Bits of news from Fiji Sun

from w
Here are two items from today's Fiji Sun about life in Labasa - a school bazaar and one of the young women of Labasa.
Teraieta’s climb to success
10/29/2009
By Many people move to major towns or islands for various reasons.
Mrs Teraieta Narayan left Rabi Island to further her education. “My parents moved to Labasa in 1997 because we had to further our education,” she said. Ms Narayan completed her Form Six at Rabi High school and applied for a receptionist course at the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Labasa.

Being the eldest of five siblings she said, it was quite difficult for her to adjust to her new environment. She had to work with other races and it was difficult for her to communicate with them.

“When I came to Labasa, I took up a receptionist course for two months with the Ministry of Youth and Sports. After that, I did an attachment with Social Welfare and later with the Women Crisis Centre.” At the age of 22, she met Jaitendra Narayan and they decided to get married. “We felt it was the right thing to do and we went ahead with it. But I managed to complete my education through my husband’s help. I thank my husband for his endless support. Without him, I would not have reached this far. He paid for my fees at the New Zealand Pacific Training Centre (NZPTC) in Labasa but I did not let him down when I completed the course.”

Today, Mrs Narayan operates a graphic design business in Labasa. “It is called Rainbow Graphic Designs and its here that I’ve used all the knowledge that I gained over the years,” she continued on. The mother of one child said, that education has brought her this far and she is always learning new things everyday. Mrs Narayan added that she felt it was necessary for her to get educated and use her talent to run a business.

“I opened a business to help provide employment to young people, develop more businesses in Labasa and provide professional qualified layout designs to customers,” she added.

Bazaar funds to help Labasa school
10/29/2009
The annual Saint Mary bazaar started in Labasa yesterday. The four-day bazaar will have a beauty contest where 10 sponsored queens have been confirmed. Funds raised from the bazaar will be used to finance the school operation for next year. Saint Mary School, assistant Head Teacher Vincent Sahayam said they have some entertainment programmes planned for the bazaar. He said the bazaar would not have materialised, if it was not for the support of Mr Tula Jaduram of the Jaduram Industries

“I would like to thank Mr Jaduram. He has been supporting this bazaar since last year,” added Mr Sahayam.
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and added later: St Mary bazaar successful

11/2/2009
The management of Saint Mary Primary School in Labasa is $30,000 richer after their one week bazaar last week. A total of $30,544.45 was raised during the bazaar. School Treasurer, Mr Rayappa Ray, said history was created on Saturday.
"This is the biggest amount to be raised by the school. This is history for us," said Mr Ray. "We expected to raise $15,000 but it was doubled and it was beyond our expectation," added Mr Ray.

The school management decided that the house which raised the highest amount was crowned as Miss Charity. The Miss Charity and Miss Saint Mary 2009 was Helen Maya Jaduram from Megpie (Magpie?) House. Her house raised $6228.50. The first runner-up was Sara Du from Bulbul House and the second runner-up was Zubariah Mahik from Kiwi house.

Head Teacher, Vereniki Rusaqoli, was lost for words when told of the raised amount.
"I am overwhelmed," he only managed. "I thank thank the teachers, parents, students and everyone who contributed." Funds raised would be used in school projects to improve education for pupils of St Mary.

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And another piece of news, not unexpected, is the appointment of a new President, not by the Council of Chiefs this time however.
Ratu Epeli is new president, says PM
Ratu Epeli Nailatikau has been confirmed as the new president. Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama confirmed this to the FijiSUN, last night. According to Mr Bainimarama, Ratu Epeli was appointed earlier this week. “We will have everything discussed in our next Cabinet meeting,” said Mr Bainimarama.......
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later: Strange that this news was only in the Fiji Sun, and on the front page of the Fiji Daily Post the next day. Not newsworthy or just a rumour?
Okay, it eventually got into other papers.