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The Annual General Meeting and Pot Luck Dinner of the Friends of Fiji will be held Saturday, January 28, 2012, beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the home of Jim and Polly Reierson, 3311 N. George Mason Dr., Arlington, VA 22207-1859 (703-534-7113). All are welcome to attend. The usually very brief business meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will include the election of the Board of Directors for the upcoming year and any other appropriate business.
If you are interested in the possibility of serving on the Friends of Fiji Board of Directors, please let us know in advance by emailing a brief biography (including details of your connection to Fiji) and what skills and interests you would bring to the Board to FoF President Rob Bartel at rbartel@endo-society.org. The Board generally meets about once a month in Arlington, VA.
Weather-related changes in the Annual Pot Luck Dinner and General Meeting will be announced on this website (www.fofiji.org) or by calling Rob Bartel @ 202-460-0146 . The “snow date,” if needed, will be at the same time, one week later, Saturday, February 4.
Allen Keme has provided a copy of the Fiji-71 mug book
http://www.fofiji.org/Fiji-71-MugBook.pdf.
Ann Baker has provided the Fiji 56 (1985) mug book.
A pdf file of the Fiji 9 (1971) mug book has been provided by Tom Jamrogowicz. It is a big file (64 mbytes). If you want to see that 70’s look, click here Fiji9. Thank you, Tom.
If you want to put your mug book on this site, send a copy to jim3311@gmail.com
Drinking kava and studying reefs in Fiji
Mark Hay’s blog in the New York Times on his marine ecology research at http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/author/mark-hay/
Also, the University of the South Pacific Book Centre specializes in books about the Pacific – its people & politics, history & geography, culture & traditions, flora & fauna, language & literature, travel, & crafts. Books can be bought online.
In September, Friends of Fiji contributed $2,000 to Pedals for Progress. The donation paid a portion of the shipping costs for sending 500 donated bicycles to Fiji this fall.
In October Friends of Fiji contributed $1,000 to the Peace Corps Partnership Program for a primary school computer lab project.
The latest edition features articles on this summer’s return trip to Fiji where we teamed up with Habitat for Humanity and helped with the construction of two homes. If we have your current address, you should have received the print version. It’s also available online here and from the Newsletters page. To ensure that you continue to receive a paper copy of the newsletter, join or renew your membership with Friends of Fiji using the electronic form on our Membership Page or by mailing the form on the back of the newsletter.
Friends of Fiji hosted a special Happy Hour and Dinner on Thursday, September 22nd from 6PM til 10PM at the Taj of India, 2809 M Street NW, Washington, DC. Old friends enjoyed talanoa, dining on delicious Indian cuisine and yaqona and music from Fiji. Lalesh Nagy organized the event.
 
Friends of Fiji hosted a sevu sevu ceremony to close out the 2011 Smithsonian FolkLife Festival on the National Mall in DC. Volunteers from Micronesia, Vanuatu, Samoa, and Tonga also participated and shared kava customs and stories. The festival ended at 5:30. The yaqona continued until 7:00.
The 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival featured Peace Corps: Fifty Years of Promoting World Peace and Friendship. The Festival ran from June 30 to July 11.
Anne Baker has uploaded more photos on our Facebook page.
 Sevu sevu
 Sevu sevu close
Friends of Fiji honored the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps and the 20 th anniversary of Friends of Fiji with a trip to Fiji to build two Habitat for Humanity houses in Lami, near Suva. Thirty-three people went to Fiji in late June. The trip coordinator was Ben Raterman.
Ben and James Columbo uploaded photos on our Facebook page.
Information on the projects can be seen at http://www.fofiji.org/SIVANIOLOHouseProject.pdf and http://www.fofiji.org/IDULNISHAHouseProject.pdf
A Fiji Times article can be found at http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=174682
The group also attending the swearing-in ceremony for 25 new Peace Corps Volunteers http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=174259
Paul Milo presented 8 laptops to his friend and Vice Principal of ACS, Ecelini at a school assembly attended by 400 (click for photo).
Watch this website and the newsletter additional reports & pictures.
Once again this year, Friends of Fiji will be gathering in New England during the Memorial Day Weekend, continuing the tradition begun by Ann Baker (F LVI) in 1988. Bring the entire family! Come enjoy a delightful afternoon of grog, potluck, games, socializing, and gazing upon Narragansett Bay from the beach and the covered pavilion that have been reserved for us. Co-Hosted by Nalini & Mike (F LXXI) Scott and Dulari & Bill (F XXX) Collier at a Private Beach on Narragansett Bay near the Scotts’ Residence.
Please see details and directions by following this link: http://www.fofiji.org/FijiPicnicMay29-2011.pdf
VOICES FROM THE PEACE CORPS: Fifty Years of Kentucky Volunteers
By Angene Wilson and Jack Wilson
Published by the University Press of Kentucky, this book follows the experiences of volunteers as they make the decision to join, attend training, adjust to living overseas and the job, make friends, and eventually return home to serve in their communities. The authors also describe how the volunteers made a difference in their host countries and how they became citizens of the world for the rest of their lives. More information and an order form can be found here.
Jack was the Fiji country director in the early 70s. He and Angene are planning to participate in the Habitat trip to Fiji this summer for their 50th wedding anniversary.
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When The World Calls: The Inside Story Of The Peace Corps And Its First Fifty Years
By Stanley Meisler
Mr. Meisler was deputy director of the Peace Corps office of evaluation and research during the mid-1960s and followed the work of the Volunteers afterward as a foreign and diplomatic correspondent for the Los Angeles Times for thirty years.
The book has received advance praise from such noted RPCVs as novelist Paul Theroux and New Yorker writer Peter Hessler. You can find out more about the book on http://www.stanleymeisler.com/peacecorps/index.html, and on the Amazon website, www.amazon.com/When-World-Calls-INSIDE-STORY/dp/0807050490/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296319558&sr=1-1.
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Peace Corps, NPCA, etc.
Travel
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