"Felt accomplished, rewarding experience"

“Thank you so much for such a wonderful experience in Fiji. I enjoyed working alongside you & Sarah as well as all the volunteers. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. I learned so much here and am looking forward to applying all my new knowledge and skills in my future careers.

I didn't know what to expect coming to Fiji and joining the Nutrition Project, but it turned out to be more than I expected. After the project was explained to me, I was ecstatic because it encompassed everything I learned during my MPH degree and now I was actually going to be able to see a public health intervention in the real world. The program is well developed and is effective in bringing health screenings to the community. I enjoyed being able to work in the village as well as the schools. I have never done any volunteer trip like this before and am looking forward to coming back to Fiji one day and helping out again. This was such a rewarding experience and I am so grateful I was able to see life style changes among the people even though I was only here for a short period of time. I felt so accomplished after hearing a young teacher I counseled already felt healthier and more energized after just a week of change. Additionally, I loved working in the schools and hearing from the students what they wanted to learn and how they wanted to change their lives for the better. Everyone I have met is smart and has the knowledge, but just needs the push to eat better and live healthier. After speaking with a handful of people, I am confident they want to and will meet the change for a healthier lifestyle. I am so appreciative I was part of such a wonderful program and experience.

Thank you Rosan for being such a great mentor! Your sense of humor and hardworking personality has made the project all the more better and I know it will be sustainable. I can't wait to see how the project pans out in the future!

If you ever need any help from across seas please let me know, I would be more than happy to help.” ……Kathleen Colao (USA)

Lifetime experience

Working with Rosan and Sarah was a great experience, you can tell that their intensity comes from the passion they have for their work. To work alongside two individuals who genuinely care about the people they work with and the job that they do is a rarity in this world. Having, myself, a passion for health in all its forms, I appreciated the holistic approach to our project. It wasn’t just about eating healthy; it was about being healthy, feeling happy, and living a better quality of life.  Having goals that allow for any individual or group to be helped is a hard task to complete, and yet Rosan never shied away from the challenge.  Above all I appreciated the project’s flexibility, every day we were encouraged to try new things, work on new projects and follow what we are passionate about. It’s rare that an organization leaves room for individuals to follow their own passions while still meeting its own expectations, and for that I am very thankful. Overall I’ll never forget my time volunteering with ACATA Trust Fiji and the skills I learned, I’ll take with me and use them for the rest of my life.

Caitlin Chevrier -Canada

Hands On

Overall, the nutrition project in Fiji was a great experience! It was hands on from the get go.It was fantastic exposure and a great learning experience. It suited my dietetic background as a masters student and will really benefit me in my practice as I was able to work in many different fields in rural settings in Fiji including schools, corporate health and villages. The program was organised in a way that allowed me to network within these settings and basically do whatever I wanted to do in nutrition and health- which was a lot- and so I definitely do think that I accomplished that. I was able to show a lot of leadership, independence and initiative while doing a lot of things I had never done on my own before which was incredibly satisfying.

 I organised and conducted health screenings and free nutrition consultations with teachers in rural schools, Outreach health programs with villagers that do not have adequate access to healthcare, and with workers in supermarkets who had never had any public health initiatives done. It felt like I really could make a difference at the grass root level with the locals, many who struggle with poor health and strong family histories of diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. I helped to coordinate and teach primary and secondary school students in rural settings about nutrition and healthy eating which was a lot of fun, and run exercise programs with them to promote physical activity. I also developed a Protein Energy Deficiency Questionnaire which I piloted on students aged 10 and above in Fiji, many of which are protein deficient which can lead to stunting and poor growth. I suggest that anyone with a good nutrition background, keen interest in public as well as community health and who wants to make a difference in peoples lives to give it a go.

Neha Prasad - Australia

Volunteers in action