The fieldtrip of 40 students from GE303 and 40 students from HP303 was the first fieldtrip of USP-students outside Fiji. Much effort was needed, before we could board the plan in Nadi that brought us to Apia in Samoa. This page tries to document much more than the fieldtrip. It includes all the preparations, the fund-raising activities of students. Without these activities we never we have been able to leave the shores of Fiji behind us.
It was just an idea in the beginning. Two weeks before the semester started did Morgan ask me, if I would be interested to bring my class to a fieldtrip to Samoa. The idea seemed to be bright, but already then there were a lot of questionmarks on how to achieve this goal. These questionmarks stayed with us for the following months: is it worth to put so much energy in a fieldtrip, just for one week? Will we be able to raise enough money for this undertaking? Can we motivate our students to take many extra efforts on our way? How will the University community think about our plan? And many, many more..........
Some of the questions were only answered, when we boarded the plane towards Saoma: yes we were able tp raise the money, at least the biggest part of it. From the University community we only got positive response: "It is overdue that such a fieldtrip takes place" was one of the major reactions. "We should have this more often" was another one. The arguments were that it is a good idea to bring students on a fieldtrip outside Fiji. Students can learn best, when they are exposed to the other world, they are able to compare their world with what is outside. This seems to be especially important in a part of the world where students are very much (financially) isolated, but which is not at all spared from globalisation.
It therefore was a great success to keep the costs the students had to bear in a dimension that remained affordable. Many of the students took much efforts to raise money, others were a bit slack, could have done much more, but overall I had the feeling thoat our common goal was very good for the dynamics also in class.
Without the help of the students� sponsors the fieldtrip would have never happened. The Fijian Affairs Board, the Department of Multi-Ethnic Affairs, the Public Service Commission, AusAID and NZAID, and the Governments of Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and Samoa gave more than F$17,000 to their sponsored students, almost half what was needed for the fieldtrip.
Air Pacific was the other important supporter for the fieldtrip. The deductions we received on the air-ticket from Nadi to Apia was worth almost F$9,500. Thank you very much. You did a lot for the development of Human Resources in the Pacific Islands.
The Department of Geography gave F$5,400 and the School of Social and Economic Development another F$6,000.
Last not least I want to mention our late Vice-Chancellor, Savenaca Siwatibau. He followed the preparations for the fieldtrip with much interest. We received a number of email from him asking about the achievements so far. And he hyelped us to bring many of the sponsors on our side, he helped us with our negotiations with Air Pacific, and he encouraged us to proceed with our plans, especially in times, when funding seemed to be a major problem.
The Preparation - Fund Raising -
Car - Wash
(to be continued)
