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APRIL/MAY 2015. ISSUE 64 www.thejetnewspaper.com 50 CENTS
Celebration of SuccessBy ANUSHIL KUMAR
The University of Fiji held its 10th graduation ceremony on
Fri-day, April 10, and a total of 250 graduates celebrated their
hard earned success.
Chief guest and University chan-cellor His Excellency Ratu Epeli
Nailatikau said he and the First Lady, Adi Koila Mara Nailatikau
were honoured to be at the 2015 Graduation Ceremony that also marks
the 10th Anniversary of the operations of the University of
Fiji.
He said Fijis national vision is to be a knowledge-based society
and the Fijian government continues to place increased emphasis on
the education sector.
Here at the University of Fiji, I note with appreciation the
Univer-sitys positive contribution towards this important national
goal, said Honourable Nailatikau.
I am constantly advised of the unwavering focus of the Council
and the founder to improve the quality of education and to also
increase the Universitys capacity to cater for more relevant fields
of studies.
This includes the construc-tion of facilities for the Centre for
Itaukei Studies (CIS). The Council continues the fundraising drive
for this project and to add to the signif-
icant contribution of $131,950 from the Foundation Trust of
Genting Highland in Malaysia. I wish to again express our sincere
gratitude to the Foundation.
He urged the graduands to be good ambassadors of the Univer-sity
of Fiji and advised the parents to continue to invest in the
edu-cation of their children as he said there will be great returns
from the investment.
I wish all the graduands every success as you commence or
re-commence your journey into the world of employment and
self-employment. May you continue to achieve your dreams.
Acting Vice-Chancellor Pro-
fessor Narendra Reddy said the universitys vision is simple
qual-ity education at affordable prices, however, the commitment is
not simple.
The mission of the university management and its partners is a
deep commitment to deliver the vision, said Professor Reddy.
We are sure that with contin-ued government support, support
from the founders of the Arya Pratinidi Sabha of Fiji and other
donor partners the university will continue to grow and rise to new
heights.
Professor Reddy congratulated all the graduands for successfully
completing their respective pro-
grammes of study. This has been a long and a de-
manding journey. The journey of assignments and grades may be
over but you are about to start on another important journey, and a
longer journey.
It is the journey of application of what you have acquired
during your study into your day to day liv-ing and more importantly
at the work environment.
It is sincerely hoped that your contribution to society will
also help others to make a similar jour-ney as some of you did from
pov-erty to prosperity.
Also present at the graduation ceremony was the Assistant
Minis-
The University of Fijis Bachelor of Information Technology
graduates with staff members during the graduation ceremony at
Saweni, Lautoka. INSET: Double gold-medalist Shivneil Raj. Photos:
ANUSHIL KUMAR.
ter for Agriculture, Natural Disaster Management and Rural and
Mari-time Development Joeli Cawaki.
Shivneil Raj was the hero-of-the-day scooping two gold medals
and graduated with the Bachelor of Commerce degree in Account-ing
and Economics.
FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER2
FROM THE DESK
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
Fiji - the way the world should be Being the hub of the Pacific,
Fiji has everything that a spectacular tropical paradise has to
offer - from private island resort accommodations, top class
restaurants to white sandy beaches, inbound tours, jet boat rides,
hot air balloon rides, mountain trekking, inland tours, eco
tourism, sky diving, helicopter rides, cruise trips, scuba diving,
massage and beauty parlours, vibrant night life and a
lot more than any other destination in the world offers
q ANUSHIL KUMAR
THE JET is Fijis first community newspaper published bi-monthly
by YOURSPACE LIMITED from Nadi - the tourism capital of Fiji.
PUBLISHER : SAMUEL SHANKAR Cell: 9966115EDITOR : ANUSHIL KUMAR
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New Resources to Boost Education
The biggest Second-ary School athletics competition is currently
the hot-topic in most schools around the country.
While Marist Brothers High School will be in force to repeat
their top-class performance from last year, rivals like Suva
Grammar, QVS, Natabua High and Xavier College will surely put
pressure to claim the boys title.
And the Westerners, Jasper Williams High School, are preparing
to defend their hard-earned girls title from last year.
Coca-Cola Games Hype-up
Popular names like ACS and St Joseph will also give a tough
chal-lenge for the girls de-fending champions.
To ensure a safe and smooth two-day compe-tition, the police
officers will be on duty as in-formed by Chief Opera-tions Officer
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Rusiate Tudravu.
The 2015 Coca-Cola Games will be held at the ANZ Stadium from
April 24-25.
Open Education Re-sources (OER) can be an asset in refining the
qual-ity and effectiveness of the local education con-text.
Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts Hon. Dr Mahendra Reddy
high-lighted this during the official opening of the stakeholders
meeting on National Policy on Open Educational Resources (OER) held
in Suva on Wednesday, March 25.
He said this improve-ment could be done in-creasing access to
high quality and relevant learning materials.
While speaking at the event, Dr. Reddy said the
government is commit-ted towards education in Fiji.
Minister Reddy said the government has provided substantial
financial as-sistance towards the de-velopment of education in
Fiji.
The government is also committed towards ensuring that public
in-vestments in all sectors of education contribute to
socio-economic develop-ment in a useful and cost effective way and
play an important role in setting policies to provide direc-tion in
the use of OER, Minister Reddy said.
For our beloved Fiji, the government is provid-ing funds to
support the operation of schools and some higher education
institutions including the
three universities.Dr. Reddy added these
new OER is bound to aid in the development of an open culture of
infor-mation sharing research amongst schools, teach-ers,
principals and higher education institutions.
With our existing ICT infrastructure, the use of OER will
support govern-ments key strategic poli-cy of developing a
knowl-edge based society.
The journey towards OER usage has its own challenges.
We need to remove restrictions in copying of materials by the
use of open licences.
Director for the United Nations Educational Sci-entific and
Cultural Or-ganisation for the Pacific States, Dr Etienne Clem-
World Water Day Celebra-tion was at another level in Nadi as
schools, marching bands and huge crowd of supporters turn up
marching through the streets of Nadi on Friday, March 22.
Children also dressed up waving their banners dur-ing the march
and later on were given prizes for their art work.
Chief Guest of the day Water Authority of Fijis CEO Opetaia
Ravai, while speak-ing to the crowd at Koroivo-lu Park said, over
the years the issue of water crisis have ascended its rank and
today it is ranked as the number one global risk.
He said water holds the key to sustainable develop-ment and it
is needed for health, food security and economic progress.
We are all encouraged to
use water wisely, by turning off taps and repairing do-mestic
links, Ravai said.
Ravai added we are all stakeholders of the practice of water
conservation as de-mand is outstripping supply.
Research shows that about 2.5 billion people lack access water
and thousands of children died everyday form lack of water supply
and poor sanitation, he said.
With this years theme as
Nadi Celebrates World Water Day
Students of Namaka Public School during the World Water Day
celebration in Nadi. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.
ent said technology is playing a key role in to-days
society.
We are witnessing an internet revolution that is affecting every
society, every country across the world, Dr Clement said.
This revolution is changing how we ex-change and
communi-cate.
It is changing how we learn and create.
Education is the way to connect the dots between the social,
economic and envi-ronmental dimensions of sustainable develop-ment.
Sustainability re-quires change in how we consume.
Water and Sustainable De-velopment, Ravai said water
conservation is a key factor as it is a common and vital role.
On March 22 every year, the Pacific Island countries
acknowledges and cel-ebrates the importance of their fresh water
resources
By ANUSHIL KUMAR
to sustainable development which is marked as World Water
Day.
By IVA DANFORD-NAISARA
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 3
LOCAL NEWS
The youth of Voivoi set-tlement on the outskirts of Nadi town
have been urged to always maintain a posi-tive mental attitude to
en-sure success.
In an informal discussion with the youth of Voivoi on Monday,
April 1, the Minister for Youth and Sports Hon. Laisenia Tuitubou
told them maintaining a positive men-tal attitude would greatly
benefit them as a youth group.
Your youth club is a small one but do not let that deter you in
your efforts as a youth group because if you have that positive
mental thinking, the advantages of positive mental attitude will
surely be evident in your progress as a club, Minister Tuitubou
said.
You can greatly assist your community here in Voivoi by always
thinking positively and your efforts will surely be successful if
you practice a positive men-tal attitude and I request you to adopt
this way of think-ing.
Minister Tuitubou also mentioned youth clubs had started from
humble begin-nings and had worked tire-lessly to become successful
through innovative ideas and positive thinking.
We have met with nu-merous successful youth clubs around the
country particularly the neighbour-ing Legalega youth club who
started off very small but have grown to generate income through a
number of their projects because they are creative and have never
seen themselves as a small youth club but instead remained positive
through-out, Hon. Tuitubou said.
