Students of Naweni beside their newly built kindergarten. Photo: SUPPLIED
We have been blessed, were Naweni Villager Karolina Naiqama’s words to describe their new kindergarten building of which Fulton Hogan Hiways (FHH) was its largest single donor.
Since Tropical Cyclone Winston wreaked havoc in February 2016, FHH continues its rebuild programme in the Northern Division. The most recent projects that FHH has been involved in are a community hall for Vivili Village and a kindergarten building for Naweni Village, located along the Hibiscus Highway.
“We are so grateful to Fulton Hogan Hiways and other donors for giving us a new building. It was worth the long wait after Cyclone Winston to have this building, a beautiful addition to the Naweni District School,” said Ms Naiqama.
The Naweni school was one of the four schools in the Cakaudrove Province that was declared a Category C, for sustaining structural damage and considered not safe after TC Winston. The school serves the two villages of Naweni and Dromuninuku and eight settlements. Over 20 children attend the kindergarten.
Apart from Naweni, FHH also helped with a community hall for neighbouring Vivili Village with a population of 265.
Max Cross of the Savusavu-based Naqaqa Giving Foundation, who coordinated the work, said that FHH was the largest single donor to the two projects funding all of the concrete work, providing the materials, cement mixers and the expert labour.
Naqaqa Giving Foundation partnered with Caukin Studios, a UK-based group, to seek donors for materials and arrange volunteers from around the world to help construct the two buildings. Work started in July and was completed late September.
Also in May this year, the FHH board of directors opened the rebuilt four-classroom block at Lavena Primary School in Taveuni. Like Naweni, Lavena was also declared Category C after Winston and lost everything including desks, chairs, office equipment, and stationery.
FHH