Kiribati

This break I had an amazing opportunity to go to a developing third world country for a volunteer community project with my school. Kiribati is more of a row of islands and I, along with 13 other amazing girls, went to Tawara, Kiribati for the best 7 days of our lives.

We departed late night and arrived in Fiji at 4AM to await a flight to Tawara at 8AM.. so we basically just slept on the floor of Fiji International airport.

 Within the 7 days we met the most amazing group of people anyone could ever meet. KFHA (Kiribati Family Health Association) were the most beautiful group of people and were definitely half the reason the trip was so enjoyable and unforgettable. From the first day they welcomed us, we fell in love! 

Our group went with the ACCF (Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation) to support the ACCF and work with the KFHA to promote cervical cancer to the community and the importance of getting vaccinated or receiving a pap test to avoid this deadly cancer.

We visited a few schools and communities/villages to talk to the girls and women about cervical cancer and the people are just so beautiful. How precious do these kids look?!

Part of our community project was to repaint the KFHA clinic. You'd think being on the equator we would die doing this but the 14 of us fought through the heat and the sun and completed the repainting, along with the help from the KFHA boys, in a day!

We visited many villages and did some sightseeing but we couldn't resist going for a swim everyday. The beaches are amazing! Well, what do you expect being on an island where you can see the crystal clear ocean on both sides of the road. Kiribati only has one road going up and down the whole island, taking only 45 minutes. It's such an eye opening destination..

We stayed in traditional accommodation for the last 3 nights in Kiribati and it was another amazing experience. The view was just amazing.

Photos

14 girls departed Brisbane not knowing what to expect. We can say from the bottom of our hearts that we had the most memorable and best experience of our lives. We definitely had the best week of our lives and are already dying to go back! We built the best relationships between us 14 girls and with  the KFHA youth. It was so hard to say goodbye to the boys and people from KFHA. We shed many tears that day but we will definitely go back, no doubt.