Building Plans for Nanuku

Plans are an exciting part of a new project. Fiji Corrections continue to be strong partners in our ministry engagement in Nanuku community. In a recent meeting they committed to provide a full set of building and engineering plans for the ‘Nanuku Community Centre & Early Childhood’ and gave the task to their own Building Services & Engineering unit.

Several site visits took place with their team, armed with tape measures, laser levels, iPads, and then a number of consultations around what was essential function and design for the activities that will be taking place within and around the centre. Several weeks later we were called into a meeting with the Commissioner of Corrections and his senior leadership team and presented the new building plans.

The photo below shows the Fiji Corrections team taking the measurements, and continue to scroll down to see the new building plans for the site. The $15,000 we received from the FCS Staff welfare fund caught us by surprise, and is wonderful sign of their partnership and commitment to restoration.

Floor Plan of Nanuku OF Ministry & Community Centre - Nanuku Community

Elevation Plan of Nanuku OF Ministry & Community Centre - Nanuku Community

The Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) Engineering Corps are now undertaking a full materials costing. Stay tuned for more updates.

Volunteers in Spades

It was early dawn as they began stepping out of the van all dressed alike, in white t-shirts and black shorts and ready for action. Sixteen police recruits were discovering new aspects of community engagement by assisting our Operation Foundation project in Nanuku Community.

Some may call it hard labour and it certainly was hard! Using wheelbarrows and sacks they moved tonnes of soapstone through the narrow tracks in the community to the new building site. The good spirit and heart these sixteen police recruits attracted a large number of children from the community, who also played their part. The huge pile of soapstone diminished and reappeared at the other end of Nanuku, raising the new building site out of the mud and above the high tide mark.

By hook or by crook … Fiji Police Recruits moving soapstone while slipping and sliding in the mud.

Stepping Out & Stepping Free

Pastor Semi, our team leader in Lautoka, wanted to mentor four young men that were part of his church. Having taught StepOut-StepFree in Lautoka and Ba prisons he decided he try it out with these young men.

The first week went well, as did the second. In fact it all went well, so well in fact that the numbers kept growing and Pastor Semi had to keep going back to the start as the original four grew by word of mouth to seventeen - young and older, men and women.

The impact of this StepOut-StepFree is still being measured. In simple terms it brought people back to church life and engagement; it grew faith and a passion for God; it built new strength where people were weak; it reconciled people to Christ and each other. We had seen and evidenced this in the classes behind the walls, however it was thanks to Covid-19 and Semi’s heart that we got to road-test StepOut-StepFree in the community.

Enjoy the video of Tai, one of the two young men who were so inspired by the impact of StepOut-StepFree on their own lives that they have both now joined the OF team as volunteers.

Pray for Pastor Semi and the OF team as we engage in the ministry of restoring lives and restoring communities for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Yellow Ribbon Celebration

The first Yellow Ribbon Parade was held on a bright sunny Suva Saturday morning in 2008. As we walked from Albert Park, along Victoria Parade to Ratu Sakuna Park, it was a novel assembly of corrections officers, inmates, ex-inmates, government leaders, and the wider community.

There was huge excited anticipation as the past Commissioner, Brigadier General Ioane Naivalurua, led the Fiji Corrections Service in a new approach of giving a second chance for prisoners. Prisons and prisoners were no longer being hidden away but encouraged to participate in their rehabilitation, and return healed to their family and community.

Peter & Jemimah at the first Yellow Ribbon Parade with inmates from Nasinu Prison. (11 October 2008)

As an annual event in Fiji’s calendar the Yellow Ribbon Parade has grown to be part of the identity of who we aspire to be as Fijian people: a community that believes in investing in the least to provide a second chance.

A few weeks ago, it was another Saturday morning where over 4000 people came together to celebrate the 2022 Yellow Ribbon Parade in Suva. This was no longer a short stroll between the two main parks in Suva but a stretching and invigorating 6km walk. Wearing our yellow t-shirts we embarked on the route with our return being celebrated by breakfast, exhibitions, and tremendous music being provided by the Yellow Ribbon Band made up of officers and inmates.

Peter, Jemimah & Jill at the 2022 Yellow Ribbon Walk starting line

What does it take to change the stigma and attitudes towards prisoners? A courageous and consistent investment by a community wanting to live out justice and mercy!

Peter & Jill with the serving Fiji Corrections Commissioner; Commander Francis Kean with grandson, and previous Corrections Commissioner; Lt Colonel (ret) Ifereimi Vasu (2nd right) in the background.

Restoration in Nanuku Commmunity

The journey began with a WhatsApp message in response to a series of community building posts we had placed on our Operation Foundation Facebook page. It was a simple request asking for help. What has begun in Nanuku is a new restorative engagement for Operation Foundation.

Nanuku Community is a collection of 385 dwellings on a small piece of land on the Suva foreshore. In high tide the sea water covers about a third of the land. In this economic downturn it has been drug trafficking and prostitution that has been keeping food on the tables. Facing this, it has been a rollercoaster journey of working together with the community to bring change and restoration.

In beginning the process of change, Nanuku has begun paving new footpaths in all sectors. Because Nanuku is built on reclaimed land, the community ground remains swampy or partially submerged quite often. Making new pathways has been only one component of Operation Foundations partnership plan with the community to making Nanuku safer. And it was with much gratitude that Operation Foundation and the people of the community received multiple donations of soapstone from the RFMF for the footpaths. With the new and improved footpaths making walking through the community easier and safer, many people were optimistic about other innovative changes that would be happening in the future.

Following on a little more, on the 15th of October, Nanuku Community celebrated 100 days of change. This occasion marked a milestone for the people, who despite their lack of resources and limitations imposed due to Covid-19, worked together with Operation Foundation to clean up and set their community on the path to a better future. Some of these new initiatives were, as simple as running a community clean-up day, to rebuilding footpaths, and even beginning classes with primary school children in the community. Guests at the ceremony included representatives from various church denominations, NGO’s, Beacon Media, USP, and the former chef de mission for Tokyo 2020, Mr. Patrick Bower who was also the chief guest. The visitors were pleasantly surprised at the positive atmosphere in the community, and the passion showed during the community development reports. Reports of progress from the different sectors were shared with the audience, with many speakers expressing gratitude for the visible improvements in the community, and hope for continuous and consistent development.

Education Initiative for Nanuku

On the 21st of October, Operation Foundation, together with Beacon Media began partnering with members of Nanuku Community to provide free training for parents who were interested in teaching primary school students.

Free literacy and numeracy classes for children in classes 2 and 3 also began running in the community, with a select number of mothers rising to the challenge to teach, despite their own limitations. Covid-19 has severely disrupted education in Fiji.

Although informal classes have been running in the community since August, a recent survey done by the Beacon Media team found that in a group of 45 students, many of the students tested were well below their reading level, and the rest could not read at all. This number accounts for around 25% of the primary school students in the community. Because of this, urgency has been given to the children’s education project, with Operation Foundation working closely with Beacon Media to boost the level of literacy and numeracy in the community, beginning with the children, and develop the skills of the selected parent-teachers as well.

The training classes for parents began on the 4th of November and are expected to conclude in January of 2022. The literacy and numeracy classes for the children are being conducted simultaneously and are expected to continue for 2022 and forward. Budgets are being worked on to ensure that the appropriate resources are available as this initiative rolls out.

We are excited to see how things move into place, and what long term impact this may have for the education of the children in Nanuku, and the community at large.