Nacula Project  - Fiji

 Ten members of Taupo Rotary embarked on a project on the Fijian island of Nacula, part of the Yasawa Group, in 1990. The island is about the size of Rangitoto Island in the Hauraki Gulf, and at the time had a population of 1,000.

The group of eight men and two women spent nearly three weeks putting in six water tanks. The roof of the schoolhouse was repaired and used to catch the rain, which then flowed down pipes and into the tanks. Children from all the villages attended the one school.

Before the tanks were built the islanders relied on barges to transport water from the main islands. There were four villages on the island, and they took turns helping to build the tanks which each held 12,000 litres of water, and measured 3.6m diameter by 2.4m height.

“The tanks were built using coral and sand. It was just like a chain of ants, with kids carrying sand in skirts and plastic bags”, Rotarian Tom Gould said.

The group found it hard to keep up with the hard working Fijians. They all worked so hard that they wore out three concrete mixers and two spades. The concrete mixers were half 44 gallon drums in which concrete was made using spades.

Building the tanks was a community effort – the menfolk worked, the women prepared food, and the children diverted from their school work to take part.

This was the second time tanks had been built in the Pacific. Tanks were built on a Tongan island several years earlier.

The New Zealand Government supplied half of the building materials, and Rotary supplied the rest. Members of the group paid their own way to Fiji.

The project team comprised Tom Gould, Dudley Williams, Keith Wilson, Murray Wilkins, Ray Perry, Ernie Allan, Bill and Joy Kiddle, and Laurie and Margaret Smith.

For More Information Contact:

Rotary Club of Taupo
P O Box 274, Taupo, New Zealand