Never belittle yourselves and never be constrained by the
challenges you face as a youth club.
He also informed them of the ministrys commitment to the
development of young people in the country and that there were
programs available with the ministry to assist in the growth of
youth clubs.
The Ministry has numer-ous programs available to help you and we
are here to support you but unless you have that positive atti-tude
your youth club will not progress further so I urge you to foster
this into your youth club.
Voivoi Youth Club presi-dent Brij Dutt thanked the minister and
his delegation for the visit and holding dis-cussions with their
youth group.
We are very thankful at this juncture of our youth group to have
this opportu-nity to meet and talk with the Honourable Minister
Tuitubou as we rarely ever have the opportunity to view our
opinions to government ministers and we are very thankful to him
for these fruitful discussions, Mr Dutt said.
We look forward to working closely with the ministry and we will
surely heed the words of advice given by the minister, he
added.
Youths of Voivoi request-ed the ministry to hold empowerment
training for young mothers of the com-munity and also brought up
issues faced such as educa-tional constraints on mem-bers of the
community and infrastructural problems.
Positive Mental Attitude the Way Forward: Minister Tuitubou
q DEPTFO
Hon. Minister for Youth and Sports Laisenia Tuitubou ad-dressing
youths of Voivoi community during their informal discussions on
Monday, April 2. Photo: DEPTFO.
The Nadi Town Council Pre-School celebrated Eas-ter with style,
joy, entertain-ment and food at the Nadi Civic Centre on Wednesday,
April 1.
The celebration was a great way to get the students to
understand the impor-tance of having celebrations like this in
school.
Pastor Taniela Sauturu who spoke to the children about Easter
said it is the celebration of overcoming evil through righteousness
and darkness to light.
We should all know the meaning of Easter and it is when
Christians commem-orate the death of Jesus Christ, said Pastor
Sauturu.
He said the true meaning of Easter can save a child spiritually
but depends on how they are brought up.
My message this Easter is that children need not be neglected,
abused and treat-ed unfairly.
These were the words of the Chief Guest Mohenesh Singh who was a
represen-tative of the Ministry of Edu-cations Department of
Na-tional Substance Abuse.
In Fiji, Easter is a cele-brated national holiday with Good
Friday, Easter Sun-day and Easter Monday all marked as Public
Holiday.
Pre-School Celebrate Easter in Style
By IVA DANFORD-NAISARA
Pe-schoolers and their teacher performing an item during the
Easter celebration at the Nadi Civic Centre. Photo: IVA
DANFORD-NAISARA.
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER4
LOCAL NEWS
Craft Shows to Endorse Rural Women
Support the Alliance for Healthy Living
Community leaders, faith-based organisations, busi-ness
community, schools, families and individuals are urged to join
hands to fight the non-communicable dis-eases epidemic which is
costing our nation not just money but lives.
The plea comes from the newly formed Alliance for Healthy
Living, which was launched on March 24 at Southern Cross Hotel in
Suva, as part of the 2015 World Consumer Rights Day
celebrations.
Alliance for Healthy Liv-ing is the brainchild of the three
stakeholders, Diabetes Fiji, National Food and Nu-trition Centre
and the Con-sumer Council of Fiji.
NCDs can be contained if people change their life-style by
eating and living healthy, however, this level of transformation
can only be achieved through multi-ple interventions from every
layer of our society.
Launching the Alliance for Healthy Living, Techni-cal Officer
from the World Health Organisation, Dr Wendy Snowdon, stated that
tackling NCDs required a multisectoral approach as
the Ministry of Health alone could not address the prob-lem.
Dr Snowdon, from the WHO, Division of Pacific Technical Support,
stressed that it was critical to engage the civil society
organiza-tions, community groups and community members to bring
about a desired change and the Alliance for Healthy Living was an
im-portant step forward in Fiji.
The active participation of civil society organizations,
particularly, the participation of grass-roots organizations
representing people living with NCDs , could assist in formulating
public health policies and legislations which would assist
indi-viduals to reach the highest standard of health and
well-being.
The work of the Alliance for Healthy Living is criti-cal
especially in the area of consumer education which will enable
consumers, par-ticularly children to make healthily choices.
Dr Wahid Khan, the chair- Diabetes Fiji, said no time should be
wasted as NCD was already taking toll over our people; today, the
world is under the grips of NCDs so, we need genuine com-mitments
and quick action to contain this epidemic.
We believe that the op-
portunity for health begins in our families, neighbour-hoods,
schools and work-places, therefore, we en-courage everyone to take
charge, to bring about changes to their lifestyles to arrest the
problem of NCDs.
Sugar sweetened bever-ages, restricting sale and marketing of
sugary, low-nutritional unhealthy food to children and making
healthy food affordable, will be high on their agenda among which,
the group will work towards changing consumer behaviour.
This empowering-ini-tiative is also supported by some medical
and dental practitioners, academics, retired nurses, school
teach-ers and civil society organ-isations.
Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems and other NCDs are
embed-ded in our Fijian lifestyle but time has come to fix things
before it is too late a 12-year-old is the youngest Type 2 diabetic
in Fiji; we, as a nation record one ampu-tation every 12.6 hours
and 1 in 5 persons is at a risk of having a stroke these fig-ures
reflect the extent of the NCD crisis in the country.
Unless and until, we have public support and will pow-er, NCDS
will remain part of us.
Pharmacy Donates to Vanuatu Relief Assistance
Budget Pharmacy Limited of Nadi donated medicines such as
panadol, amoxicil-lin and brufen medication worth $15,000 to assist
the Government of Vanuatu in relief efforts after the dev-astation
caused by Tropical Cyclone PAM.
The Companys propri-etor, Mr Ajay Raniga, said the donation
would fulfill imme-diate needs such as securing hygiene and medical
care and supplies which is vital in preventing the spread of
po-tential health problems and diseases.
The Ministry of Rural & Maritime Development and
National Disaster Manage-ment permanent secretary MrSetareki
Tale welcomed the timely assistance.
The donation is very timely given the fact that Vanuatu is still
in the initial stages of recovery. This will certainly add value to
the efforts of rehabilitation, Mr Tale said.
The donation was made possible through nego-tiations by the
Government Member of Parliament, Hon. Alvick Maharaj with Budget
Pharmacy Ltd.
q PRESS RELEASE
The Rotary Club of Nadi donated various items on Thursday, April
2, as part of their support towards the re-lief efforts in
Vanuatu.
The club handed over almost 300 cartons of clothes to the
National Di-saster Management Office (NDMO) as the shipment of
these items to Vanuatu will be done in the coming days.
Nadi District Officer Jiuta Waqavonovono said the government was
thankful to its many citizens that came forward to show their
sup-port during the two-week appeal.
Government appreci-ates the efforts of such or-ganisations in
coming for-ward in assisting with the relief effort towards our
brothers and sisters in Vanu-atu, Mr Waqavonovono said while
receiving the items
Rotary Club Assists Vanuatu Victims Secretary General
from Rotary Club.This is truly the Fijian
spirit of assisting our neigh-bours as they rebuild their
lives.
Your assistance and those that contributed gen-erously is much
appreci-ated.
Rotary Club representa-tive Krupesh Patel said the people of
Nadi gave with generosity as they are well aware of the needs
espe-cially after a natural disaster.
We are grateful that the people of Nadi and also some from Suva
and Navua also assisted in this drive, Mr Patel said.
This is just a small token of assistance for our broth-ers and
sisters in Vanuatu who are in need of these items as they rebuild
their lives.
We are however ready and willing to also assist in other ways
should they re-quest.
By ANUSHIL KUMAR
By Dr. WAHID KHANChair - Diabetes Fiji Inc.
The Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alle-viation in
partnership with stakeholders has organised divisional handicraft
shows as a build-up to Fijis Nation-al Womens Expo 2015.
The craft shows, which will be held in the Northern, Eastern,
Central and West-ern division from April to May, will provide
opportuni-ties for women groups in Fiji to showcase their skills
and talents.
Led by the Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation,
Hon. Rosy Akbar, the Planning Committee of the National Womens Expo
comprises of government ministries, non-government organisations
and corporate organisations that is developing the pro-grams for
the Expo.
Minister Akbar said the Ministry aims to make 2015 National
Womens Expo a much bigger event then the first one held last year
in Au-gust.
The Expo will be a gate-way to enhance their skills and connect
locally pro-duced items to new mar-kets, Ms. Akbar said.
This will be possible through an integrated ap-proach within
government ministries and corporate bodies.
The objective of the Expo is to enhance opportu-nities for rural
women to up-lift their lives and eradicate poverty.
She said the expo aims to assist rural women to se-cure market
for their prod-ucts both locally and inter-nationally.
