Hi David,

It was an amazing, amazing trip! The village was really interesting, and we did some superb snorkeling there. From there, we stayed in Suva, and loved that as well. You'll probably talk to Joanna about more of the details, but it was a real eye-opening experience. Brought home kava, so we can try it with some friends here. Should be interesting! It was one of the best trips I've ever had, so thanks for making it possible!

Ina

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Hello, David

I have to say that I learned more about how other people live in the two days in the village than in any of my other travels, including living in Italy. It was really difficult, but a mind-blowing experience. We find ourselves telling people about it more than any other part of the trip. Let's face it, how interesting are the beautiful views in New Zealand when compared to the sevu sevu in Fiji.

Thanks again, David, for all of your help. You know, I think you are directly responsible for two of my favorite trips!

Cheers,

Joanna

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Hi David,

Patrick has had an absolutely wonderful experience...Fiji (he absolutely loved Toby Wood, & had some great 1st experiences), New Zealand ( the Aspinall's were wonderful and he really enjoyed the work), Hawaii at the whale research house in Maui, and now he is on Oahu working on a ranch for two months. I think he is planning to come home after that...we will keep you posted. The good that has come out of all of this is not only the terrific experiences and great people he has met but I also think he has college in his sights...and a greater sense of maturity that of course comes with time......If you have new opportunities we would love to hear about them in the future.

Good to hear from you,

Many thanks Margaret Pugh

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David,

Bula...it is such a great experience for us interns and the villagers. it is good to see productive measures going back to the community as well as the environment.

My family, Taco Tony and Nene Anna have been great and it is very hard to leave them. They have been so thankful for the support they have gotten from your program and it has inspired me to look into doing the same in the future. I will return today to the village to collect my bags to say a final farewell...until next time. Taveuni was wonderful, as you recommended, and it was good to finally see that island as that has been a place I have wanted to see from the first time I came here. me.

Anyhow, next time we talk I will be stateside, thank you so much for your corrospondance and for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime.

Cheers

Toby

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David,

Just wanted to let you know that everything is going
well here. The people here could not be any nicer or more
welcoming. I am slowly adjusting to this different but
beautiful culture.

Talk to you soon,

Nancy

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David,

Jen is having a wonderful time in Auckland. Thanks for your help in
setting it up with those folks!

Regards,

Bob K

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Dr. Adams,

I went to the Fijian today and had a great time with Fulori...she's super fun. She's fine with me staying in Kulukulu, and transportation is no problem. It looks like its going to be a really worthwhile internship. So I'm stoked....thank you for that. The location where I'm at is very accomodating . . . so I'm all set. Thanks for that...

Sarah

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Hi David,

The proposal you sketched out for me in the e-mail sounds fantastic! More than I possibly could have hoped for. You have managed to deftly blend all the interests I wanted to pursue while in Thailand. I could not have asked for a more amazing oppurtunity and without a doubt this is the project I wish to pursue. Looking over the outline you drafted up, I agree that an initial three weeks of language schooling is a good idea.

Sincerely,

Torin Stephens

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Dr. Adams: Had call from David. Enjoying village life very much his family is great with 4 little boys. His mom, Bola, is a good cook and is stuffing him. His dad, also a Pita ,sits with him and has him eat first. He hopes to change this as it is awkard to him. Am sure you know all about these customs and are smiling. Saw 3 lion fish and a sea snake on his first dive. Sounds like you have a convert!

K. Roahen

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Aloha,

I've been meaning to write for a while, but well, there are lots of excuses, not to mention the fact that I just have not had anything interesting to say! I did, however, mean to thank you, and when I recently found a funny letter (of thanks) that I'd written while we were still near Litiva, I decided to stop procrastinating.

Aside from my unnecessarily long 'introduction', thanks for everything!! I can't express to you what an experience this trip was for me. I honestly can't remember enjoying my life that much since I was about five. I must admit that, in retrospect I liked most of the readings (and essays) we did. I think the academics did also increase my appreciation for everything else we were doing, i.e. hiking in incredible landscapes in HI, staying with traditional villages in Fiji, etc. Thus, I'm really glad you made me do the readings and participate in discussions!

