Footprints Project
Since 2005, travelers like you have helped us change the world through micro-donations.
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A total of
3999
Travelers
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donated
$24106.43
(100% funded) -
to help improve
Health
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impacting
500
people -
in
Fiji
Project Background
The Beqa Island Dispensary Build Project took place at Soliyaga Village, a remote community in the Sawau District in Fiji. The project’s purpose was to improve healthcare access for remote populations by constructing a fully functional rural medical dispensary to support mobile health teams.
The facility now serves 276 beneficiaries, including Soliyaga Village and nearby settlements. The build aligns with Fiji’s National Development Plan priorities and Think Pacific’s mission of sustainable development, youth empowerment, and community-led resilience.
Project Overview
Rural communities in Fiji face significant barriers to healthcare access. Soliyaga Village, with around 25 households, is only reachable by boat or narrow footpaths. Travel to mainland health services is time-consuming, costly, and often dependent on weather.
Before this project, the community lacked a suitable facility for medical outreach. Mobile health teams relied on makeshift locations, limiting the quality and frequency of services. The absence of a proper dispensary also created health inequities for vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women, and the elderly.
This project focused on constructing a durable, culturally appropriate, community-owned dispensary built to rural development standards.
Key activities included:
- Securing an approved build site through village consultations
- Transporting materials by land and sea
- Completing structural works, including profiling, foundations, framing, and sheeting
- Training local youths in practical carpentry and construction skills
- Collaborating with eight international volunteers under guidance from the site supervisor
- Ensuring the structure meets requirements for mobile medical teams, water drainage, and climate resilience
- Despite challenges such as weather delays and remote logistics, the project progressed smoothly thanks to strong community engagement and Think Pacific leadership.
The dispensary was completed by November 2025 and formally opened after final inspections and a celebration featuring a traditional sevusevu welcome, blessing of the new facility, village leaders’ speeches, and cultural performances.
Project Outcomes
276 villagers now benefit directly from improved healthcare access, including:
- Soliyaga Village households
- Smaller nearby settlements connected via walking tracks
- Patients supported by mobile outreach teams who now have a reliable clinical environment
The project had additional impact, with indirect beneficiaries such as:
- Village youths who gained construction skills and employment opportunities
- Local hardware suppliers, with 95% of materials sourced locally
- The wider Sawau cultural region, strengthened through community-led development initiatives
By having a fully functional rural health dispensary, the community is now experiencing positive outcomes such as:
- Drastically reduced travel burden for essential health services
- Reliable base for mobile health outreach
- Improved water storage and drainage for long-term sustainability
How does this project fit into a larger strategy?
Through the construction of a durable, culturally appropriate, and community-owned healthcare facility, the project has created long-term access to essential medical services for hundreds of villagers in Soliyaga and its surrounding settlements. This achievement reflects the collaboration between Think Pacific, the Ministry of Health and
Medical Services, the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs, village leaders, community youths, and international volunteers—each contributing their skills, knowledge, and commitment to a shared vision. The new facility demonstrates the power of combining traditional wisdom with modern construction practices, youth empowerment, and volunteer support to produce meaningful outcomes.
As Think Pacific continues its mission across Fiji, this project serves as a model of how sustainable infrastructure, community engagement, and strong partnerships can work together to uplift rural communities and contribute to national development goals.
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