In April 2008 Rod Summerton of Round Square (based in Victoria, Australia) visited the small village of Namuamua on a homestay and on his return decided to set up a project to help rebuild the school library.

Image right Headmaster Neumi Vola sits in the Namuamua school library

FijiBure was invited to become involved by Round Square and the village. We will be contributing financially and by using our extensive email lists to call for donations to be sent to the Round Square trust account for this project and books to be sent direct to the school's headmaster by post.

In November 2008 Scott Balson traveled to Namuamua and met with his hosts and the headmaster, Neumi Vola, to discuss how to make this project feasible. On his return he undertook discussions with Round Square to get the project moving.

The library project and another drive is being undertaken to encourage parents throughout Australia to donate second hand shoes for use by children in villages in Fiji. This drive has been enormously successful with several hundred pairs being donated already. Shoes donated through "Operation Fiji Feet " will be distributed to villages across Fiji. If you would like to donate shoes this can be done by posting them to the same postal address as the books.

Image right: Tui and Ema our hosts in the village

A further F$1,400 will be donated during the renovations in April to help the village complete the half built church hall (see image below)

Please send book and shoe donations to: The Headmaster, Namuamua School, c/o Matanitobua Central Memorial School, GPO Box 164, Navua town, Viti Levu, FIJI ISLANDS

Every cent donated goes to the library project - no admin fees etc. Credit card payment options on PDF form linked from the button left - send this to to the Round Square (Fiji) fund at Ivanhoe Grammar School (Victoria). Fax from outside Australia: 0011 613 9490 3406 OR from Australia: 03 9490 3406 (as per form) - or Scan and email form. All money donated will be used to refurbish the library and to buy books.

In April this year (2009) a group of about twenty, including Scott Balson, will spend a week in Namuamua refurbishing the village library.

Some photos taken at Namuamua during Scott Balson's November 2008 trip:

Water taxi trip to Namuamua	One of many waterfalls	The isolated village	The church community hall to be built
The library in 2008	Villagers outside their bure	A sad farewell	Kids play in the river