Bula vinaka everybody!
Sara in traditional dress

My name is Sara and I’m a 23 year old Swedish girl who just arrived in New Zealand after a six week stay in Fiji, two of those weeks were spent in Solodamu. I’m studying a one year course in Sweden about indigenous people, human rights and culture, all combined and during our spring semester we have three months abroad. When we were about to decide where we want to go and on what we would like to do our field work about I decided Fiji and that I would like to know more about sailing...
After this decision so many great things have happened. I was sitting back in my room in Sweden, a freezing November morning (that’s when Sweden is getting ready for winter), and I went to google.com and typed: “fiji sailing sustainability”. Guess what comes up?

Getting ready to go to the farm with Titilia
Yes, www.sailingforsustainability.org, and this is where it all started. I read about C-WOOFING and Solodamu, felt that this would be a great experience and opportunity so I emailed Pete and Ali. And now, almost five months later I’m sitting in their saloon! I’ve had two amazing weeks in Solodamu and I’ve gotten myself a new, really good friend, Ben. Sara and Ben in SolodamuHe took me around all over Solodamu and then the rest of Fiji for five weeks. I’ve learned so much about Fijian culture and through all the people I’ve met during this trip so much wisdom and knowledge has reached me.
Right now I’m with Pete, Ali, Jack and Spike in Hibiscus III and it feels like the circle is getting “complete”, in one way, since my whole trip started with an email to them, almost half a year ago. On Saturday I’m flying back to Sweden, it will take me about 35 hours, and then I will have one more month of school to finish my study.
Sara in Nanalevu's kitchen, Solodamu

I could write a whole book about my experience, all the things I’ve learned and all the people I’ve met but I won’t do that now. I’ll take it piece by piece, otherwise it will be too overwhelming. But I can tell you one thing right now and that is if you’re sitting somewhere around the globe and are thinking of what to do next in life, I would tell you to go to Fiji and visit Solodamu!
Tack för er tid / Sara i Söderhavet