Major Water Planned Disrup- Spa Academy Graduation

tion Notice.Pg. 4 2017. Pg 6

Huge Turnout Expected at Doton Roars Change.

Thaipusam Festival.Pg. 5 Pg. 13

VOLUME 10 ISSUE 99 JANUARY 2018 www.thejetnewspaper.com 50 CENTS

Weekly
Valentin Corchardo. Pg. 13

BUSIER YEAR
FOR MARINA
By ANA SOVA

Port Denarau Marina is expecting

an even busier season this year.
Port Denarau Marina General
Manager, Cynthia Rasch said they
are optimistic about seeing more
than 700 transient vessels visiting Fiji
Waters in 2018.
“The 2017 yachting season was a
record year with 65 superyachts vis-
iting the country. This shows strong
growth from 2016 following Cyclone
Winston,” she said.
Fiji also saw 554 vessels under
80ft, which she said was a 14 per
cent increase in numbers compared
to 2016.
Rasch highlighted that Govern-
ment’s recognition of the superyacht
industry was demonstrated in the
2017 budget with a reduction of the
Superyacht Charter Tax from 12.5
per cent to 10 per cent. An aerial view of the Port Denarau Marina in Nadi. Photo: SUPPLIED.
“This is no longer called a su-
peryacht tax. Superyachts are now
charged an Environment & Climate ent fund set up by the government of She said 2017 yachting season Our commercial operations saw for a bigger and better Monaco Boat
Adaption Levy of 10 per cent. This Fiji to engage in projects that coun- also saw a total of 11 weeks of char- 445,000 visitors through our terminal Show later in the year and inclusion
is levied on the stated gross charter ter the effects of climate change in ter sold to visiting superyacht in Fiji building in 2017, an increase of 10% of new and exciting water sporting
fee as disclosed on the charter con- Fiji. it is hoped that this will improve in 2017. in comparison to 2016 and we are events to our shores,” Rasch said.
tract,” she said. the acceptability of the levy knowing Rasch saidFiji has experienced expecting these numbers to risein She adds there are additional
The Environment & Climate that the funds are going to a good strong growth in 2017 in the marina 2018,” Rasch said. shore based projects planned for this
Adaption Levy (ECAL) is a transpar- cause. industry. “Looking ahead, we are planning year. Continued on page 2
www.thejetnewspaper.com www.scribd.com/thejet

“Fiji - the way the world should be”

“ You must be asking yourself as to what makes Fiji so special? Amongst many things, the
Fijian people is mainly what makes this tropical island so special when compared to other
FROM THE DESK places in the world.They are friendly, welcoming and gracious. Fiji has all of the requistes

BACK TO
necessities for the typical tropical paradise, pretty much everything. The golden sun, sandy
beaches, sparkling blue water and tropical rainforest with activities ranging from diving,
snorkelling, jet-skiing and more”

SCHOOL SAFETY ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

The school holidays
is winding down and for
many, school starts back up
this week and next. Over
the holidays, I am sure you
noticed traffic has been less
hectic and stressful.
This changes dramati-
cally as schools re-open for
the new school year.
Perhaps the biggest issue
is traffic awareness.
So it’s a good time for
some safety reminders.
Hundreds of school
buses are returning to the
road as excited children
head back into the class-
room, which means that the
roads will look a lot different
than the eight weeks hiatus
we’ve just experienced.
There will be more stop-
ping, more waiting for kids
to board and unload from
buses, and slower speeds to
keep in mind when driving
through school zones.
Remember to be alert as
children often are unpre-
dictable, and they tend to ig-
nore hazards and take risks.
Don’t drive distracted
and put your phones away
while driving.
Meanwhile, Divisional
Police Commanders have
been directed to ensure all
necessary school related
operations are ready for the AG Addresses Education
Issues
start of the 2018 academic
year.
Chief Operations Officer,
ACP Rusiate Tudravu issued
the reminder calling on the
Divisional heads to ensure
maxinum visibility to ensure
students, parents and teach-
ers are able to begin another
school year rest assured that
operations such as school
patrols before and after is
maintained at all school
zones.
ACP Tudravu said the
focus will also be on the
movement of people con-
ducting back to school
shopping and those return-
ing from their holidays.
He reminded the officers
to maintain the momen-
tum of operations keeping
in mind the need to ensure
children are able to start the
school year incident free.
ACP Tudravu has also
called on parents and guard-
ians, teachers and members
of the public to work togeth-
er in keeping children safe. Attorney-General and Minister for Education Hon. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum responds to the media during the Question and An-
Things are about to get a swer session. Photo: SUPPLIED.
lot more busy. Be safe.
q ANA SOVA
The Attorney-General and cants. professional development to a position during Term 1.
Minister for Education, Aiyaz Mr. Khaiyum said the main and will invest in programmes Assessments will be finalised
Sayed-Khaiyum has clarified purpose of the assessment that support them in educat- and appointment lists will be
that the recent “English Pro- was to provide benchmark ing young Fijians. announced by 18 January,
ficiency Test” undertaken by data to help measure the ef- “The assessment was also with offer letters and con-
teaching applicants was not fectiveness of professional de- carried out to ensure that all tracts sent by Friday 19 Janu-
administered on a pass or fail velopment programmes that teaching applicants met base- ary. Schools have contingency
basis. will be carried out throughout line proficiency requirements plans in place for some teach-
The AG, while speaking at the year. prior to being appointed ers to begin teaching in the
a press conference in Suvaon The assessment covered to teaching positions. Only second week of Term 1,” the
Thursday afternoon, January four relevant categories: qual- teaching applicants who have AG added.
11, said the Ministry of Edu- ifications, experience, knowl- met the proficiency require- The AG also said that for
cation will make all appoint- edge of contemporary teach- ments have been appointed the first time, offer letters and
ments, transfers and promo- ing and learning strategies, to teaching positions in Term contracts for teachers will be
tions in a transparent fashion, and English proficiency. 1,” the AG said. released to the Divisional Of-
and on the basis of merit, and “The results from the as- A second round of assess- fices. Teaching staff can pick-
merit alone. sessment will better enable ment will take place this Sat- up letters and contracts at the
As part of Government’s Government to ensure all urday 13th January for those Division Office that covers the
commitment to the open- appointments are made on who were unable to sit for the address listed as their nomi-
merit recruitment guidelines, the basis of merit. The results first round or who previously nated home address.
an English Proficiency Ex- also provide a clear picture of applied and were unsuccess- “Applicants need no longer
amination was administered where we need to target in- ful at being appointed to a travel to Suva to pick-up these
by the Ministry of Education, vestment in the professional teaching position. items. That was the old way
with guidance from the Civil development of our teaching “Following the second that took up undue time and
Service Reform Management staff,” he said. round of assessment, teach- resources, and that system
Unit, as part of the first-ever The AG has assured all ing applicants who have met had no place in the 21st cen-
comprehensive assessment teachers that Government the baseline proficiency re- tury,” the AG highlighted.
of merit for teaching appli- remains committed to their quirements will be appointed

