Suva

Yesterday started with a rather amusing trip to the bus station in Nadi, where I intended to catch a bus to Suva (FD$10) but instead got waylaid by a persuasive taxi driver. Anyway, after waiting around for a while, we got enough people in the taxi to make it affordable, and off we went. As always, travelling like a local (albeit a wealthy one - most Fijians couldn't easily afford the $30 it cost us to get to Suva) was a good way to pick up a few tips on safety, and the conversations provided a wealth of information for my research. :)

So - once I'd got settled, I wandered about, went to a meeting, and then spent the afternoon bugging reception by making phone calls (phone calls have to be made by reception, and I made about 25 in the space of an hour!). Today I had back to back meetings...

I caught a glimpse of myself this morning and laughed, as I realised it only takes a day or two for me to pick up that solid walk, walking from the hips with arms swinging by my side...

Squatter settlements are clearly a growing problem in Fiji - it's all anyone will talk about with me (they're less interested in housing, sanitation etc in rural areas), and the numbers demonstrate why. I'm told that many of the resettlement programs are funded by aid - perhaps AusAID or NZAid (this is what I'm told, but I haven't confirmed it). Squatters are evicted (with some notice, it has to be said) and moved elsewhere...problem is, the new settlement often has plenty of physical infrastructure (water, roads etc) but no social infrastructure (schools, healthcare etc). On top of that is the fact that many of the squatters are single parent families, headed by women...in patriarchal and generally patrilineal Fiji, a woman estranged from her husband is particularly vulnerable, and with the exception of the lucky few, most have no option but to move to an urban centre and squat.

It's 5pm, which means I should be heading somewhere to eat and then catching a taxi back...I've only been here for a day and a half, but already I've been told numerous times not to wander the streets after about 5-5.30 pm. I've obviously never been here before, but there's plenty of anecdotal evidence as to how Suva has changed in the last decade. This shouldn't be a surprise -rapid urbanisation, growing poverty, and huge numbers of bored youth...what more could be expected?

First time in Fiji...

I've just arrived in Nadi...this is going to be a rambling post riddled with grammatical errors (sorry Mum!) I'm desperate to go to bed, but want to get my impressions down...

Initial impressions...we fly in low, and I press my face against the window to catch a glimpse of the landscape that blends in with the night sky and the ocean that surrounds it...the darkness is dotted with orange fires which for an instance I imagine might be volcanoes, then I realise they're fires...but there's so many of them.

Arriving at the airport, I realise just how different Nadi is to the two Melanesian cities I've visited before, Port Vila (Vanuatu) and Honiara (Solomon Islands). Firstly, the boys playing ukelele and singing look...professional? polished? Secondly - sadly, Nadi airport lacks the camp voices that have brought a huge grin to my face elsewhere. Thirdly - everyone in customs etc seems so damn bored. I don't blame them - there's more tourists than I've seen since Bangkok, many of them incredibly young blondes (21? 22? 23 at most) who, from the wedding rings on their fingers, I imagine to be there for their honeymoons.

I get out and go to the tourism desk, then realise that it's not entirely government run, but directs you to travel agents. Two Fijian women get me a hotel room, call the bus...twice...and it's then that I realise that I'm really in Fiji, and not Thailand, because the bus takes more than half an hour to make the 5 minute trip. I chat with the young Indo-Fijian driver on the way - he says most people in Fiji don't own land (hmm, some of that Indo-Fijian perspective there?), and that land issues are bigger on the western side of the island where all the farmers are. I later read that land issues are different on the western side because leadership/governance has been handled differently.

According to him, there's lots of development and therefore plenty of housing in Suva (hmmm...a reminder that stats are important, and that government officials as well as those "at the grassroots" are worth talking to!). He wanted to know whether I'd have time to visit people in their homes - shame-faced, I had to tell him no. I'm sure my explanation - that I have very little time, and that I need to talk to people in NGOs on this trip - went down like a lead balloon (and fair call, too!) According to this young Indo-Fijian (who, I must add, seemed to have at least a little pent-up frustration!), the Fijian landowners come around towards the end of a lease, and put the rent up massively, and then when the lessors can't or won't pay, evict them. He said that "if you leave your clothes out, they will move in and take over your house". I'm not sure what that means exactly, but his sentiment was clear.

This young guy also said that Fijians are now claiming rights over the sea too, and he expressed his frustration that they want to make people pay for access to the beach, to swim etc.

Oh...those fires?? He told me that they're fires in the sugar cane fields. Apparently the harvesting season is drawing to a close, because hurricane season is about to start. :)