The Expo will create opportunities for women to acquire skills
to help them reach their maximum po-tential as women leaders and
entrepreneurs.
The objective of the Di-visional Craft Show and competitions in
the four di-visions is to ensure the best of quality and value of
the womens products are be-ing displayed and assessed
during the Craft Show and to strengthen existing mar-kets that
are available at the Divisional Level for rural women.
The Divisional Craft Show is open to all the womens groups that
have registered with the Department of Women. Those who have not
registered yet are ad-vised to contact the near-est womens office
or the Ministrys Headquarters on 3312199.
Meanwhile, a total of FJD$133,152.00 was earned by the 448
womens groups that participated in the three-day Trade Craft Show
held at Vodafone Arena last year.
By ANUSHIL KUMAR
Elderly women cuts the cake during the International Womens Day
celebration at Holiday Inn, Suva while the Minister for Wom-en Rosy
Sofia Akbar (1st from left) and Attorney General Aiyaz
Sayed-Khaiyum looks on. Photo: DEPTFO.
The condition of homes in Vanuatu after it was hit by the
devas-tating Cyclone Pam which left the people of Vanuatu homeless.
Photo: SUPPLIED.
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 5
LOCAL NEWS
Market for Change Consultation Western Charity Alliance
(WCA) in conjunction with Vodafone ATH Fiji Founda-tion
conducted a week long farming consultation with market vendors in
Nadi and Namaka Market to discuss on ways to improve their standard
of living and assist to sustain their livelihood.
Project Officer (Vodafone ATH Fiji Foundation) and Executive
Director Western Charity Alliance, Jitendra Naidu elaborated it was
not-ed that 95% of vendors most-ly rely on produce supplied by
farmers or middle mans from far and near.
The farmers highlighted that at times almost 10-15 percent of
the produces gets damaged or are not in state to be sold at the
market stalls.
The supplies are sold ac-cording to weight and quan-tity at most
times which makes it difficult to check every produce sold by the
farmer or the middle man.
Financial literacy was also a missing factor from these vendors
as they dont
keep records of the items bought and sold from their stall. Most
of them dont know how much profit or loss they do in a month.
Mrs Meena Kumari, a ven-dor at Nadi Municipal Mar-ket, says
whatever earned in day by the vendors either goes in their
groceries or is used to pay the farmers for the produce every
second day.
She elaborated that mar-ket business isnt profitable; instead
they are just manag-ing to survive and sustain their
livelihood.
Almost 75% of the ven-dors have lands available and are planting
few vegeta-bles to sustain their market business.
The other 25% does not have large area to plant but are keen
into backyard gar-dening to give them a little boost into their
market busi-ness and to relieve them from relying on farmers or
middle mans produce.
Some of the issues faced by these farmers/vendors are as
follows:
No availability ofseeds
Seeds are verycostly
Chemicalsandma-nures are costly
Landpreparationisa major issue, Tractor higher
Fiji is now for the first time ever part of the 3R National
Framework on the Home Composting Subsidy program and Clean School
Program in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA).
The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Environment,
Parveen Ku-mar Bala officially launched these programs on April
10.
The Clean School Pro-gram specifically targets identifies
champion schools and their respective Coun-cils to work closely
with stu-dents and their teachers in teaching and demonstrating all
requisite processes and awareness on the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
(3Rs) concept and composting , Hon. Bala said.
He added the Home Compost Subsidy Program is a program to
encourage families and community members to recycle organic waste
by practicing home compositing.
In relation to these pro-grams, Government, through the
facilitation of my Ministry and in collaboration with the Ministry
of Education, will be targeting all municipalities at the Central,
Western and Northern Division.
He said Government owes this to the people as the 2013
Constitution now provides for inclusive socio-economic development
and guarantees all citizens the right to a clean healthy
envi-ronment.
The Lautoka City Council (LCC) and the Nadi Town Council (NTC),
with the as-
sistance of JICA-funded3R Project, have been promot-ing the Home
Compositing Subsidy Program and home composing activities in their
municipal areas since the year 2010.
The 3R Project was initi-ated by JICA together with Fijis
Department of Envi-ronment after Fiji requested
JICA Partners with Ministry Of Local Government for Fijis first
ever 3R National Initiative
technical cooperation from Japan for a project on waste
minimization and recycling promotion.
These were the remarks of the JICA Resident Rep-resentative Fiji
Office, Mr Hiroyuki Sawada who was also present at the launch. Mr
Sawada said the 3R prin-ciples continue to be pro-
By IVA DANFORD- NAISARA
Minister for Local Government, Housing and Environment, Parveen
Kumar Bala along with the JICA Resident Representative Fiji Office,
Mr Hiroyuki Sawada together with the students of Andrews Primary
School at the launch.. Photo: IVA DANFORD
is really expensive Lack of Training
and mentoring Lack of visitation
by expertiseMr Naidu also highlighted
that WCA and Vodafone will start to equip these vendors by
providing seeds and other
farming products; they will also hold empowerment programs such
as financial literacy to assist them keep their records. Later on,
they would make a close tie of the farmers with these ven-dors to
have a sustainable market and excel in farming.
Market vendors at their stall in Nadi Municipal Market. Photo:
SUPPLIED.
q WESTERN CHARITY ALLIANCE
moted through a current regional project, known as the Japanese
Technical Co-operation
Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste
Management in Pa-cific Island Countries (J-PRISM).Through its
techni-cal cooperation project for Promotion of Regional Ini-
tiative on Solid Waste Man-agement in the Pacific JICA assisted
the Department of Environment in establishing a National Subsidy
Program for Home Composting.
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER6
LOCAL NEWS
Reclaim the Night On March 6, the Fiji
Womens Crisis Centre of Nadi together with many other men and
women marched through the streets from Votualevu roundabout through
to Namaka Police Station chanting and waving posters demanding safe
spaces for women and girls.
The FWCC Coordina-tor Shamima Ali said the Centre has been
around for 30 years and still has a long way to go but it does not
mean that they do not celebrate their successes.
She said some women who may be working in the garment industry
can say in Fiji not much has changed but we are still
struggling.
It is very good to see men joining us today, she added.
Ali acknowledged the presence of the Sorop-
timist International of Nadi and the police who are partnering
with the FWCC in eliminating vio-lence against women.
Women, men and children march with lit candles to reclaim the
night in Namaka, Nadi. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.
Divisional Police Com-mander Jope Ralulu, who was also present
at the march, said as police of-ficers they conduct inves-
tigations and he always assures and challenges the officers that
this is a spiritual battle that they can combat.
The march commem-orates the International Womens Day and huge
crowd of supporters from all workd of life turn up
to highlight or publically raising awareness on the issue of
sexual assault.
By IVA DANFORD- NAISARA
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 7
EDUCATION
It was a dream-come-true moment for the family of Shivneil Kumar
Raj as he graduated with Bachelor of Commerce degree in Ac-counting
and Economics during the University of Fiji graduation ceremony at
Saweni campus in Lautoka on Friday, April 10.
Not only with a degree, Shivneil was the hero-of-the-day as he
was the dou-ble gold-medalist in UniFijis 10th graduation
ceremony.
He scooped gold medals
in Accounting/ Economics and the Vice-Chancellors award of
excellence.
Speaking to The Jet, Shiv-neils happiness was beyond his words
to describe as it was the most joyous part of his life.
Im very proud of my achievement and I thank God Almighty and my
par-ents for supporting me throughout my journey, Shivneil
said.
My years of hardwork, sleepless nights and sacri-fices have
really paid off.
The 2011 School Dux of Central College said he did not face much
hurdles dur-
Shivneil Makes Family Prouding his three-year journey because of
the friendly staff of UniFiji.
There was not much difficulties faced as the lec-turers were
always there to help us.
UniFiji has one thing unique as whenever the stu-dents face
difficulties, the lecturers are very accessible and approachable to
seek help from.
He also left a message to all the students.
My message to all other students is basically work hard and
continue to work hard till your goals are achieved.
By ANUSHIL KUMAR
The University of Fiji gold medalist Shivneil Kumar Raj with his
proud parents after graduation. Photo: SUPPLIED.
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER8
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 9
EDUCATION
PM Opens Technical College of Fiji - Nadi Campus
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama officially opened the
Technical Col-lege of Fiji (TCF), Dr. Shau-kat Ali Saheb, Nadi
Campus on Tuesday, March 24.
While speaking at the opening ceremony, Hon. Bainimarama tagged
TCF as a milestone on their journey towards achieving the vision of
a clever and skilled coun-
try.TCF is a national institu-
tion that we intend to use to raise the standards of our
tradesmen and women throughout Fiji by giving them better access to
formal qualifications to improve their skills.
To date, we have lacked the ability to provide broad-er access
to Level Two Cer-tificates. The establishment of TCF fills this
need.
