A rainy warm day in Waiyevo for the start of the project. An excited crowd of patients, families, surgeons, nurses and Rotary Club of Taveuni volunteers were on site from 7.30am. Blood tests were completed, existing eyesight tested, and interviews begun with the patients selected by the Fiji Blind Society.
The official opening was held at 9am and the twelve days of surgery have begun. President of Taveuni Rotary Mr Alan Petersen welcomed all the international visitors and thanked them for making time in their busy lives to visit our island.
Patient Stories from Today:
This is Kailopa Neli Lifuka from Kioa Island. Neli has lived on Kioa since he moved here with his family at the age of 14 in 1962, from Ellice Island (now called Tuvalu). He has struggled with poor eyesight for a number of years and when this opportunity came along, he was quick to accept! He has a son and a daughter. Kioa Island is 25km North of Taveuni and he made the crossing in a boat provided by the Rotary Club, together with about 40 other Kioans.
“People without a leader are like logs in the current of the sea; they don’t know where to go.” Neli Lifuka is totally candid and colorful as he describes his conventional childhood on Vaitupu in the Territory of Tuvalu (until 1975 the Ellice Island Group), his early education and travels, his first job as an engine-room hand on a phosphate cargo ship, his experiences with American marines in World War II, and his crucial role in the unprecedented purchase of Kioa Island (just off Fiji) in 1946.” (with thanks and kind permission of the Australian National University.
This is Usenia Aqelatavu and she is from the village of Tuatua on the island of Koro. She has five lovely children, and her two sons live nearby and farm the fertile soil of Koro. This pretty island lies to the North of Taveuni. She travelled over on the vessel provided by a Rotary club volunteer.
She has put up with extremely poor eyesight for the last two years and is looking forward to going home to her family with great vision.
This is Lorina Niunateiwalu from Koro Island and from the village of Sinuvaca. Lorina was born in Suva, Viti Levu, and married a woman from Koro Island. They have two children and six grandchildren. He is a farmer and, of course, a fisherman. He has struggled with a cataract for 10 years but hopes this is the day he will be cured. They had a very rough crossing of the Somo Somo straits – a long 4 hours.
Samuela Latianare is from Koro Island and the village of Sinuvaca. He was born on Koro and still lives there. He also made the difficult crossing in a small open boat. He also farms and fishes and has put up with a cataract for these last eight years. He expressed his gratitude to Rotary for making this cure possible. He has one daughter and three wonderful, handsome grandsons and he is very proud of them.
Fatiau Morley Faifai, known as Morley, was born on Rabi Island. When she was a baby, she and her mother returned to Kioa Island. She still lives here in the village of Salia. She is the eldest of seven children and she has four children, sixteen grandchildren and three great grandchildren! How wonderful! Her parents were the second group of settlers on Kioa, and they originally came from Ellice Island now known as Tuvalu. All her children were educated in Suva and now work in Suva. She has the good fortune of only having a 45-minute boat ride when she returns home with both eyes at 100% vision.
This is Maere Burangke from Rabi. Her family originally came from the Gilbert Islands. She has three grown children and, believe it or not, 18 grandchildren and one great grandchild. This is her second surgery following a successful operation three years ago. She was a little nervous but understood that the surgeons were the absolute best in the world.