The islands of the South Pacific conjure up images of coconut palms swaying gently and surf soothing its way onto sandy beaches. It is not always so. The people of Vava'u, Tonga know that all too well. In Tonga, the New Year was ushered in by tropical cyclone Waka. It destroyed 90% of the crops on the island of Vava'u. Tonga, like many Pacific Islands is vulnerable to severe tropical storms on two fronts. The first but perhaps not foremost is the loss of food crops. For a country that has more than adequate resources from the sea, this is not totally devastating. The second aspect is. Island homes are rarely built to withstand one hundred and eighty mile an hour winds. The people of Nauru have shown a willingness to be generous that puts many far larger nations to shame. They have agreed to accept a second consignment of refugees, at the behest of the government of Australia. Late in 2001, there were squabbles over Indonesian refugees trying to land on Australian soil. Nauru stepped in and took in over a hundred of the refugees.
Fiji tourism continues on its climb back to record levels enjoyed in 1999. Arrivals for 2001 total 384,014 visitors. This is an increase of 14% over the previous year and may well one of the more stellar performances for the tourist industry world-wide. This performance suggests that although Fiji has not come to terms with its political problems, they are addressing them. Fleetwood Mac, David Paquette who has worked with Steve Martin, and Spike Milligan, will be just a few of the entertainers who promise to make the Fiji Jazz Festival scheduled for April 6 - 9, a world-class event. Other notables, who have signed up for the Festival are: Todd Londagin, Ben Jones, Dave Blenkhorn and Mark Elton.
Congratulations to the Garden Island Resort on the island of Taveuni, Fiji's Garden Isle. Readers of Rodale, the quintessential Scuba Diving magazine, has rated the resort as having the Best Dive Staff in the world as well as the Best Resort Staff in the world. Rodale is to diving as Forbes Magazine is to business.
A project funded by the Sasakawa Foundation of Japan, Transcending Borders with Education Online, will be completed by the end of 2002. A major goal for this three project is the offering of opportunities for collaborative work among teachers from schools and colleges via the Internet. The collaborative work will be through their own initiative to improve teaching by making courses relevant to students. At the same time, teachers and their students may use this project for online interaction and sharing with students from the region and the world. There are faculty members and students from Palau Community College, College of Micronesia-FSM, and tentatively, the College of the Marshall Islands who will be participating in this project. It is a sort of Suite of the South Pacific.
Go To Page: 1 2