And it provides students with a more solid ground-ing in the
various trades compared to Certificate One
By ANUSHIL KUMAR courses. But without having to acquire the
qualifications to undertake more demand-ing courses of study at
FNU.
He said this three tier ap-proach is an important step forward
to give access to the young people to trade certifi-cate programs
and learn the skills on which the economy is dependent upon.
Whether it is building, plumbing, electrical work, carpentry,
hospitality or all manner of disciplines that fall under the trades
cat-egory.
At campuses like this
Ponipate in his dalo plantation. Photo: SUPPLIED.
Farmer Ponipate stands beside his 4x4 Wheel Drive worth $40,000.
Photo: SUPPLIED.
one student can spend a year of study that results in a Level
Two Award Program Certificate. But we are also offering the public
a series of short course that will also improve the skills base of
the Fijian workforce.
Prime Minister also had a short advice for the parents.
Dont just tell your child they can one day become a doctor, a
lawyer or an engi-neer. If they show any apti-tude or interest in a
trade, encourage them to take that path as well.
Because as a nation we
need builders and carpen-ters as much as we need members of the
traditional professions, especially as our economy expands at the
current rate.
He said anybody want-ing to do a short course will have their
fees paid for by Government as provided for in the Budget.
Those wishing to do the one year courses can have their fees
paid under the TELS program, which means the Government can give
loan to help students pay their fees which the stu-
dents will only pay back in instalments once they have started
working.
Meanwhile, the campus of TCF - the Dr. Sauhat Ali Sahib Nadi
Campus is one of ten campuses that the government intend to have up
and running across Fiji by the beginning of next year.
Three are already under-way; in Nadi, Suva and La-basa, and work
is currently proceeding to establish the remaining seven by
identify-ing properties and develop-ing new partnerships.
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama with MP Sanjit Patel (2nd from
left) and board members of the Technical College of Fiji (TCF), Dr.
Shaukat Ali Saheb, Nadi Campus on Tuesday, March 24. Photos:
SUPPLIED.
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama with staff and students of the
Technical College of Fiji (TCF), Dr. Shaukat Ali Saheb, Nadi
Campus.
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER10
New Taste in Town
Josephine NavulaNamaka, Nadi
Yes, they have been prepar-ing well and confident of a
victory
Mosese DalituicamaWaimalika, Sabeto
Yes i think they will retain their title since they made a
historic win last year they will do whatever it takes to
keep
that flame burning. But it will be a hard battle to win as all
schools are fighting for the
same trophy
Monica SovagusuMalawai Housing, Votualevu
Yes, I think they will retain the title since they were
capable
of doing something like that last year
Sue NasilasilaNasoso, Nadi
Yes, they have been training and they work hard to achieve
what they can do out on the field
Emily RavagaCAAF Compound, Nadi
Yes, definitely counting on Jasper to win this year
Do you think Jasper Williams High School will retain the girls
title in this years Coca Cola Games?
Sweet Tweets
LOCAL NEWS
A new restaurant start-ed its operation follow-ing the official
opening in Nadi on Friday, March 6.
Chef s Kitchen, a joint business of the renowned Aims
Rent-a-Car, was for-mally opened by the Min-ister for Industry,
Trade & Tourism Faiyaz Koya.
The new eatery is lo-cated in Namaka, Nadi right beside Aims
Rentals office.
Managing Director An-war Shahs said it was their plan to get a
name in the food industry as they had been running the rental
company for years.
We were in a rental car company for many years and we thought of
putting a step ahead in food industry, Mr Shah told Fiji Sun.
This is also something related to tourism and the local market
as well be-cause we have to look af-ter the local people too.
Mr Shah invested $80,000 into this kitchen and plans to spend
more should the need arise.
By ANUSHIL KUMAR
Minister for Industry, Trade & Tourism Faiyaz Koya during
the opening of the Chefs Kitchen in Namaka, Nadi. INSET: Minister
for Industry, Trade & Tourism Faiyaz Koya with Chefs Kitchen
Managing Director Anwar Shah during the official opening ceremonyin
Namaka, Nadi. Photos: DEPTFO.
His wife, Irene Shah is a pastry chef and manag-es the kitchen
apart from being the Director of the rental business.
We will see later on if we require any changes or expansion to
the kitch-en.
We wanted to do something in the food in-dustry as my wife is a
pas-
try chef and she knows about cooking and she has great interest
in it.
When asked about the choice of the location, Mr Shah said he
chose Na-maka as it is a flood-free zone and right next to his
initial business which makes it easier to man-age both.
Chef s Kitchen can ac-
commodate a total of 30 customers at once with a standard
service by its 11 full-time employees.
Mr Shah said the res-taurant is 100% halal and only
non-alcoholic cock-tails are available.
He said the business is getting good responses from the
customers.
It is going good so far,
we have a very good re-sponse, and our staffs are trained well
so we had a good feedback from the customers.
With hopes of achiev-ing success in the food industry, Mr Shah
aims to expand further into other areas of Fiji.
Artists BREATHE life into local exhibition
Less than a year ago local artist and father to 8 children Meli
Laddpeter found out his diagnosis of bronchiectasis, a rare
progressive lung disease had drastically worsened. A struggle to
walk more than a few steps without needing to pause for a breath,
Meli Lad-dpeter is now living with the worry that his family will
be in need with his inability to return to work and the on-go-ing
cost of medical attention required to sustain him.
In support, 33 local artists have stepped up, organising an
exhibition showcasing a collection of local art. Each artist has
been asked to cre-ate a piece of work able to be sold, with
proceeds going to-wards his medical needs and the support of Melis
family.
BREATHE is scheduled for later this month from April 24 to 28
held at the Sofitel Resort and Spa in Denarau. A spe-cial evening
cocktail event will kick off the exhibition; on Friday 24 April at
6pm. Tickets cost $30 and are available for purchase from Sofitel
Recep-tion, Taste Fiji in Martintar, Cardos in Port Denarau and
Victoria Wines in Suva and Nadi. Free entry is available to the
full exhibition which
then runs from Saturday 25 to Tuesday 28 April, 11am until
7pm.
We are so thankful for the support of the Fiji arts community
which is rally-ing together to raise funds for a fellow artist,
without them BREATHE wouldnt be possible. Its humbling to see so
many people as well as sponsors supporting such a worthy cause Says
BREATHE organising team member Maria Rova. She continues Meli who
is cur-rently admitted in Nadi Gen-eral Hospital, is greatly
con-cerned about his familys wellbeing, he just wants his kids to
have a house to live in and for them to complete their education.
This exhibi-tion will contribute towards making that a reality
Everyone is encouraged to show their support by visiting the
exhibition which will be full of impressive art produced by the 33
local artists taking part. A raffle will be running, tickets cost
$5.00. Each entry comes with the chance to win over $7000 worth of
prizes.
Aptly named BREATHE, the exhibition will allow both locals and
tourists a rare op-
portunity to check out some of Fijis most talented artists. With
such a vast display of lively and enigmatic artwork it will be
difficult for anyone not to take at least one piece home.
For all the latest BREATHE updates, please visit: https://w w w
. f a c e b o o k . c o m /breatheappeal
About Meli Laddpeter: Meli is a graphic designer
and free-lance artist based in Nadi. Of part Fijian, Ton-gan,
and Wallis Island de-cent, Laddpeters art is an exploration of his
Pacific heritage and issues that are important to him. I try to
capture the moment of liv-ing within my art, says this young
exhibitor. I appreci-ate the emotions that can be triggered by a
creation of art, and am amazed by the
Grand Creator who is be-hind all things. Laddpeter is a member
of the Redwave Collective. His works, which include inks and
waterco-lours on paper, and acrylics on masi and canvas, bear the
influence of the Oceania Center workshops that he has attended.
Meli Laddpeter (Middle) spending some precious time with his
family at his home. Photo: SUPPLIED.
q PRESS RELEASE
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 11
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER12
DEVELOPMENTS
The forging of domestic and foreign partnerships provide an
impetus for growth in Fijis tourism sec-tor.
This was highlighted at the launch of the Denarau Moorings by
the Minister for Tourism, Hon Faiyaz Koya.
It is very encouraging to see Fijian entrepreneurs en-tering the
tourism and hos-pitality sector. In fact, this is the third Fijian
company that is fully Fijian owned that has put their mark in the
tour-ism industry in the last three months, Minister Koya said.
We must not forget that todays launch is not just a tourism or
real estate devel-opment, but an investment by a Fijian together
with for-eign investors.
Minister Koya added that government has set ambi-tious goals for
the tourism industry and with the num-bers recorded over the past
year, government is defi-nitely on track to achieving these
goals.
