Education, food bank
Matua program
IT has been years since I’ve written a letter to The Fiji Times, but after reading about the Matua Program, I just had to write.
I lived in Lautoka from 1994 to 2004 after which I returned to the US. While in Fiji, I was very concerned that adults who had not already completed high school seldom had an opportunity to do so. In many countries, adults who have not finished high school are provided the opportunity to do so and are strongly encouraged to do so. Although I did my level best to do something to make it possible in Fiji, I did not succeed.
In about 2003, I was a delegate to the Anglican Convention. Some months before the convention I, with the help of Father Michael Chinappa of St Christopher’s Church in Nadi, wrote a motion directing the church educational committee to work towards making it possible for adults to complete high school.
I took the unprecedented step of mailing every delegate a copy of the motion along with a letter explaining the reason for it. When I presented the motion at the convention, it was accepted unanimously. Unfortunately, the chairman of the committee, who was a retired schoolmaster, did not agree with the motion. Therefore the directive was not followed.
I am exceedingly happy that adults are now being provided with the opportunity to finish high school. I hope that many will take advantage of the opportunity.
FRANK EGGERS
Palm Springs, California, USA
Food bank
I SUPPORT the proposed idea of the leader of SODELPA, Viliame Gavoka, for government to pay tax rebates to restaurant, supermarkets and eateries if they give their left over food to a Food Bank setup to cater for the many empty stomachs in Nadi and other areas directly affected by COVID-19 due to an evidence-based FRIENDS Fiji Assessment on Nadi families which is captured on videos after post COVID-19 in one of your last year’s dailies.
A lot of unused, untouched cooked food from 5 Star Hotels at Denarau Island are been thrown into rubbish bins every night which could have been given to this propose Food Bank.
Most families are lucky to have one or two meals a day due to financial hardship because of no jobs. While adults can skip a meal our children cannot because they are growing and need all the energy they can have.
Grassroots people are really suffering on the ground, while our leaders seems to forget these issues, but rather concentrate in their political career into Parliament.
JIOJI MASIVESI CAKACAKA
Tadra- Votualevu, Nadi