Vinaka Fiji

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Our Story - The Yasawa Trust Foundation

Fiji’s Yasawa Islands are home to 27 villages living below world standards of health and poverty. The Yasawa Trust Foundation was set up to give something back to the villagers and to say “Thank you [vinaka], for welcoming us into your islands”.

Remote, rugged and majestically beautiful, the Yasawa Islands were largely isolated until Awesome Adventures Fiji took its maiden voyage into the island group in 2002. The daily ferry service gave travellers from around the globe access to these islands, an area of Fiji that – at first glance – is ‘paradise’.

The team at Awesome Adventures Fiji worked closely with local village chiefs and communities to ensure they would not displace the islanders’ way of life, and to make sure the changes they brought to the Yasawas would be beneficial, not detrimental, to the locals. Very quickly, it became obvious to Awesome Adventures Fiji that in reality, the villagers live far from the ‘paradise’ that first meets the eye. In fact, the Yasawans struggle from day to day with immense shortages of clean drinking water, little to no health services or facilities, poor nutrition, a lack of educational support and supplies, inadequate power and no sustainable way of life for the future.

Awesome Adventures Fiji assisted, guided and gave back to the villages where possible, however it was soon concluded that a more focused and dedicated approach was needed. So, in 2010, the Yasawa Trust Foundation was established to formalise and further the work and economic assistance already provided by Awesome Adventures Fiji and open opportunities for others to give back too. The name ‘Vinaka Fiji Volunteering’ was chosen to reflect the two-way nature of the relationship between those who operate and assist the Trust, and the people of the Yasawas whose work it benefits. Each by their actions is inherently saying “vinaka”.

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