Fiji

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The disappearance of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan (Fiji)
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“It’s time to embrace community-led conservation . . ., ” Audrey Moreng (Fiji)
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Albert Bernales returns to Fiji
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COMING OF AGE IN THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS by Fred Bell (Fiji)
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Talking with Will Lutwick (Fiji 1968–70) author of DODGING MACHETES

The disappearance of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan (Fiji)

  Thomas and Eileen Lonergan (Fiji 1996-98), a married couple hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, had recently completed a two-year tour of duty with the Peace Corps. Following their service, they embarked on a journey to Australia. On January 25, 1998, the Lonergans decided to indulge in their passion for scuba diving at St. Crispin’s Reef in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Despite being experienced divers with 80 dives each, tragedy struck during their outing. Accompanied by 26 fellow passengers and five crew members on the boat “Outer Edge,” the couple anticipated a fun day exploring the underwater wonders under the supervision of presumed experts. The final dive at “Fish City,” a vibrant reef teeming with marine life, began around 2:20PM. However, by 3:10PM, the engines of the Outer Edge roared to life, and the boat departed, unknowingly leaving Thomas and Eileen submerged beneath the waves. The Lonergans were . . .

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“It’s time to embrace community-led conservation . . ., ” Audrey Moreng (Fiji)

“. . . vs. the colonial kind” (a commentary)   by Audrey Moreng (Fiji 2018-2000) 15 May 2023   Conservation NGOs often enter countries like Fiji and advise local and Indigenous communities on how to protect their land and sea territories, or worse, acquire land and preclude the traditional residents from it. More NGOs are embracing community-led conservation, though, and we must embrace this, a new op-ed by a former Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji argues. “Fiji does not need new ideas on how to protect their ‘iqoliqoli’ (marine areas). Instead, Fiji has a lot to teach the rest of the world,” the author writes. This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. When I lived on the remote island of Beqa, in Fiji, I watched as foreign-based NGOs entered villages and told Fijians how to live their lives, saying things like . . .

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Albert Bernales returns to Fiji

  Albert Bernales (Fiji 2020-   ) By Todd R. Hansen Daily Republic  • FAIRFIELD – More than 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers, working in more than 60 countries, were evacuated in March 2020 due to the onset of the Covid-19 emergency. Albert Bernales, 26, of Fairfield, is one of the first to return back into service. He has been assigned to Fiji. Formed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, more than 240,000 Americans have served in 142 countries. Like Kennedy’s daring mission to send America to the moon, it was then Sen. Kennedy, running for the White House in 1960, who challenged college students and young adults to get involved in public service. “How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana?” Kennedy asked the more than 10,000 University of Michigan students who came out to his campaign stop. “Technicians or engineers, . . .

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COMING OF AGE IN THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS by Fred Bell (Fiji)

  In 1969, a naive young Berkeley graduate, determined to make the world a better place, joins the Peace Corps. He finds himself living in the tropical paradise of Fiji, formerly known as the “Cannibal Isles,” as a full-time forester with a hundred employees to supervise. Inexperienced, yet self-confident to the max, he embarks on a 4-year- long adventure during which he dives deeply into the culture, becoming fluent in the Fijian language, eating everything from fruit bats to raw fish, earning the nickname Vuku Levu, or spiritually inspired one, and finding that dancing with Rotumans is better than “Saturday Night Fever.”   Like most Peace Corps Volunteers, he learns that the Peace Corps is far more than sending educated and enthusiastic young Americans to use Western science and technology to help solve problems in third world countries. It is a two-way educational process where the volunteers learn about life . . .

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Talking with Will Lutwick (Fiji 1968–70) author of DODGING MACHETES

I recently interviewed Will Lutwick (Fiji 1968–70), author of Dodging Machetes: How I Survived Forbidden Love, Bad Behavior, and the Peace Corps in Fiji, published by Peace Corps Writers in 2012. Our conversation follows. — JC • Will, where are you from? Actually, I was born in New Rochelle, New York, the town next to where you live today, and when I was four, my family moved to Richmond, Virginia, and I grew up there. I went to Duke and got a BA in ’67, then I picked up an MBA at the University of Michigan in 1968. . And you were in the Peace Corps when? I was assigned to Fiji from 1968 to 1970 working with co-operatives first and then doing marketing research for Fiji’s government. . Why the Peace Corps? Academically, I had been grooming myself for a business career, but as I got into the job interview . . .

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