I'm sure that there is a lot I am forgetting to say, but my mind is pretty foggy right now, so just please know that I really appreciate everything you've done, and I really can't thank you enough for making this such a wonderful opportunity.

Thanks,

Ellen

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Dr. Adams,,

I have fallen in love with this island. I am currently working with a fisherman at the moment and am faring well. I have settled in nicely with the Fijian way of life and am treated as one of them here. Thank you for everything you have done.

Vinaka,

Charles

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Oct. 23, 2003

Internship in Conservation Biology with KRCP

Seldom have I found a place where I have felt so completely at home and fulfilled as I have in Koke’e. The work in conservation biology and the people here have helped me reaffirm my desire to be involved in environmental science. It has also helped me to understand where I want to go in my future endeavors. I have received complete support from the Katie, Ellen and David which they displayed by showing an intense desire to teach me about the forest ecosystem and guide me in any way possible.
When I arrived up on the mountain, I spent the first couple of weeks working out in the forest, just trying to identify the plants. This was no easy task considering that Hawaiian plant names are completely different than common names and usually consist of about one consonant and five vowels. I am still having trouble remembering the difference between A’ali’i, Ala’a , and Alahe’e. Despite the fact that my coworkers spoke about the overall ecosystem functioning, my energy was completely focused on the minute details of plant identification. I suppose now, looking back, that that was a good way to begin; it is important to build knowledge from the base up. I now have an understanding of the basic constituents of the mesic to wet forest here. However, it wasn’t until we took a four-day backpacking trip into Alakai swamp that the delicate balance between the plants and their environment really struck me.

Nine of us left for the swamp early on a Friday morning in order to hike into the Wainiha poli area. Until that time I had only seen patches of native forest and our constant battle against the weeds was feeling futile. The swamp on the other hand is almost entirely native; we only went there to eradicate small patches of incipient Kahili Ginger. The swamp’s forest was absolutely breathtaking. There were huge O’hia Lehua trees, that over the ages had formed complex structures as one tree has fallen and others had grown out of it. All the structures were covered in thick mats of hanging moss and there was an atmospheric lighting as the 10-foot tree ferns filtered the sunlight. On one tree alone there seemed to be thousands of functioning ecosystems, with millions of minute organisms living together in balance. It was quite a different spectacle than the areas in which we had worked, where strawberry guava was the only thing the eye could see. While in the swamp I also had the rare experience of seeing a Puaiohi. These dove- like birds are endangered with only 300 of their kind left. Unfortunately, I just wrote it off as being a dove, until later I heard there are no doves in the area.

The work we did in the swamp and in the rest of Koke’e was enhanced by my coworkers. I felt that they all wanted to share their understanding and intense love of the forest with me. Katie’s knowledge of plants is astounding. She knows the scientific, common, and Hawaiian name as well as each plant’s history and general information. Ellen was also especially helpful. She spent many hours discussing my independent research project with me. She gave me input and ideas and taught me about analyzing and graphing my results.

Overall my internship in Koke’e has been extremely rewarding and educational. However my experience here has shown me that I do not want to go into conservation biology; I don’t believe I have the tireless faith shown by the people here. Instead I hope to do research so I can feel that I am moving forward. However, the application of the work done here is so valuable that I have also realized I want to go into an applied science. So although I haven’t realized that my calling is to become a botanist, I have realized many things. The forest here is severely threatened and restoration projects are utterly under funded. There is a great need for researchers with funding to study the forest here so the conservation work isn’t done blindly. I would love to be one of those researchers. Ideally, just give me a few years and I’ll return to Kauai with my degree and funding to work on the problem.

