Base improvement day!

We love our GVI Tovuto Base, it’s our lovely little home next to the waves on Nanuya LaiLai, but we felt it could do with a bit of sprucing up, Fijian style! So on none other than ‘Fiji Day’ we decided that we would get down to business and brighten up our home. Projects were on hold for the day due to the national holiday, so we had Marine, Education and Construction volunteers all to hand.

There were many jobs that could be done, so we got to work! The team that wanted to get stuck into the heavier tasks around base started by creating a new septic system for our kitchen sinks. Under the masterful eye of Esava, our construction leader, the boys and girls got to work. The septic tank simply consisted of an old metal fuel drum filed with dead coral rubble; the limestone helps to filter the used water before it is disposed. The crew worked hard digging the hole and trench for the system which took a good part of the morning, but due to their great efforts our sinks are now back up and running!

The second part of the day consisted of pulling our boots on and giving our communal and kitchen area a massive Fijian spring clean. We scrubbed the walls and the ceilings, and painted the whole place! The kitchen was painted a flamboyant cupcake yellow with baby blue trim to create a bright happy cooking environment.

The communal area was giving a few licks of white paint (as well as the volunteers faces from enjoying a happy game of ‘slap bet’ with their heavily dripping paint brushes) brightening the whole area. We also sourced somes blackboard paint and created useful blackboards for the volunteers to leave messages and for staff to arrange logistics. Our favourite touch was the well placed travel quotes which now cling to the walls, reminding us why we are here. A particularly well observed saying: “Travel is not about how many countries that you visit but about how many friends you make” If you have lived on Tovuto base you know how relevant this is!

For a lovely final touch the Tovuto ping pong table (another delightful contribution from our Construction team!) was given a once over with matching blue and yellow bats, and a brand spanking new Tovuto Base sign to welcome our next batch of new volunteers to our Fiji home!

 This was a huge effort from all our volunteers who really got into the spirit, and it wasn’t long before we had the stereotypical 80’s tunes and montages blasting out creating a wonderful setting for our painting (and paint fights(. So after this long hard day, with a beer each to celebrate, we can now play in style and enjoy our fresh new beachy home! 

Base improvement day!