Fiji Futures Bright

Left: Fiji Student Scholarship recipient, Repeka Nagatalevu graduates. Right: Menai Corps members visit Taveuni Corps. 

The education prospects for young people in the Fiji islands are looking brighter, thanks to the generous giving of people who worship at Shire Salvos Menai.

As Shire Salvos celebrated being able to worship back together in person last Christmas, they also turned their minds and hearts towards their ‘sister’ corps – Taveuni – in Fiji, donating $5,000 towards The Salvation Army’s corps and education work in the Pacific Islands nation.

The connection between Menai and Fiji – 3,238 kilometres apart – began a little more than ten years ago when Menai Corps member Rod Beasy struck up a conversation with a Fijian Christian, whilst on holiday to the pacific island.

“We talked about the problems with education and the expense over there – primary secondary and tertiary. I got a picture of the fact that it is difficult for people to complete any studies at all,” he said.

“Then I met a Salvation Army officer and she was telling me that in her last year her father died and her mum tried to keep her at school to complete it, but it was $50 to do the exam at the end and her mum just didn’t have the money so she never did complete year 12.”

Hearing these kind of stories gave Rod goosebumps and he knew that God was calling him to act. He and his wife decided to start to sponsor a number of officer’s children in their studies. “Of the first few young people sponsored, one of them is now a lecturer at the Fijian University of Music and is now sponsoring his siblings through their education,” Rod said.

Rod’s passion and connections meant that word about sponsorship opportunities soon spread, and soon others wanted to be part of enriching the lives of young Salvationists in Fiji. At this point, Rod with his wife Lyn, started work with The Salvation Army’s SAID (Salvation Army International Development) team to formalise the Fiji Student Scholarship Fund.

“The goal is to change Fiji through generations of building up Godly leaders in all different fields of expertise,” he said. “We have had somewhere in the vicinity of around 20 or 30 young people complete a degree or a certificate or a diploma, in areas such as human resources, IT, teaching and child-care.”

At the same time that Menai Corps members began to invest in Fiji through Rod’s connections, it was decided that creating a missional connection with a corps in Fiji would enrich Salvationists in both countries. Taveuni Corps was chosen, and several mission trips have given Menai Salvos’ the opportunity to invest in, and learn from, Salvationists living and serving in a different culture to Australia.

Whilst the outbreak of COVID-19 put an end to the regular mission trips, Shire Salvos Menai has continued the missional connection through its annual Christmas offering. A mission trip to Taveuni Corps in Fiji is being planned for 2023.

Anyone who feels called to give to the Fiji Student Scholarship Fund can still donate:

• Go online to salvationarmy.org.au/donate
• Select “overseas aid” as the destination
• Write “Fiji Student Scholarship Fund” when asked “What made you donate today?” to ensure your donation goes to students in Fiji.