Projects
Waqa Digital Services:
Nemai and Joeli Waqa are indigenous
Fijians. They come from faraway rural villages. With a very deep faith they have
bravely struggled out of severe poverty to a place in life where they are
successful business people who run a small shop with lots of customers. They
have a large and loving family that can now afford telephone, electricity, new
school uniforms, and the other things that can make life more comfortable. Nemai
spent many hours learning computer basics
and then spent even more hours learning to use Photoshop, MS Word,
and other programs. Watching Joeli take pictures and Nemai using Photoshop to
work with them is truly inspiring. Their shop has been making a profit for
nearly several years now! With the income from their photo/typing business they
have expanded what used to be labour-intensive subsistence fishing into a
wholesale/retail fish marketing business. Although there are some people who say
that indigenous Fijians make poor business people, Joeli and Nemai have shown
that it only takes a little bit of training and financial assistance to turn
people with faith and persistence into a success story.
Savusavu Computers:
Steven Dickson started Savusavu Computers
in August of 2005.
Steven recognized that more and more people in Savusavu were using
computers but that there was no one locally who could repair them. There
also were no places to buy parts and supplies. So Steven opened a small
repair shop. Before long the business had increased and Steven hired his
niece, Rosie Dickson to handle sales while he tended to the repairs.
After nine years of serving Savusavu, Steve sold the shop to the
Snodgrass family. (George Snodgrass Jr. is the primary tech and was
trained by us several years ago.)
Computers for Savusavu Schools:
In collaboration with the Rotary Club of Savusavu and with the generous support
of numerous contributors, we have helped put dozens of computers in the area
schools. NextStep Recycling of Eugene Oregon has been particularly helpful,
providing us with 50 computer systems, all assembled and tested by volunteer labor. (Special thanks to Don Steely!!) Savusavu Secondary School and St. Bede's
Academy, the two large high schools in Savusavu) have been the major recipients of
these computers. Steven and Henry Dickson of Savusavu Computers have donated
countless hours of their time to keeping all of the donated computers running.

Coconut Shell Jewelry
Along with Steven Dickson, we used to
have a
shell jewelry
business in Fiji. - we "recycled
" coconut shells left over from harvesting
coconut meat and juice. We cleaned
the shells, polished
them to a shine, and cut
them into earrings and pendants. Here is a site with a few of our old
designs
:
Cocoshell 
Designs.