Seeing the light... Fiji Style...

So in true aquarian style I decided, over dinner, to try and better understand the experience of people who lose one of their senses.... I decided to experience blindness for a while. I am sure its a good thing that I couldn't see the looks on other people's faces! :-) It was an interesting feeling, though of course in no way representative of the true experience...but I did get a fractional sense of the vulnerability, frustration and importance of relying on others. Humbling to think what the real experience is like... So much we take for granted.

Chillin Fiji Style

There are definitely things I am going to miss about life here :-) Although, I think perhaps I need to spend more time on centering myself... hammocks as metaphors for life? Perhaps I should do a lot more practice before I leave... :-)

Getting to know you... Fiji Style :-)

Ah its a tough life
Sam tastes the delights of Fijian hospitality...
:-)

Rhianon's How to Save the World Volume 288

I don't know.... I have no idea...

Sometimes I look around me and I know in my heart that this is a beautiful and wonderous world.
Sometimes I know that in the world there are so many fabulous kind compassionate people.

Sometimes I look around me and feel utterly overwhelmed by the extreme insanity of the needless suffering, cruelty and complete hideousness that is all around us every day. I know I choose not to see it most of the time. I guess most of us do... its the only way to keep finding meaning in every day life.... but looking around certainly puts my trivial concerns into perspective.

In case you feel like looking around and appreciating how lucky you are.... (to be alive, to be able to read this, to have the freedom to take a walk if you feel like it....) here are some windows I looked through this morning....

Just a few little snapshots of the world....

Gulbar was burnt by her husband. After being tortured for the 3 years of her marriage she ran away to her mother’s house. The next day her husband came and threw petrol on her and set her on fire. She has been in hospital for 40 days but no charges have been laid, no police file opened.

Anecdotal evidence suggests several hundred young women are burning themselves to death every year in western Afghanistan. A government mission sent to investigate the problem in Herat, the biggest city in the country's west, reported that at least 52 young, married, or soon-to-be married women had burned themselves to death in the city in recent months. The youngest was a 13-year-old bride-to-be. "In our culture, women have always burned themselves, because they have always been so badly treated," said Amina Safi Afzali of the Afghan Huma Rights Commission.

According to a report released in October 2005 by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, child marriage makes up more than 40 percent of all marriages in Afghanistan. In some cases, girls as young as seven years of age are forced to marry men who are in their 30s or 40s.

Zarghona 15 lies in a Peshawar shelter, burned by her father-in-law, who said she had not cleaned her husband's clothes properly.
(http://www.dhushara.com)




In South Africa sexual violence against children has increased by 400% over the past decade.
A female in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped in her life than of learning to read.
(Dempster, 2002).
The University of South Africa reports that over 1 million women and children are raped there every year. (South Africa: Focus on the Virgin Myth, 2002).

Recent research conducted by Amnesty International indicate that the Nigerian police force and security harbour the wildest rapists in the country. They use the cloak of officialdom to humiliate their victims sometimes raping an entire community in the course of restoring peace in troubled areas. (http://allafrica.com)

About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half seconds.
(http://www.poverty.com)

And somewhere in the world ... someone thought that this tattoo was a good idea...
(http://tumbl.us/post/7678724)

The world really is crazy....

everything is coming up blue hibiscus

My dear friends.. you may or may not have noticed that I do NOT wear blue... its just not me...its a high school uniform thing, its a quirk of character thing... its just a thing...
You can, therefore, imagine my joy at discovering that my entire work team was being transformed into a blue flowerbed. Celebrating the opening of our first new branch office, in Nadi, was a very special moment - just special enough to get me breaking my rules and breaking out in blue hibiscus. (although I did fight hard with the tailors to persuade them to change the whole thing to chocolate brown - if there had been enough brown bula fabric in Lautoka I may have pulled it off...but no, and not enough green, or red, or orange.... or anything but blue!)
But on an up-note... if you can see past the power prints you will see the crowd of people around me, who are ALL Counselling Diploma trainees... what a difference they are going to make in the world - well, this little part of it... How wonderful to be a part of this.... perhaps I can wear red tinted glasses, purple hibiscus might look rather fetching! :-)

Frocks on a boat

And straight from the blue blue waters to the little black frocks... with barely a moment to catch a breath and no chance to indulge in the traditional post ocean swim feast, Lou and I set off from the beach to navigate our way to Lori's wedding. Effecting a small miracle of surreptitious quick change mastery on board a crowded ferry was the next thrill in an action packed day. Mild hysteria and much mirth was induced when Lou was trapped by an officious ticket seller and forced to haggle for her life (well, a few bucks anyway) with knickers wedged around her knees. There was simply no option to make a break for it! She paid the full price :-)

No small "feat"...in flippers....

So this year I said "No"... No way, work has been crazy busy, my social life has been full, and lets face it - I have been very lazy....I have not been in the pool for months - I am not doing the Treasure Island to Beachcomber Ocean swim...
Sure it sounds like fun... sure it will be with a bunch of great mates.... sure its only 1km.... but I really can't do it.... well.... maybe I could do it in flippers, and with a snorkle :-) So I did :-)

Happy post-race faces - standing on Beachcomber island, and that is Treasure island in the distance behind us.

Gotta be a part of life - its not how fast or how far, but getting wet that counts :-)