Opportunities for Fijians of Indian descent in Rugby

 

This video highlihts the efforts of a Indo-Fijian rugby club that organised a one-day tournament to revive rugby participation amongst Fijians of Indian descent.

 

Fiji to go ahead with Elections!

This video highlights Fiji's intentions of going ahead with the general elections which is set to take place in 2014....

Soccer for school girls..

A video showcasing a new initiative by Fiji Football Association to promote football for girls at secondary schools level.

All the hype at the Cokes

Seeing the drama unfold at the Coca Cola Games every year is certainly a good experience. Every year we, as spectators, get to see new things whether it be new track suits, colored track shoes, new cheers, new rivalries being formed, start of a lifetime friendship for some, the different volunteers, different ways of celebrating victory and even different types of food. 

But this year there was something that we do not get every year. It was the renovated stadium! Everything looking posh and shiny. Now the build up the Games was also different this year with no firm favorites declared for any events. Then there was the factor of everyone coming to Games having done their preparations on grass tracks, which made a equal field for competition for schools coming in from far and wide.

 As a photographer, I was able to take a lot pictures over the two days of almost everything that transpired; the jumps, the throws, relays and the sprints. So I actually made a podcast out of 15 photos.
  

This entry is in relation to a previous entry  on my experience at the Coke Games some weeks back. It is actually a podcast of a collection of pictures throughout the Games which I thought could be shared to depict a story to all.

The link to my podcast is:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvLsMPYx99Q

  

Women in sports

Fijian Women are not exposed to similar types of sporting opportunities as their male counterparts are. For a long time women have been living in the shadows of men when it comes to sports as men have always been provided with the first opportunity in any sports. 

The only sport where it can be said that there is balance in terms of opportunities between males and females is athletics with scholarships being offered every year for both genders to go and make a name for themselves overseas. Former Yat Sen Secondary Milika Tuivanuavou and most recently Adi Cakobau's Ana Kaloucava are two athletes who currently are on scholarships. 

Milika Tuivanuavou                         Source: Athletics Oceania

Volleyball player Agatha Gibbons was also awarded an overseas scholarship when Volleyball Fiji was getting serious about the sport some years back.

Agatha Gibbons                                                                          Source: NMMI

So it was somewhat clear that looking for opportunities such as getting scholarships to go overseas or having regular international games and participating for composure while being a sportswoman was really hard especially when you have more priority given to men in sports.

Enter Netball Fiji! Having difficulties to be able to secure sponsors for regional and international competitions is a thing of the past now that Pearl South Pacific Resort has come forward with a sponsorship of $0.5 million and signed a 3-year contract with Fiji Netball. 

Source: FijiLive

The sponsorship could not have come at a better time with the Pacific Netball Series and U21 World Cup coming up with the Netball World Cup in two year's time.

Source: Fiji Times

Netball players will not have to raise funds in order to participate as they can now only focus on their training and playing their hearts out as it is solely their sport.

The whole nation can now support and hope that the Fiji Pearls show the nature of their talents.  

Meeting a credible movie maker

The chances of meeting someone very creative yet in a quite simple way is slim but I have been lucky enough to meet, someone who I would like to class as, one of the best video makers that I seen.

I was able to meet Saleem Reshamwala, also known as Kid Ethnic, who creates videos for the Beat Making Lab duo of Pierce Freelon and Stephen Levitin.  

   

In one of my earlier posts I had looked at the role of the two; Freelon and Levitin, in setting up the Beat Making Lab here in Fiji but Saleem plays the role of making short films of the time that the Beat Lab team spends in any country.

Saleem has been doing the same for the countries that the team has visited so far so, working with people from different countries in making short films which in turn gives a sort of video evidence about what the team  actually does on their trips. Some places the team has toured include Congo, Panama and Senegal.  

  

While having a small chat with Saleem I found out that he only he did not make use of any major software to create the videos that he has. He actually managed to make all most of his videos straight off his travel bag which is quite impressive. Adding to Saleem's creative ability is his down to earth nature mixing around with people as if he has known them for a very long time.

Saleem has, in one way or another, contributed to the success of the Beat Lab so far and PBS should be commended for supporting such a course whereby people from countries all around the world are now being taught the art of beat making. 

Things students of today go through.

A number of students today face problems in school and in their general lives. There are many negative factors that affect the lives of students today no matter which level they are in. And surprisingly a lot of these factors usually evolve from the personal surroundings of where students come from.   

Mainly these problems are a direct result of family problems, peer pressure, stress from school work, relationships, drugs and the list goes on.

Problems from home usually affects students drastically as a considerable amount of time is spent on the situation at home and this adds to the stress levels of students.

Peer pressure can be both positive and negative but in today's world it is mostly negative as students are easily influenced by their "so-called" friends to do other things that are of no use, whether it be skipping classes or starting to or drinking alcohol rather then completing schoolwork.

Students skipping classes.                                               Source: Google Images 

Extra load of schoolwork in terms of assignments and assessments can also be a source for stress students as not all students have the same capability to be on par with the rate of learning that is being taken place.

Students stressing out.                                          Source: College Magazine

Being in relationships in schools, something very common in Fiji, can lead to poor performance of students as well if their ability to prioritize things is absent. It easily leads to students being taken off road and into other ventures such as drugs and even suicide at times.

Then we have the major factor of alcohol and drugs that affects more than half the student population in Fiji. With the this problem being mainly present in the Central Division there have been programs launched that look to fight this issue is related to the issue of sexual abuse whose numbers have also been on the rise. 

Source: Google Images

Addressing such issues has been embedded into the working descriptions of school counselors, police officers, education officers and other relevant authorities as tackling these problems is getting tougher day by day.