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Koroipita Youth Program – 13, 14 MAY 2025. Report to MTCT 30 June, 2025 STOP PRESS: Koroipita Youth Program 2026 is going ahead! Date to be advised!!! Introduction This program was planned to provide extra motivation and hope for children in Koroipita village who have a range of challenges arising from impoverished backgrounds. With the “collapse” of my volunteer team (all for unavoidable and unexpected reasons) I decided to go it alone and was hugely grateful to the Model Town Charitable Trust staff who assisted me. I don’t underestimate their very busy and variable work schedules and I am honoured that they took the time to assist me. So, I will start with a huge thank you to: Natasha, Community Advancement Manager, Punam, Nileshmi, Adi Litia, Tema, Janet, Meli from the MTCT staff and Sawako Awazu – the visiting Japanese high school teacher her friend Mae. Also Margie, Ranjini, Paul and the other office staff. Program Background: Originally called a RYPEN program, the name was changed because of a Rotary District launching a RYPEN program for Suva students in May. Changing it to the Koroipita Youth Program avoided any misunderstandings. The above-mentioned District is hoping to bring the RYPEN program to Fiji’s Western Division next year and I will see how we can interact with this. I am hoping there is support from MTCT to run another KYP next year with perhaps some of our students being nominated for RYPEN. Koroipita Youth Program. The two-day program combined several areas of focus: Self reflection and commitment to improvement. This was a little difficult as in their society/s they are taught to think of others, often to the detriment of selves. Their answers to the question “what do you like about yourself” tended to be “I like football, I like eating”. A breakthrough when Sofia said “I like my voice and I like singing.” This led into recognising strengths and weaknesses. The environment: We discussed the importance of caring for the village environment and the greater scale of the world environment. We then visited the compost facilities of a nearby family and the daughter explained the process and how it helped their garden. Pickleball: One of my club members, Chris Taylor, donated two pickleball sets so we spent quite a bit of time working out the rules and practising. This was popular with girls and boys although my heart was in my mouth when the girls played while wearing sulus! Trusted adults: There is an issue with silence which can cover domestic violence and other issues. We spoke about sadness/unhappiness and what you can do to help yourself, but when it continues who can they talk to? A parent, other family member, teacher or Model Town Charitable Trust staff members. As well there were games, lots of games to get the students involved and mixing. Logistics Rotary Clubs in Australia funded the program. (NB All my costs were covered by me – that’s the way I have always worked, except once as team leader to Koroipita with Rotary Club of Brookvale.) My Club, the Rotary Club of Warringah “covered me” as getting funding was tricky. I was delighted that the following clubs contributed: Rotary Club of Ballarat East, Rotary Club of Lindisfarne, Rotary Club of Beecroft, Rotary Club of Kincumber and Rotary Club of North Ryde. A huge thank you! Catering: Thanks to the Rotary Club of Beecroft for paying for the food. The participants had fruit and rolls for breakfast if needed, roti or sandwiches for lunch, and cake and fruit for morning and afternoon tea plus icecream (a real treat) for the final day. The MTCT team helped purchase and prepare the food and drinks. The cakes, roti and sandwiches were made by women in the village, providing them with some income, and the few “leftovers” were given to families in need in the village. T-shirts. These were designed and printed by a village resident, Bone, again providing income. Looking Ahead. - Working with the MTCT team, we will dissect the program and see what worked well and what didn’t. I will suggest the Family Advancement team at Koroipita follow up with the children to see how they are going since the program and what can be added to the program.
Some areas which need addressing are: Addiction: getting local information and blending with information from Australia/New Zealand. This would include all harmful behaviours: gaming, pornography, alcohol, drugs. Positive role models: Bring in some local heroes to talk the students. Trusted adults: more on this – when there are problems at home or school they need positive guidance from great mentors or they risk heading down the wrong path. - Unlike ‘usual’ RYPEN programs, the children were an age bracket from the village (14-16), not selected as individuals who needed more motivation. I will suggest we work to break the cohort into groups including those with some leadership skills to foster others. Then those ‘leaders’ could benefit from being sponsored to RYPEN if/when it is set up in Fiji’s Western Division.
- See what we can do through the year to support the concepts raised.
- The program was run in the second week of the holidays, and some children did not attend as Sunday was Mothers’ Day and a “new” public holiday, Girmit Day, was held on the Monday. This meant some of the children had gone to visit families. Thoughts to change to week 1 of the holdays.
This inaugural program, although not perfectly delivered, was a great learning experience for me, the staff and the students. I would like to combine this with a house build as well – diversity gives Rotary members a great idea of the impact of our work! I am thankful to all those who contributed and supported on so many levels. Liz McDougall Rotary Club of Warringah District 9685 Chief Storyteller Rotary South Pacific Public Image Chair 0419 267 960 |