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My Fijian Voyage

by Jack Miller (Age 19)

Upon my completion of high school, I reflected on what I had achieved in those four long years. It was then that I finally realized that I had never taken a chance, had never done some thing different, something that would set me apart from the rest of my class. I realized that I had not given myself the chance to enrich my character and grow mentally. It was time for me to take a chance and leave my circle of comfort for the first time; I applied for an internship in Fiji.

Interning through the Institute of Cultural Ecology and U.C. Santa Barbara allowed me the ultimate opportunity to be what it was to be an independent person. It taught me how to fend for myself and helped me to understand the world in which we live in. This was my first taste of the outside world. My internship was a reef study, but the true personal development occurred in my home stay in Votua Village and my interaction with its citizens.

The villagers were just beginning to come to grips with the world around them. They were learning about the new technologies and the every day current events in the outside world. They followed the carry-carry system of borrowing without the need for repayment. I realized that in order to survive in the world mentally and physically, I needed to take action for myself rather than to allow people to step in for me. I learned to support myself and to find ways, while involving the people around me, to get the necessary tasks done that better the group as a whole. I learned how to be a “team player.”

The villagers treated me like a long lost family member that had just returned home. They taught me the valuable skills that were needed to survive in their environment and at the end of my journey, I could spear fish enough to provide food for three families and at the end of my journey, I could use bamboo to build huts and other structures. And at the end of my stay I had helped a man in the village build his hut. At the end of my journey, I was able to travel with the men to the jungle to find herbs for their many natural medicines. They transformed me in to an efficient worker that could survive on his own.

The reef study was another wonderful experience. I got to see the largest variety of fish that I have ever seen in my entire life. From the crown of thorns starfish, to the French angelfish, I saw them all. My partner Eric and I decided taught a member of the village how to do the line-transect survey that we had been using to continue our research.

When I was doing my internship, the state of the Marine Preserve was improving. We were beginning to see more and more indicator species turn up on our surveys. We sighted a bump-head parrotfish. This species, especially in the area of study, is a very rare sight. When this species is sighted it is an indicator of improving reef health. The quality of the marine environment was stellar in comparison to the reefs that I had viewed in previous dives in Mexico and Puerto Rico. The experience in the marine protected area just outside of Votua Village was the best diving I have ever seen.

Coral diversity was evident everywhere. From massive field of fire coral to the many different types of Gorgonian soft corals, nearly every major species of coral is represented in that area. Inside those corals live some of the most vibrant parrotfish variations, the strange lionfish, and the imposing white tip shark. It is a complete ecosystem that is one of the most diverse in the world.

After seeing the types of cultures and landscapes that existed on the other side of the world in Fiji I gained a sense of myself. I was no longer the big child that I had been my whole life. I was now a thinker, a dreamer that was able to accomplish goals and to realize where people were coming from.

Excerpts from Eric Brandt’s Journey
(Intern: Summer 2003)

When I told all my friends that I would be going to Fiji for six weeks they said I was the luckiest guy in the world… they were right. I had no idea what to expect. I mean I’ve heard that once you go to Fiji you will never want to return. Before I left for my excursion I did a little reading into how the Fijians live, what they eat, and what customs they have.

I have never really traveled alone, especially for six weeks. All I knew is that I was going to be in one of the most beautiful places in the world, living with complete strangers, and living a different life. After an hour and half drive I finally made it to my destination. A little place called Votua Village, which lies right in the middle of the coral coast. The driver pulls up to this little house and I said to myself, “Wow this place is small.” It was nothing what I had expected. I walked inside and this wonderful family greeted me with firm handshakes and open arms. I set all my bags in my own room and right when I was finished the family offered me food.

The food was set out on the floor on a cloth that was hand made. As a matter of fact the entire floor was made from tree stems and it was all hand made. After swallowing down a bit of food the family told me I was needed at the dive shop. Not knowing where that was, a little boy I lived with named Wiley who was about seven walked me to the dive shop. The dive shop is part of the village and is actually run by people who live in the village and a percent of what the dive shop makes goes to the village. At the dive shop I was introduced to Blue, Albert, Pita, Junior, Wiley, Smelly, and JQ who were all workers. They all spoke very good English but of course they had the native Fijian dialect. The first thing they said was, “Would you like a cup of tea?” So we all sat down and I enjoyed the absolute best tea ever and the reason for that was Fiji is a main exporter of brown sugar.