It is worth noting that
Domestic and Foreign Partnerships Impetus for Growth
approximately 15 percent of the total investments are coming
from private sector investments which include domestic and foreign
inves-tors.
The Fijian governments focus is to grow investments and spread
the wealth to all Fijians.
It has been the vision of the Bainimarama govern-ment to ensure
that both domestic and foreign inves-tors are treated equally and
fairly.
The Denarau Moor-ings project is a $120 mil-lion investment by
the Deo Construction Development Company Limited will fea-ture 152
rooms to the hotel inventory, 56 waterfront apartments and a
3-sto-rey high-end shopping and commercial centre.
q DEPTFO
Minister for Tourism, Hon Faiyaz Koya (1st from right) at the
launch of the Denarau Moorings. Photo: DEPTFO.
The artistic impression of the Denarau Moorings. Photos:
SUPPLIED.
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 13
LOCAL NEWS
The University of Fiji has received a grant of US$404,729 from
the Pacific-American Climate Fund (PA-CAM) to help in a program
called Developing Base Maps of Tropical Aquatic Re-sources in the
Pacific proj-ect which was also launched on the 13th of April.
This grant is to assist a three-year project of map-ping of the
coastal eco-system where coral reefs and coastal ecosystem are
vulnerable to the effects of weather changes. US Am-bassador,
Judith Cefkin said the launch signifies their commitment to address
the global threats of climate change for the long term well-being
of the communi-ties in Fiji.
The launch of this proj-
ect with University of Fiji, takes scientific steps that will
assist the Fijian Gov-ernment to make informed decisions and
develop strat-egies to deal with climate change, said Ambassador
Cefkin.
Ms Cefkin added the pur-pose of PACAM is that it is a
grant-making facility funded by the U.S Agency for Inter-national
Development to as-sist Pacific in reducing long-term
vulnerabilities.
The University Pro- Chan-cellor Anil Tikaram said that they are
overwhelmed to be selected to receive a grant through the PACAM.
This partnership with USAID is a positive indicator that the
university has protocols in place acceptable to donor organization
to enable be-ing awarded this prestigious grant, he said.
Mr Tikiram said the launch of USAID funded project underscores
the need to work together to ad-
Uni Fiji Receives a Timely BoostBy IVA DANFORD-NAISARA
FNPF Calls on Members to Verify their Personal Details
The Fiji National Provi-dent Fund has called on all its members
to verify and update their personal details at any FNPF office, as
part of its data cleansing exercise to update members records.
FNPF Chief Executive, Mr Aisake Taito said this exer-cise was
necessary to safe-guard members interests whilst ensuring that they
re-ceive timely service.
We have found that in the past members applica-tions are delayed
because of discrepancy and mis-match in members names and other
records inclusive of date of births and signa-tures, he said.
A lot of members only verify their details when they apply for
assistance.
Once the discrepancy is identified, members are then required to
make changes to their records and provide supporting docu-ments to
support the chang-
es and having these certified by relevant authorities; and
these, if not done, could lead to delays in providing service to
members.
Members who intend to validate their information would need to
provide the FNPF card/ number, TIN Number, Birth Certificates (full
extract and printed after 2000), Married Certificates (for women
who use their married names full extract also), Information on past
employers and provide their current signature.
This initiative would also help the Fund identify and clear for
posting members contributions held in the suspense account.
The suspense account holds contributions paid but are
unidentified because of the following reasons; mem-bers name or
FNPF num-bers does not match FNPF records, use of initials and nick
name on the monthly
contribution schedule and employees did not register the member
during their pe-riod of employment.
Mr Taito said contribu-tions kept in the Suspense Account do not
earn inter-ests. He said the onus was also on members to ensure
that information held with FNPF is verified and updat-ed.
He said employers can assist by taking a proac-tive approach by
ensuring that data in regards to their employees in the monthly
Contribution schedules are accurate.
The issue of unidenti-fied contributions can be resolved through
a collec-tive effort by all stakeholders including members, who
would need to take the first step by verifying their
infor-mation.
dress national, regional and global concerns on climate
change.
This project will be con-ducted in Votua, Ba and Maui Bay in
Nadroga/ Navosa and
will provide a baseline to measure changes over time and develop
management
plans for preserving the eco-systems for the future.
US Ambassador, Judith Cefkin handing over the grant to Uni Fiji.
Photo: SUPPLIED.
q FNPF
The Fiji National Provi-dent Fund highly praised its 400
members, pensioners and employers who attend-ed the forums held in
Nadi, Lautoka and Suva recently.
Chief Executive Officer, Mr Aisake Taito said the Forum
continues to draw increasing crowd since it started in 2013.
It was practically a full house in all venues this year, which
is indicative that members are taking a keen interest on the
development of their retirement savings, Mr Taito said.
Participants, who were
presented with an overview of the Funds progress and its future
plans, were en-couraged to ask questions which were responded to by
the executive team.
Mr Taito said this gives an opportunity to build much better
relationship with its members.
It also provides an av-enue for the Fund to hear from members
and pension-ers and use their comments to improve its services.
The Forum is an oppor-tunity for the Fund to gauge the level of
understanding our members have on the role of the Fund, and its
pro-cesses, he said.
A Fund member thanked FNPF for their initiative.
Thank you for this ini-tiative. Its very educational and a good
opportunity to listen to the high ups (exec-utives) and have our
ques-tions and concerns raised directly with them, the
member wrote on his evalu-ation form.
It would be good to con-tinue this practice to get the general
public who are the contributors of this fund to understand how much
is in-vested and options available with respect to the fund.
A lot of queries were re-ceived from the members which varied
from pension-related issues, member services, the extension of
benefits currently provided by FNPF, customer services and
investment.
Advisory services were also provided to members during the Forum
in addition to t-shirts, information kit and pens.
Another forum will be held in Labasa later this month and Mr
Taito is en-couraging the members in the North to attend it.
FNPF Commends MembersBy ANUSHIL KUMAR
FNPF Establish Toll-Free Line
In an effort to raise the standard of service delivery to its
members and pension-ers, the Fiji National Provi-dent Fund has
established a toll free line and an email contact that will provide
a convenient means for cus-tomers to lodge their enqui-ries and
complaints.
The toll free number 112277 and the email con-tact
[email protected] can be used by key FNPF customers inclusive
of members, pensioners, ven-dors, suppliers and employ-ers to lodge
their complaints against any Fund-related
matter. FNPF Chief Executive, Mr
Aisake Taito said the intro-duction of these initiatives were an
indication of the Funds continued efforts to improve its services
to its customers.
The toll free line will pro-vide a convenient point of contact
for those who wish to raise issues about our ser-vices.
The telephone service is a free line which we hope our customers
will utilize to lodge their complaints.
In addition, the email contact will encourage
those using the online plat-form to provide value feed-backs to
the Fund.
The Fund anticipates that the feedback on these services would
assist FN-PFs continuous service im-provement initiatives, Mr Taito
said.
The Fund also hopes that the toll free number and the email
contact would help the Fund gauge num-ber of complaints from its
members and solve them accordingly and at the same time to hear
from members perspective how we can serve them better.
He said that for feedback purposes, it was important for
complainants to lodge a valid name, phone or email contact to
enable the Fund to get back to them regard-ing their
complaints.
A toll free line and the complaints email contact will help the
Fund become more aware of our members needs and I encourage them to
contact us if they have any queries by dialing 112277
and to email [email protected] any time of the day to their
convenience.
q PRESS RELEASE
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER14
TOURISM
The Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Faiyaz Koya
together with the As-sistant Minister Lorna Eden were at Nadi
International Airport on Tuesday, March 31, to welcome the
inaugu-ral Jetstar flight that has fi-
nally arrived in the country.A total of 180 passen-
gers were on board which included the Australia and New Zealand
Chief Execu-tive Officer of the airline Da-vid Hall.
The new flight route from the Gold Coast to Nadi is expected to
attract more tourists from the Gold Coast benefitting Fijis
growing
JetStar to Boost Tourism Industry in Fiji
By IVA DANFORD-NAISARA
tourism industry. The new three-times a
week service flight to Fiji was due to the strong de-mand from
the Gold Coast tourist visiting Fiji, said Hall.
He said that he was pleased to work together with the Fijian
Government, Nadi International Airport and the tourism sector to
de-liver the great new service in
bringing our nations close together.
We are pleased to be the only airline offering a direct low fare
link from the jewels of Queensland coast to the hearts of the South
Pacific, he said.
Hall said there is lots of demand for Australians to visit Fiji
and about 50,000 ad-ditional seats are expected
to be added from this route.He said JetStar have been
flying to Fiji since 2010 and the airline has a long
part-nership and future with the Fijians.
All flights will be oper-ated by 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft
in a single class and will depart Nadi on Tues-days, Thursdays and
Satur-days.
