Second Solar Cooker Installation and Training in Nelson
Palmer SDA Primary School in Navosa in FIJI ISLANDS

Shikha Raturi reports from Fiji on the second solar cooker installation

 

The day prior to our trip, we got ourselves
organized and loaded the car with boxes of solar cookers,
educational materials, the plaque etc. After having installed the first solar
cooker in Ba Hart  Home, the team’s confidence
was soaring high and so were the expectations. After driving for nearly four hours
out of which, 1.5 hours was an interesting, bumpy and scenic ride (photo 1 and
2), wading through the river (photo 3 and 4), the team reached Nelson Palmer SDA
Primary school in Navosa just before midday on June 7, 2015.

 

Photo 1: Ride got bumpier
as we went further towards the remote school

 

Photo 2: And this is the real beauty in
Fiji

 

Photo 3 : We watched the car ahead of us
wade through the river and followed

 

Photo 4 : We were confidently waded
through the river, sitting inside our four wheel drive

The solar cooker installation and related
activities were carried out on 7 and 8 June, just a
month after the first installation in Ba. We were met at Nelson Palmer SDA
Primary school by a gathering of ex-students
from its sister schools, adding a festive mood to the atmosphere. We had
young men and women to help us out and this made our task much easier; we
noticed this as we calculated the total time to install three solar cookers
this time round. The first thing we noticed was the collection of firewood that
the school has to do for their cooking (photo 5).

 

Photo 5: School stock of wood
with the leftovers after cooking

They had a huge stock which they had been
using to cook for the gathering (photo 6), so what we see in the photo above is
just the leftovers, looks like solar cookers got there right in time! Big
gatherings are a common feature as Fijian love to cook together and share their
food. We have no doubt that these community solar cookers will be very handy
in a community like this one.

 

Photo 6: Cooking for the gathering making
use of firewood

The fact that there were a good number of
youth gathered, right from unloading the boxes to assembling the cookers,
everything went super smooth and all three installations were completed by the end of
day one, unlike the first installation. The team as usual got straight down to business. Our Renewable Energy advisor briefed the community as the technician
organized the basic parts of the cookers (photo 7). This project also acted as
a test of previous renewable energy projects/capacity building programmes, where this school
and one teacher were nominated for a technicians training programme at the
University of the South Pacific. The young teacher in the photo (blue striped
t-shirt sitting on the ground), indeed proved to be an asset throughout the two
days of our activities in the school – we call him our champion teacher!

 

Photo 7: Community eager to find out what
is this all about!

Once again, it was great to see women
coming forward and participating actively in the installation process.

 

Photo 8: Ready to prove: Women can do
anything!

 

Photo 9: The more the merrier – soon more
women joined in!

Soon both women and men started working in
separate teams assembling their cookers, the community spirit was quite
evident. Many parents also joined in during this installation and later on
(during the launching ceremony), thanking the Soroptimist International President for
the donation.

 

Photo 10: The community spirit is evident

Once the first solar cooker was set up,
the community was briefed on how solar cooker works. The champion teacher was
given a separate briefing with conversations surrounding his training at the university
and how he could bring this into practice. The RE advisor also
recommended the champion teacher to the District Officer for their future
renewable energy initiatives.

 

Photo 11: A general briefing to the community
on how solar cooker works

 

Photo 12: The Champion teacher taking in
all the tips

 

Photo 13: SI Sigatoka club President Anita
Prasad with her club members

The demonstration of cookers involved
cooking rice and cassava (Fijian Staple diet – a root crop). The District
Officer and his team were pleasantly surprised at the ease and efficiency of
cookers and this was evident from the conversations post demonstration and
all happily posed for a photo with Fiji Soroptimists.

 

Photo 14: Nadroga-Navosa District Officer
and School Headmaster (at the back) with SI Sigatoka President Anita Prasad and
Soroptimist team

The educational prorgamme was carried out
side by side. The children were asked to write or draw their understanding of
uses of solar energy. Interestingly enough because this school has had a
previous solar light project where the boarding house was installed with small
solar lighting systems, some of the older children demonstrated their
understanding by drawing lights and the charging of mobiles through solar panels. However, the smaller children drew the sun helping to dry clothes. The champion teacher was given all educational material including
the paper based educational resources prepared by the Fiji team; he was also encouraged
to teach children about renewable energies and solar energy using these
resources. The children were also taught how solar cooker works through the
charts and by means of simulation. It was great to see children then perform
“how solar cooker works” in front of the whole school.

 

Photo 15: Children performing how solar
cooker works in front of the whole school through simulated play

The solar plaque was very well set up by
the school carpenter under the keen eye of their head teacher and erected for
the launch next day. It was decorated with beautiful tapa print (symbolic
of Fijian artwork and culturally significant) and SI Sigatoka’s banner by the
Sigatoka soroptimists, reminding us of the cultural diversity that unites
soroptimists all over the world. The wooden house chosen for the plaque is
school canteen and solar cookers stand right in front of this canteen.

 

Photo 16: Plaque for “See Solar Cook
Solar” surrounded with tapa print cloth and SI Sigatoka banner

The enthusiastic Sigatoka soroptimists
group decorated the whole place on day two within a few minutes for the launch of
solar cookers. The excitement was in the air as the solar cookers were
launched; children and adults with happy faces combined with proud Fiji Soroptimists
making the whole atmosphere surreal. The head teacher was extremely
thankful to the Soroptimist International in his speech and hoping to see more
projects in future. He then called upon the champion teacher to pick up the pot
of cooked rice to show it to their students. We thought it was indeed a must
capture shot.

 

Photo 17: An ecstatic moment for all as
the solar cookers were launched

 

Photo 18: The head teacher and the
champion teacher with Fiji Soroptimists showing cooked rice to school children

It is always great to have enthusiastic
community folks each time you do a project. And we were lucky once again to
have an all rounder Torika who not only helped translate from English to Fijian
but also assisted with the simulated act with children. Torika is the school headmaster’s
office assistant who quickly ran to bring in coloured manila and markers for the
play and ensured that children listened to the instructions as they drew their
impressions later on. So, finally, it was time to have this
wonderful and versatile woman from Navosa-Nadroga region pose with the solar cooker.

 

Photo 19: Children demonstrating their
understanding of solar energy and its use

 

Photo 20: Torika, the versatile woman
poses with solar cooker after the launch

The questionnaires to get a baseline
status of the community demonstrated dependence on firewood and kerosene. The
long distances which the community covers for the kerosene is quite unreal; it only
justifies this community’s need for solar cookers. The children were able to
demonstrate their enhanced understanding of use of solar energy for cooking as yet
another use after the launch. The internet services by mobile
companies work well in certain parts of Fiji and somehow it worked well here
too. Needless to say, this was a surprise to us compared to the previous trip two
years back. This time round during the installation process, in between
tweeting, a few special moments were also telecasted live on periscope (a new live video application);
however, tweeting the link of the live periscope clips somehow did not work;
so hopefully tweeting the link for periscope live telecast will happen smoothly
for third installation provided there is good mobile-internet coverage in
Kubulau district in Vanua Levu. It was great to see the Ministry of Education
Official from Sigatoka also reach the school (despite her hectic schedule) just
as we were wrapping up. This project has also enabled great partnerships
between various stakeholders within the district. Soroptimists in Fiji are indeed
thankful to SI International President Anne Garvie and her appeal funds, that have made this
dream possible in these remote parts of Fiji. This was one of the most
satisfying days for soroptimists in Fiji as it was the first time for many to
come this far in the remote Navosa-Nadroga.