30/3/12

The Minister for Education in Fiji, Mr Filipe Bole was going to visit Naidovi today. He was interested to see the work we had done with laptops, robotics and library books. School staff and students were eagerly waiting to showcase some of their work – especially with robots. But in the early hours of this morning – almost 6 months after we started our work – the school and surrounding areas were flooded.In some classrooms, there flood waters had caused considerable damage – including the library – the place where all the resources were.

There has never been a flood either at or in the immediate vicinity of the school. Growing up in Cuvu (the village) people often talked about the “big illness” or the “big cyclone” but there had never been a conversation about the “big flood”. To my knowledge there have not been any significant changes that could be attributed to the activities of man i.e. no major buildings, or roads, or changes in farming practices or new industries that could justify this unseen and unexpected event. If one looks at the geography of the area (I am no expert in this) – if is hard to explain how something like this could occur – all of a sudden. Is this what climate change is all about?