BELOW: The Minister for Indus-try, Trade and Tourism Faiyaz Koya
together with the Austra-lia and New Zealand JetStar CEO David Hall
enjoys the en-tertainment by the Sabeto vil-lagers during the
arrival of the JetStar at Nadi International Airport. Photo: SALMAN
ALI.
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 15
TOURISM
Sofitel Becomes First Resort in Fiji to Receive HACCP
Accreditation
Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa on Denarau Island has be-come the
first resort in Fiji to comply with the highest international
industry stan-dards to receive Hazard Analysis and Critical Control
Point (HACCP) accreditation and certification.
Sofitel passed the final audits by the Fiji Govern-ments
Ministry of Health after successful implemen-tation of the
stringent food safety system HACCP.
This has been a huge undertaking and we are very proud of the
entire resort.
Achieving HACCP Certifica-tion is not an easy task, said Resorts
General Manager Alan Burrows.
I wish to congratulate the project team of working on this for
having developed a high standard system and for making food safety
and HACCP the centre of the at-tention of all staff involved in the
food production chain.
Hazard Analysis and Crit-ical Control Point (HACCP), being a
detailed system of food safety analysis and monitoring, it is being
bro-ken down in various parts
to make it reliable from the moment food arrives hotel premises,
until it is being served as a ready to con-sume product.
It involves various depart-ments, including procure-ment,
receiving, kitchen, F&B service and prioritises receiving with
cold storage and temperature control, labelling with dates and
shelf lives, internal cooking temperature, chilling and re-heating
hot foods, and serv-ing.
234 rooms and suites, and offer guests an extensive q SOFITEL
FIJI
The Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa team with their new HACCP
accreditation. Photo: SUPPLIED.
range of facilities including six restaurants and bars, two
swimming pools and a day
spa. Pullman Nadi Bay Re-sort & Spa will also feature four
meetings rooms, with
capacity for up to 400 guests theatre style.
InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa implements new sales
strategies and guest experience initiatives following recent
announce-ments to waive visa entry re-quirements between China and
Fiji.
As part of our strategy we have included China in yearly sales
calls to further develop the market and strengthen the overall
posi-tioning of InterContinental Fiji as the premier destina-tion
in Fiji, said Hudson Mitchell, Director of Leisure Sales &
Marketing.
Kamal Haer, Area Direc-tor of Sales & Marketing, Fiji &
Vanuatu and I are current-ly in China, meeting industry partners
and stakeholders.
We enjoyed an increase
in China market shares in February with the Rosie Holidays
Shanghai Charter and have recruited a Chi-nese Sales & Guest
Service Coordinator to ensure that we provide exceptional and
seamless experiences to the discerning Chinese travel-ler.
In foresight of the strengthening Chinese market, the resorts
parent company - InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) studied trends
and initiated a global training programme called China Ready, where
lead-ership teams implement best practices for satisfying Chinese
guests to deliver a memorable holiday.
The China-Ready train-ing programme encompass-
es an overview of China, Chinese traveller profiles and
characteristics, and ba-sic Chinese language class-es.
Chinese outbound travel continues to grow in traveller numbers
and trip frequency. The China-Ready training is essential for an
understand-ing of the Chinese culture and guest expectations, said
Jacob Pauu, Acting Human Resources Manager and China-Ready
champion.
Our passionate team have taken the China-Ready training onboard
whole-heartedly and we have received positive feedback from our
Chinese guests as a result. We are geared to increase Chinese
market share within the re-
sort significantly this year, concludes Mr Mitchell.
InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa overlooks the azure
waters of Natadola Beach voted by CNN as
one of the best beaches in the world, and Fijis finest beach.
Spread across 35 acres of tropical gardens, the resort offers all
of the fa-cilities and services expect-
ed of luxury international resort.
Kamal Haer and Hudson Mitchell with IHG China Sales Office
Member. Photo: SUPPLIED.
Intercontinental Fiji Expands into Chinese Markets
q INTERCONTINENTAL FIJI
Fiji Hotel and Tourism As-sociation (FHTA) appointed new
committee members for the Coral Coast Chapter during the Annual
General Meeting on Tuesday, March 10.
Chapter Chairman Peter Hopgood (Outrigger) was re-elected as the
Chairper-son while Brad Downton of The Warwick Fiji is the Dep-uty
Chairperson.
Craig Powell of Shangri-la Fijian Resort is the Market-ing
Chairperson, Jay Whyte (Sigatoka River Safari) was elected as the
Assistant Mar-keting Chairperson while Coral Kennedy of Sandy Point
is the Hospital Chair-person.
Chairman Hopgood stat-ed the goal of the new com-mittee would be
to; market the Coral Coast as Fijis pre-
mium holiday destination, support the local commu-nity, in
particular work with government on the develop-ment of a new
medevac fa-cility at the Sigatoka District Hospital. This is to
bring all stakeholders on the Coral Coast together on a monthly
basis to discuss issues that have an impact on our com-munity which
includes Po-lice, Town Council, Business Houses, Health
Profession-als, Regional Government and Resort Operators.
He said in the last 12 months it has been an ex-tremely positive
time for the Coral Coast, particularly with the opening of the new
maternity ward at the Sigato-ka District Hospital for which he said
the hoteliers were proud to be able to assist government in the
develop-ment of this facility as the Coral Coast FHTA donated over
$600,000 to the project
New Committee for Coral Coast Hoteliers
General Managers of Coral Coast resorts with Prime Minister
Frank Bainimarama at the opening of the maternity ward at the
Sigatoka Hospital. Photo: MASA / OUTRIGGER FIJI.
By ANUSHIL KUMAR
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER16
TOURISM
Fiji Airways has been confirmed as the Platinum sponsor for the
Fiji Tourism Expo (FTE) 2015, building on the partnership and
suc-cess of the inaugural event in 2014, to showcase the great
diversity of tourism products and services avail-able in Fiji.
FTE, now an annual event, aims to deliver a uniquely Fijian
tourism ex-perience for international buyers of tourism products by
showcasing all that Fijis tourism industry has to offer.
The program this year has been tailor-made to cater for the
needs of all service providers, large and small, designed to
effectively pro-mote Fiji as a tourist destina-tion to the
world.
Tourism Fijis Director of Events, Ms Sally Cooper says the event
would not have
been possible without the support of Fiji Airways.
The success of Fiji Tour-ism Expo is a result of strong
partnerships and having the support of our industry partners.
Tourism Fiji very excited that Fiji Airways is partnering with us
again for FTE 2015, Ms Cooper said.
FTE 2015 is scheduled to take place at the Denarau Convention
Centre, Nadi from the 15-19 June 2015.
Fiji Airways Board Direc-tor, Mr Stefan Pichler says, Were
delighted to sup-port Tourism Fiji and the Fiji Tourism Exchange.
As a key industry partner and stake-holder, we recognise the
importance of an event like this on the annual Fiji Tour-ism
calendar. Our team is looking forward to the FTE, where we have
planned ex-citing social activation pro-
grammes for delegates at our booths.
Tourism Fiji has pur-posely selected the dates for FTE 2015
immediately prior to the Australian Tour-ism Exchange (ATE) 2015,
to be hosted in Melbourne, to make it easier for buyers from key
long haul markets to make the most out of their annual visits to
the Pacific region.
Exhibitors and buyers interested in partaking in FTE 2015 are
encouraged to visit fijitourismexpo.com for more information and
regis-tration.
q TOURISM FIJI
Fiji Airways Confirmed as Major Sponsor for Fiji Tourism Expo
2015
Mr Jack Young of Koro Sun with Ms Candy Andrus, Fiji Airways at
FTE 2014. Photo: TOURISM FIJI.
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 17
TOURISM/SPORTS
The creativity and team effort of Tourism Fiji and in-dustry
partners in the Austra-lian market came to fruition when they were
announced as the National Winner for Best In Show for the Flight
Centre Travel Expos in Aus-tralia.
Tourism Fijis Australia Regional office participated in four
Flight Centre shows Sydney, Melbourne, Bris-bane and Canberra. This
is the first time for the office to win the national title.
The annual expo was held over two days in Syd-ney from January
31 Feb-ruary 1, with 97,021 people going through the exhibition and
a total of 65.96% of new customers attending the expo.
According to the Flight Centre Travel Group, the organisers of
the expo, Tour-ism Fijis display was voted overall winner due to
its openness and ease for cus-tomers to enter and gain
in-formation, as well as, their customer interaction, tradi-tional
dancers and the look
and feel of the exhibit with stunning imagery.
Were thrilled to have won the national title of Best in Show for
the Flight Centre consumer expos, Tourism Fijis Australia Re-gional
Director, Ms Carlah Walton said following the announcement.
