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Last summer I embarked on a two-month volunteering trip to the South Pacific Islands. My destination was Nadi, Fiji. I would be working with an organisation called Think Pacific-teaching in a rural school and coaching sport. On the 1st May 2019 I left home and two overnight flights and a layover in Hong Kong Airport later I arrived in Nadi. I knew as soon as the aircraft began its descent into the capital that this trip would be different. The sun rise over the Fijian islands was breath-taking and once disembarked I was greeted with the sound of traditional Fijian music being played in arrivals and the friendliness of the locals which captured my heart. The hotel shuttle bus I had booked onto was running late or rather on ‘fiji time’ and in the end I took a taxi to the hotel instead as there was no knowing when the shuttle bus was to arrive and I was a little nervous waiting in the arrivals on my own. On the 5th May project began-it started with a bus ride from Nadi to our briefing resort. The resort happened to be where the Fiji 7’s team train and stay. I am a huge rugby fanatic and whilst on this trip I also began reading ‘Sevens Heaven’ about the gold medal winning Fiji 7’s side. To have walked in the literal footsteps of such national treasures and then go on to live in a setting that they had all come from was humbling and very insightful. After briefing, my project team and I continued to Suva. We then took a sixteen-hour overnight ferry to the island of Kadavu which was where we would be working. Walking onto the large ship full of Fijian people was initially intimidating but we quickly found space on the floor to sleep. Looking back the ferry journey sums up Fiji, families sprawled out on the floor, pillows and blankets everywhere, people making space for others, children laughing and playing, elderly family members watching their families and a team of 19 volunteers on our way to make a difference in a rural Fijian village. The Fijian people are so friendly and welcoming and we were treated like family INSTANTLY. From the moment my mum hugged me I was welcomed into what would become my home with open arms. The villagers operated an open door policy and I could happily go into any of the villager’s house for food or ‘SOME TEA’ any day of the week. I have never felt so safe in a community and the sound of children laughing and playing freely could be heard throughout the village. My little brother and sister are two of the greatest kids I know. We had a language barrier with them as they spoke little English but we still managed to communicate and this showed me that love has no limit-and children are the heart of any community. As part of our time in Fiji we went to church every Sunday with the rest of the community. I have never been a church-goer but the experiences I had within the Fijian church were like nothing I had ever experienced before. I couldn’t understand any of the sermon but it was my most reflective time, and the singing of the children and adults in the community made me speechless. My time in church created a greater certainty in my that I am a spiritual being and strengthened my faith-in the world and what I was there to do and in myself as a whole. I lived in tiliva for a total of six weeks. My trip was cut short due to my mental health which is something I have battled with for a number of years. What this time in Fiji taught me though, was that I had found Vakabauta (Faith), Loloma (Love) and Matavuvale (Family) and the people I met, experiences I had and life I lived will never leave me-and have enabled me to grow into a better person and young woman.