While we were drinking tea, Pita who is the dive master and he pretty much runs the shop, explained to me what I would be doing. He said I would be doing MPA (Marine Protected Area) surveys, working on a new type of surveying in the ocean, and just any work around the shop. I was looking forward to this. Because the village is right on the ocean, they catch most of their food themselves. Now to do this they have to walk on top of the corals, which end up dying, in order to spear the fish so they can feed their family. When the villagers walk on top of the corals they crush them and they just die. They also use a special root that stuns the fish but little do they know it also kills the coral. The MPA was designed to show the villagers that if you leave it alone the corals will live and more fish will start coming around. The MPA was about half mile walk from the village and was marked off with buoys. Nobody is allowed to walk inside of it whatsoever.

Our job was to survey the MPA area calculating the percent of live coral and dead coral and also some indicator species and then compare that to areas on both side of the MPA, which were not protected. With the girls previous work and the work I did along with my friend Jack (another intern) we showed that the MPA had anywhere from 10 to 20 times more corals, fish, and invertebrates. We put all of our information together and introduced it to the village in hopes to get the MPA extended bit by bit so that soon the MPA will be much larger and even the villagers could enjoy the amazing life under the water.

When I wasn’t doing MPA work I would spend a lot of time with my Fijian brother Cheetah, whom I lived with in the village. I never thought I could grow so close to someone in such a short amount of time. He taught me the Fijian way of life, introduced me to their customs, taught me how to climb 40-foot coconut trees, grow crops, and even build a burre (a Fijian house). The first night I was in Fiji they had a Kava ceremony. Kava is a very sacred root that they grow, pull it out, and grind it up to make a drink. The ground up Kava root is mixed with water in a giant bowl and is then served to all that is around. It is custom to clap once before accepting the bowl, say bula, and then clap twice after you drink it. It is not the best taste in the world so many villagers have a little piece of candy to put in their mouth afterwards. The Kava makes your tongue and lips go numb for a little bit and if you have enough of it you can get drunk.
Life in the village was completely different from that at home. Everyone is very nice and they will always greet you with a smile.

As I would walk from house to house they would all be yelling “Bula Eric”, which means hello and all the little kids would come running out to play. The village was not very big with only about 300 people living there and most of the running water came from a little stream nearby. The showers were very cold with no heat and not much pressure so on cold days you had to suck it up and hold your breath. But the weather wasn’t too bad at all. For the first three weeks I was there it had rained non-stop and when it rains the entire village stays inside because they don’t enjoy the rain too much. I found out that when it is summer in the states it is winter in Fiji and visa versa but the rainy season is their summer. After the rain had stopped the weather was absolutely amazing.

The biggest sport in Fiji by far is rugby. Every single day the villagers would set up games in the middle of the village and play for a couple hours. After I learned the rules I was playing right along with them. But for them this was only practice because the villagers had a league team, which was very good. I had the chance to watch them play and I thought they were good in the village, but they were even better when it came down to the real thing. Their game field was about 3 miles from the village and all the villagers would walk to watch them play. You get used to walking everywhere because even though transportation is cheap it gets expensive after a while. You could hitch a ride from practically anyone with a car but the main source of transportation was mini vans that would drive up and down all day long and you could pay them .50 cents to go 20 miles. Many things in Fiji were much cheaper which made it very nice to buy things.

I made so many friends in Fiji and I know I will have them for the rest of my life. I want to talk to them but I know I can’t because they don’t own phones and very few of them have a post box. But the one thing they said to me is, “Eric whenever you want to come back, you just come straight to the village because this is your home.” So now whenever I want to go to Fiji I have a place to live because not only have I made so many friends…I’ve become family.