Tourism Fiji in Australia is committed to demon-strating Fijis
unique cul-ture through our innova-tive stands at these major
consumer shows, and with growing passenger numbers out of
Australia, clearly the effort and investment is pay-ing off.
As the winner of the award, the Australia office also won $5000
worth of hire equipment from Moretons Hire for next years
shows.
The Tourism Fiji booth was unique compared to the other displays
at the expo as it had a thatched roof, simi-lar to the traditional
Fijian bure, and a revolving tower which incorporated brand-ed
images and messages.
Tourism Fiji Display Scoops National Award at Flight Centre
Show
The added wow factor for many of those that at-tended was the
presence of four Fijian warriors that were guarding the booth for
the duration of the show, which resulted in many stopping by to
pose for pictures with the men in grass skirts and war clubs.
Partners operating in Fiji who collaborated with Tour-ism Fiji
and had a presence at the expo included; Cap-tain Cook Cruises,
Planta-tion Island Resort & Lomani Island Resort, Blue Lagoon
Cruises/Awesome Adven-tures, South Sea Cruises, Musket Cove Resort,
Wanan-
avu Beach Resort & Viwa Island Resort, Warwick Fiji Resort,
and Naviti Resort.
Director of Sales & Mar-keting at The Warwick Fiji, Mr
Kushend Kumar ex-pressed his delight with the efforts of the team
in putting together a grand exhibition,
Thank you very much for the update and congratula-tions once
again for a job well done!
q TOURISM FIJI
Tourism Fiji booth display at the Flight Centre Travel Expos in
Australia. Photo: SUPPLIED.
Saunaka Gets Sponsors For The First Time Ever
The Saunaka Rugby 7s Club which is one of the old-est rugby
clubs in Nadi had a historic timely boost from their sponsors
yesterday.
McDonalds, who were sponsors of the teams jer-seys which were
worth $1950, also presented them with $1000 cheque to help the
Saunaka team finan-cially.
Marc McElrath, Mc Don-alds Development Partner said they are
very delighted to have been one of the ma-jor sponsors for the club
and
to invest in the boys.Since the Fiji 7s national
team featured most of the boys form Saunaka village from the
past till now, we plan to start investing in the club from
grassroot level, said McElrath.
He added since most of the village boys are unem-ployed, this
sponsorship will help them not only in wear-ing the Saunaka jersey
but representing our national one day.
Head Coach Ponijesa Lu-tuciri said this is the first ever
sponsorship the club has received ever since estab-lishment and
they are very
thankful to the sponsors of making it happens for the club.
Together with this, the club received $2000 worth of muscle
vests from Hydra Sports Fiji, transportation worth $3000 by Sahabud
Dean Transport Limited and $2350 total registration fees for the
five major 7s tourna-ments which are the Nawa-ka 7s, Marist 7s, Red
Rock 7s, Martintar 7s and Coral Coast 7s.
With a total sponsorship of $10,300, the Saunaka 7s rugby club
hopes to mark at the Fiji Bitter Nawaka 7s with kicked off
today.
By IVA DANFORD - NAISARA
Mc Donalds and Shahabud Dean wwTransport Limited officially
handing over jerseys to the Sau-naka 7s Rugby Club officials,
Photo: Iva Danford-Naisara
Fiji Airways and the Oceania Football Confed-eration (OFC) have
today announced a major spon-sorship agreement for the 2015 OFC
Champions League.
The partnership sees Fijis national airline get naming rights
for the popu-lar tournament, which will now be known as the 2015
Fiji Airways OFC Champions League.
Twelve teams from the Oceania region will com-pete in the
tournament, with the winner earning a ticket to the FIFA Club World
Cup in December 2015.
Participating in this years edition are the top clubs from Fiji,
New Zealand, Van-uatu, Papua New Guinea,
Solomon Islands, New Cale-donia, Tahiti and Samoa.
Were delighted to en-ter into this partnership with OFC for the
Champions League, Fiji Airways Board Director Stefan Pichler says
of the new partnership.
This great tournament features the regions top football clubs
and players. This partnership will allow us to promote our brand in
a region which we service quite extensively. We look forward to the
tournament with great anticipation and wish all the visiting teams
the very best.
OFC General Secretary Tai Nicholas says the op-portunity to link
with Fiji Air-ways is a great step forward for the
Confederation.
We are excited at the opportunity to work closely with Fiji
Airways promoting what is the most important football competition
on the annual calendar for our re-gion, Nicholas says.
Fiji Airways has a strong presence in the Pacific re-gion,
servicing many of our Member Association na-tions, so it makes
sense for us to be working with them to continue raising the
pro-file of the Fiji Airways OFC Champions League.
The 2015 Fiji Airways OFC Champions League kicks off on the 11
April, with matches played in Suva and Ba, Fiji. The final will be
held on 26 April at ANZ Stadium in Suva.
Fiji Airways teams up with OFC for 2015 Champions League
Fiji
q PRESS RELEASE
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER18
BUSINESS NEWS
For a woman who has been highly motivated since she left school,
Deb-ra Sadranu (pictured) is very passionate about run-ning a
business in Fiji that involves making a differ-ence in the
community as a whole.
Debra moved to Fiji in 1997 after working in the beauty industry
in Sydney for 11 years as a profes-sional beauty therapist.
She was also a member of the AABTh- Advanced Association of
Beauty Therapists, Australia.
Debra saw the opportu-nity to enhance the growth of the
developing beauty industry in Fiji.
She established the South Pacific Academy of Beauty Therapy
which was the first beauty school of its kind in the Pacific Island
region, accredited with the Fiji Higher Education Com-
mission and certification of assessment by AABTh Australia.
With the demand for spa expertise, Debra start-ed the first two
Beauty Spa outlets at Vomo and Treasure Island, thereafter
expanding to a chain of Se-nikai Spas.
As the Award winner of the Business Woman of the Year 2015,
Debra is a very successful woman who fo-cused on giving back to the
community.
It was a great honour, I dedicate my award to all the women in
my com-pany who have worked alongside me for the past 17 years, she
said.
Debra prides herself in providing training and employment for
the young women of Fiji and estab-lishing village enterprise
through harvesting local extracts for her product
manufacturing.
We partnered with Market Development Facil-ity to provide
training to the Tamasua Village for supply of our Virgin Coconut
Oil,
she added.She said her company
provides scholarships and training to rural women and also
provide support to people with disabilities.
My latest initiative was the opening of our new Es-sence of Fiji
Spa Rejuvena-tion Centre/Transit lounge and it has been my
vision
Business a Passion for Award Winner Debra
and dream come true to date, Debra said.
Debra adds, she will be focussing more on export of their spa
products and also development of the spa industry throughout the
Pacific region.
By IVA DANFORD-NAISARA
Debra Sadranu
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 19
AON TOURISM AWARDS & NADI IN PICTURES
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER20
BUSINESS NOTICE BOARD
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 21
ADVERTISEMENT
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER22
LOCAL SPORTS
$35k Boost for Lautoka Local LeaguePunjas Group of Com-
panies provided a timely boost to the Lautoka Football
Association on Tuesday, April 9, sponsor-ing $35,000 for the Local
League Competition this year.
Director Rajesh Punja said the funding is yet another initiative
of Pun-jas that promotes active, healthy lifestyles through
support.
He said football spon-sorship is nothing new for the Punjas
Group as they supported football during the South Pacific Games in
2003 and Battle of the Giants tournament from 2003 to 2005.
We are happy to part-ner with Shop & Save Supermarkets to
support football in Lautoka and we hope this $35,000 sponsorship
will boost
participation, interest in the sport and lift the mo-rale of
players, officials and supporters, Punja said.
With the right sup-port, training and guid-ance, our footballers
will have the ability and op-portunity to participate at the
international level like Roy Krishna of Labasa.
He said the Punja Group is celebrating 80-years of service this
year and throughout 2015 the Group is marking this milestone by
giving back in different ways to the community through proj-ects
and events.
In our 80th year, we are doubling our efforts to support
initiatives that help reinforce our com-panys principles and
phi-losophy of giving back to the people that have sup-ported us
over the past eight decades.
Lautoka Football Asso-ciation vice president and Local League
chairman
Valelevu Wins Muslim Tourney
Rajnesh Naicker thanked the Punjas Group for the kind
sponsorship.
He said it is hostorical for the local club level that such a
big amount of sponsorship has been secured.
Given such a huge
amount, the Lautoka Football Association plans to stage this
years local league competition on a bigger and better way, Naicker
said.
There would be a huge remuneration for the winners of this
years
competition, something which has never been paid to any club
locally.
