically the best thing ever.