Although Tweed Valley College was featured on the front page of the Record in the special education edition back in August 15, I want to comment on Australian school visits to Fiji from my perspective. It so happened that I was in Fiji when Tweed Valley College and Kempsey Adventist School visited, and then I chaired accreditation teams that went into both Suva Adventist College and Navesau Adventist High School straight after the visit. I first spoke to Uma More (Principal) and Samuela Naisua (Deputy Principal) at Suva, and then Samuela Ligabalavu Principal of Navesau.
The 13 students and 4 staff form Kempsey made a big impact on SAC in their week-long stay. They helped renovate a new library area by peeling paint, repairing doors, cleaning tiles and doing other tasks. Samuela felt that “we learned to think and work globally” and he added that “our students learned a good work ethic from the Australians, and our students showed them good Fijian tradition with a full traditional welcome.” Uma thought that “we benefited from sharing cultures, appreciating differences and understanding the challenges of our counterparts, and that the visit gave us credibility in the community.” And he noted that “the Auzzies were not softies. They swung from ropes at the rock pools and tackled hard at football and played in the mud.” The school can look to Kempsey HOD’s for future support and resource sharing, and Kempsey students have felt the warmth, love and rich traditions of their Fijian counterparts.
The August 15 Record gave an account of the Tweed Valley College Visit to Navesau so I will not write too much here. This visit told a very similar story to the Suva story. Samuela was grateful that “they came to see our needs to try to help.” Among his many comments were “they gave us hope, and they gave us ideas. They also provided in service for our teachers, and they painted the school. The students mixed well and found themselves on a steep learning curve.”
It was clear that these visits were enormously beneficial on all fronts. I appreciate these schools for visiting their sister schools, for helping in tangible ways, and for having the vision to return each year and think long-term. A number of other Australian and New Zealand schools are doing a similar thing, and I commend them all. This is true Adventist mission.
Barry Hill
Director of education SPD
News about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.
The 13 students and 4 staff form Kempsey made a big impact on SAC in their week-long stay. They helped renovate a new library area by peeling paint, repairing doors, cleaning tiles and doing other tasks. Samuela felt that “we learned to think and work globally” and he added that “our students learned a good work ethic from the Australians, and our students showed them good Fijian tradition with a full traditional welcome.” Uma thought that “we benefited from sharing cultures, appreciating differences and understanding the challenges of our counterparts, and that the visit gave us credibility in the community.” And he noted that “the Auzzies were not softies. They swung from ropes at the rock pools and tackled hard at football and played in the mud.” The school can look to Kempsey HOD’s for future support and resource sharing, and Kempsey students have felt the warmth, love and rich traditions of their Fijian counterparts.
The August 15 Record gave an account of the Tweed Valley College Visit to Navesau so I will not write too much here. This visit told a very similar story to the Suva story. Samuela was grateful that “they came to see our needs to try to help.” Among his many comments were “they gave us hope, and they gave us ideas. They also provided in service for our teachers, and they painted the school. The students mixed well and found themselves on a steep learning curve.”
It was clear that these visits were enormously beneficial on all fronts. I appreciate these schools for visiting their sister schools, for helping in tangible ways, and for having the vision to return each year and think long-term. A number of other Australian and New Zealand schools are doing a similar thing, and I commend them all. This is true Adventist mission.
Barry Hill
Director of education SPD
News about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.
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