Faith works wonders
FOR almost ten years, Faith Luth has devoted her time to Fiji, which she calls her “second home”.
Originally from Melbourne in Australia, the 49-year-old is the founder and chief executive officer of a charity organisation called the Fiji Book Drive.
With the help of volunteers and family, Ms Luth has procured about a quarter of a million books to school children in Fiji.
Since the establishment of the charity in 2012, Fiji Book Drive has given over 240,000 reading books to more than 72 schools around the country.
Ms Luth said the dream to start the book drive began after visiting a primary school on Kadavu Island.
“I was in Kadavu in 2011 after the death of my second parent,” she recalled.
“I was looking at this beautiful tropical scene and I had a flash of inspiration that I wanted to help as many people as possible.”
She met Peter and Margaret Long who run the charity Children of Fiji and their stories of helping Fiji’s children inspired her further.
“I went to see the district school in Kadavu and found out that English was compulsory in school.
“This particular school had about 10 books and they were in such bad condition so I said to myself, well, I’ll do something about it and ten years later here we are.”
She said as a former teacher, she wanted children living in the remote areas in Fiji to experience the pleasure of reading stories from around the world.
“I used to be an English teacher so I know about books and I understand Fijian culture very well.
“So I guess that’s my one way of trying to create a little bit of justice and to help kids.”
She said despite the many challenges, she tried to reach as many schools as possible.
“People say to me a lot of Fijians think that urban schools don’t have a need, but actually they do.
“But it’s not just them, it is really the remote schools in places such as Vanua Levu or Kioa Island that don’t have the pleasure to own books.
“And I understand why, because it’s very expensive to get to these places.
“So I want kids to have access to quality books and then from that I wanted them to develop a joy of reading, but also to become readers.”
She said the reason why she continued to provide books for children in Fiji was because she had fallen in love with the country and culture.
“The Fijian people are amazing at showing gratitude.
“Response has been overwhelming and I’ll tell you coming from a non i-Taukei person, Fijians are the best people at saying thank you.
“And it’s not just the way they say vinaka vakalevu, they can just say naka. Even if they are shy to say naka, they just raise their eyebrows.
“I think it is a key part of i-Taukei and indo-Fijian culture as well, where being grateful and being humble is like woven into the daily fabric.”
Ms Luth said it took a total of six days to collect all the books and toys from around Australia.
“It is a huge job, so we had to plan and prepare beforehand to receive the donations.
“We also have around 20 to 30 volunteers a day, so that’s between 150 and 180 volunteers who help us sort and pack because not everything donated was good.”
She said the organisation also supported local Fijian authors and illustrators by buying books made in Fiji.
“We’ve been buying books from the Waka Institute at the University of the South Pacific.
“They have a lot of retired teachers write books in the vernacular, but it’s all about promoting Pacific languages.”
She said although it was important for young children to read books in English and improve their vocabulary, they also needed to read books that were in their native language.
“People might just speak in the Bauan dialect or English and they don’t speak Kadavu dialect so it’s really important that we also purchase vernacular books.
“We also want the children to see characters that look like them that reflect their daily life.”
Ms Luth said she would continue to help the children in Fiji and give books for many more years to come.
“This is something I do because of my love for the children and this country.
“The quality of the books we send is very good and sometimes I get asked if I have a book factory or if I’m a millionaire, but I tell them I work very hard to get these donations in Australia.
“We definitely want to raise more money and we’d like some donors from Fijians living in Australia if they can donate as well to send back home.”
She said her team in Fiji looked after the surveying of the schools and children who applied for the books.
“Before we send the books, our team in Fiji needs to go out to these schools and do a survey of how many children need the books.
“We normally check if they have a library and shelves and from there we work out how many books can we give and fit in the library.”
Fiji Book Drive operations manager Lavenia Tamani deals with the logistics of schools receiving and delivering the books.
Prior to sending the books, Ms Tamani surveys the schools and assesses what is needed and the infrastructure available.
“We get so many requests from schools in Fiji for reading books,” she said.
“When new schools want to apply for books, we have to go check their library, assess how many children are enrolled at the school and so forth.
“Only then can we arrange how many books will be delivered to the school.”
She said during her travels and surveys of schools over the years, she had noticed there was a need for children living in remote areas to access reading materials.
“We see that not only schools from the outer island and interior of Fiji are calling for books.
“There are schools in the main cities that message us if they can also receive reading books and we are happy to help wherever the children are.”
Ms Tamani added the recent arrival of a container of about 9000 reading books from Australia last month would fill the shelves and hearts of many young children and schools around the country.
“Teachers or parents would send messages asking if they can receive books at their school for their children.
“We see the joy on the children’s faces when they receive books and also the teachers, too.
“I enjoy my line of work because I can help children become literate, which in return will help them further in their education.”