Farewell Levuka

RACH

My last day at the hospital arrived far too fast, I cannot believe that i have been working there for 4 weeks! The day began as usual with the ward round, but being my last day everyone was even more willing to give me jobs to do . Then I headed down to the clinic where I was the only “doctor” on as the other was on a medical outreach trip to the surrounding small islands. So i had a very busy last day working through the majority of my lunch.  But after a hectic day of fractures, infected scabies, a miscarriage and plenty of children with abdominal pain or asthma i was rewarded with a farewell tea party by the staff. Everyone was asked to bring a plate of food to contribute. I brought a cake that we had got our housekeeper Katherins daughter to make and make an England flag with Vinaka, the Fijian word for thank you, in it which they all found very amusing for some reason. Also after a long search round all the Levuka shops we realised that a Thank you card does not exist on the island. We also realised that even trying to find card to make our own was a very big task and we bought probably the only card in levuka! The night before armed with bracelet thread and a sewing needle I had the task of making 3 thank you cards, the hospitals, Katherins and one for the school as Toms artistic talent is lacking to say the least, especially with limited resources ( self recognised evaluation not just me being mean). 

It was a  lovely afternoon, most of the staff came along and they had a long speech saying thank you and i followed suit. After indulging on all the fijian cakes and doughnuts we all headed outside to burn them off with a big game of volleyball !! The sun was shining and it was great fun J I even think i have improved abit from the beginning , although i think my technique may be a little unorthodox !!

TOM

With a slightly less busy last day I was able to sneak out during the morning to buy a clock as a thank you present for the school. I had heard rumours of a ‘supprise’ for me that afternoon so a present seemed to be in order. During my whole time at LPS the only clock in the school had been tempremental at best so this seemed like a pretty appropriate present as a school definitely cant operate on Fiji time!

Bearing rach’s hand made card, katherins cake, and the clock, i headed into my lunchtime farewell party in the school staff room. Here the table was laden with all sorts of homemade food, the Indian women had brought in things like rotis and samosas while the Fijian staff displayed their repertoire of fruit pies. With all the 30 or so teachers present (no students) one of the staff made a speech thanking me for my time at the school which was really nice and thoughtful! The principal was then asked to present me with a big bag of presents (a bula shirt, an LPS sports top, and miniature Fijian drums, war clubs, and kava bowl and a caard signed by all the staff). Before eating the chaplain said grace over the food and was very moving in what he said about me.

That afternoon there was no lessons and i spent the afternoon playing tounch rugby with the students ! Great way to end my time at the school. After playing I went for what I thought was going ot be a gentle stroll up a hill with one of the teachers but it ended up with me tearing my chinos from seam to seam and completely breaking both flip flops while scrambling up a steep mountain. After an hour long almost vertical climb we made it to the top, knackered!! Great views but i did not know thats what i was in store for. After sliding most of the way back down on my bum the teacher gave me a lift back to  our cottage where rach and i quickly got ready to go for a farewell grog with the teachers.

 The teachers were all very welcoming, giving us priority seating in front of the kava bowl. After 4 weeks  it seemed we had advanced from the “low tide” bowls to what we’d call medium tide, still not  Fijian “high tide” kava drinkers yet.  After a few hours of drinking and eating some Fijian curry we then went on to have a final meal at Whales Tale. Before leaving all the teachers sung a traditional Fijian farewell song for us, it was a really nice touch, and very well practiced it seemed, with the males and females having different roles.
It was a lovely evening to top off our amazing and unforgettable month in Levuka Town.