Not only we will be giving incentive to indi-vidual players such
as player of the year, top goal scorer and so forth, together with
the players
From left: Punjas Group of Companies Director Rajesh Punja,
senior director Kanti Punja, Lautoka Football Association vice
president Rajnesh Naicker and Abdul Khalil during the sponsorship
announcement press conference at the Punjas Headquarters in
Lautoka. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.
we will also be rewarding the administrators of the different
teams.
The Lautoka Football Association Local League competition
kick-started on Sunday, April 12.
It was a moment of joy for the Valelevu Mus-lim Soccer team as
they defeated hosts Nadi 1-0 to win the Fiji Muslim Sports
Association Inter-District Championship at Prince Charles Park on
Monday, April 6.
The Shaheen Hus-sain-coached side shat-tered the hosts midway
into the second half as striker Irshaad Begg took advantage of the
blun-der made by the Nadi defender and blasted-in the winning
goal.
Nadi, laced with cur-rent district reps William Valentine and
Shafim Buksh, toiled hard look-ing for the equaliser, however, the
defenders in blue jumper worked overtime to claim the SM Koya cup
after a lapse of six years.
Nadi coach Javed Ahmed said finishing was the key factor that
was lacking in the play-
ers. I think we took the
final too casually. We had more possession but we failed to
finish them off, said Ahmed.
He said the focus now shifts to the Internation-al Club
Championship which will be played later this year.
We will now have to regroup, get more players and come out
strongly for the Interna-tional Club Champion-ship.
Winning coach Sha-heen said the team prepared well for the final
and was confident of winning the title this year.
Meanwhile, Fiji Mus-lim Sports Association president Mohammad
Rafiq described the tournament as a great success.
We had a very suc-cessful tournament this year. I congratulate
Valelevu for winning the title this year and also hats off to Nadi
for mak-ing it to the finals, he said.
The veterans and the youth division will now
be revived again and we will be booking Prince Charles Park
again for this sometime in De-cember.
He also confirmed The Jet about the Inter-
national Club Champi-onship (ICC) with eight overseas teams
par-ticipating in the tourna-ment.
Next on our sched-ule is the International
Club Championship in October where we have eight overseas teams
(four each from Austra-lia and New Zealand) coming with full of
over-seas talents and make it
a colourful tournament this year.
The ICC is scheduled to take place from Octo-ber 16-19.
By ANUSHIL KUMAR
By ANUSHIL KUMAR
Minister for Industry, Trade & Tourism Faiyaz Koya (standing
5th from left) with the victorious Valelevu team after the
completion of the Fiji Muslim Sports Association IDC at Prince
Charles Park. Photo: ANUSHIL KUMAR.
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 23
LOCAL SPORTS
Karate Champ Visits Nadi District School
Torch Relay Visits Mulomulo Secondary School
Two-times World Mar-tial Arts Champion, also known as the Coke
Can Kid, Andrew Ravuna vis-ited Nadi District School on Wednesday,
March 25, to demonstrate some of his award winning moves to the
students and teach-ers.
Ravuna, who is origi-nally from Ba, arrived into the country
from Bris-bane, Australia on March 17 after four years since his
last trip to Fiji with his mother Andrea.
While sharing some of his past experiences with the students,
Ravuna said he was born four months premature and was not expected
to live.
I was born at 800 grams and went down to 500 grams, now Im a
little bit bigger, so my mum thought she would put me into karate,
said Ravuna.
While growing up, I was not treated well so I had to learn to
get cour-age and defend myself.
He started his karate training at the age of nine and now he is
a Sensei (karate master).
Technically I found
karate but I think karate found me so I have been training ever
so hard and got my black belt, he added.
Head teacher Meli Ca-bebula was very grateful to have Andrew
Ravuna visit them at the school.
We are very lucky and
all the children are very happy to have him.
A world champ visit-ing our school and we at Nadi District
school well all be cheering for Andrew during the Olym-pics, Mr
Cabebula said.
Ravuna has been in-ducted in the Interna-
tional Sports Karate As-sociation Hall of Fame
internationally.
Sensei Ravuna was also named as the sports-man of the year in
2010 and 2014.
Apart from being very talented with weapons of all kinds (Nun
chucks,
World Karate Champion Andrew Ravuna poses with the students of
Nadi District School. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.
For the first time in his-tory, Mulomulo Second-ary School
hosted the 2015 Coca Cola Games Torch Re-lay at the school.
School principal Sera Lockington was thankful to the organisers
and officials of the Coca-Cola Games and described the torch-relay
visit as an historic event in the school calendar.
Today is a historic occa-sion for Mulomulo Second-ary School. It
is the first time the torch relay is brought to the school and I
thank the organisers for including us, said Mrs Lockington.
All too often, the school is ignored and yet we are situated
only four kilometers from the Nadi back road.
An occasion like this will help to put the school on the
map.
The school held an inter-house from which the school selected
their athletes for the Nadi Zone which was held at Prince Charles
Park.
Mulomulo Secondary walked away with two gold medals, three
silver and four bronze medals. Five athletes have qualified for the
Coca-Cola Games in Suva.
Mrs Lockington conclud-ed her speech by thanking the Torch relay
Coordina-tor Onisimo Rokotuinasau and his team for visiting the
school.
The annual biggest sec-ondary school athletics, Coca-Cola Games
is sched-uled to take place at the ANZ Stadium in Suva from April
24-25.
By MARGARET NAQIRI
Katana/sword, Bo staff and Sai), he is a Second Dan Black Belt
and a very dedicated teacher as he owns his own Dojo.
I am still training un-der my master Kyoshi Bill Wakefield C.M.A
Nerang Gold Coast QLD. I owe a lot to him for knowledge
, guidance, love and sup-port from my mum An-drea who is
terminally ill.
Mr Ravuna will be rep-resenting Australia Fiji next year for the
Olym-pics in Rio, Brazil.
Mulomulo Secondary School students excited over the Coca-cola
Games Torch Relay visiting their school for the first time. Photo:
MARGARET NAQIRI.
q DEPTFO
By MARGARET NAQIRI
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THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER24
By ANUSHIL KUMAR
The 20 member Vodafone Fiji Under 17 side for the Oceania
Football Confederation Championship (OFC) in Samoa. Photo. Antonio
Kitione.
APRIL/MAY 2015. ISSUE 64 www.thejetnewspaper.com 50 CENTS
Page 23 Page 22$35K BOOST FOR LAUTOKALOCAL LEAGUE
Korovuto College successfully de-fended the Nadi Zone Athletics
title winning it for the second consecutive year.
The defending champions grabbed a total of 21 Gold, 15 Silver
and 9 Bronze at the two-day Nadi zone meet which ended at Prince
Charles Park on March 21.
Team coach Siaki Baba said it was a moment of joy for the
Korovuto Col-lege family as they are the champions of athletics in
Nadi.
We are very happy for the win and I should thank the athletes
for giving their whole-hearted performance during the two days of
tight competi-tion, Mr Baba said.
I must thank the Almighty for giving the strength to our
athletes, the parents who fully supported their children in every
possible ways, the administra-tion and school management for
giv-ing us time to train for this zone-meet, teachers who gave
their effort to train the athletes.
He said the focus now shifts to the Coca-Cola Games which will
be held at the ANZ Stadium in Suva.
We will now select and train the best athletes who will be
representing our school in the Coke Games and we are hoping for the
best in Suva.
Improving from where we left here at the Nadi Zone and adding
few more spices to squad is our main aim before we hit the biggest
Secondary School Athletics competition.
Mr Baba dedicated the win to the
Korovuto College family as a whole.Meanwhile, Ratu Navula
College
had to settle for the second spot grab-bing 17 Gold, 13 Silver
and 15 Bronze while Nadi Muslim College finished third collecting
16 Golds, 8 Silver and 15 Bronze.
A total of 34 new records were set during this years two-day
competition.
Victorious Korovuto College also won the overall girls division
while Swami Vivekananda College won the overall boys division.
Nadi Athletics Competition manager Melisio Camaitoga described
the two-day event a success.
The success of the competition was all due to the hardwork of
the Pemac teachers, the Principles of all the Nadi schools for the
support that they have given us, Mr Camaitoga said.
We were really happy that all the events happened as per our
time schedule and this is due to the team managers, coaches and the
network-ing system that was coming across from the officials.
The 34 records that were broken speaks itself the level of
competition that we had.
He also had a message to all the Nadi schools who will be taking
part in the Coca-Cola Games.
For all Nadi coaches and manag-ers, we need to prepare our team
well so that we are at par with the schools that participate all
over Fiji.
Together we all will represent Nadi regardless of whichever
school wins.
The Coca-Cola Games were yet to be played when this edition went
to press.
Champions Again
We did it again... The victorious Korovuto College athletes
celebrate after successfully defending the Nadi Zone athletics
title. Photo: ANUSHIL KUMAR.
KARATE CHAMP VISITS NADISCHOOL