Send us your feedbacks or suggestions to:

Busy Year for Marina
feedbacks@media.com.fj Continued from page 1
She said some of the chal-
lenges faced are the delays
in approvals as they currently
await Ministerial approvals on
permits for dredging and ex-
pect to add another 5 x 70m
THE JET is Fiji’s first community newspaper published weekly by
private berths once complet-
YOURSPACE LIMITED from Nadi - the tourism capital of Fiji.
ed.
It was a rewarding year for
PUBLISHER/EDITOR: SAMUEL SHANKAR Cell: 9966115 the Marina, receiving some
NEWS : ANA SOVA Cell: 7378722 majorawards namely, the In-
NEWS : MARIA LAQETA Cell: 9216562 ternational Marina of the Year
ADVERTISING : MARGARET NAQIRI Cell: 9360047 by Marina Industries Associa-
OFFICE PHONES : 6707075 / 6750443 tion (MIA), retaining the title
for four consecutive years.
EMAIL : news@thejetnewspaper.com
: sam@media.com.fj They were winners of Com-
munity Support Initiative by a
WEBSITE : www.thejetnewspaper.com
Marina in MIA Awards for their
Sea Mercy project following
Cyclone Winston andFinalist
COMPLAINTS: The Jet Newspaper continues to strive for excellence in
its publications, with this in mind we welcome all complaints and sug- for Innovation by a Marina in
MIA Awards.
gestions from our readers. All such comments could be sent to
feedbacks@media.com.fj We thank you our readers for your valued
The marina was recog-
nized for their environmental
support towards The Jet Newspaper.
initiatives and was awarded
PRINTED BY MAX MARKETING - LAYOUT BY MARGARET NAQIRI Level 3 Clean Marina and Fish
2 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Friendly Accreditation, the
first marina in the South Pa-
cific to be awarded this Envi-
ronmental Accreditation.
Furthermore, Port Denarau
Marina was a finalist in Fiji Ex-
cellence in Tourism Awards
for Service and Support to
Industry. The announcement
in the Fiji budget in June rec-
ognizing Port Denarau as Port
of Entry was another key high-
light in 2017 for this success-
ful and premium international
marina.
Another accomplishment
for the Marina was the exten-
sion of its passenger terminal
check-in facilities, which was
completed in December last
year.
Port Denarau Marina aus-
piciously continues to grow
from strength to strength as
it positions itself to building
a world–class tourism and
transportation system.
Port Denarau Marina General Manager, Cynthia Rasch. Photo:
SUPPLIED.
www.thejetnewspaper.com www.scribd.com/thejet

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Major Planned Water Disruption

Notice- Nadi/Lautoka
The Water Authority of Fiji
(WAF) wishes to advise its
customers living in Nadi and
Lautoka that water supply will
be disrupted from 1am Satur-
day 03rd February until 5pm
Tuesday 06th February.
Areas affected will be Nadi
and Lautoka areas except the
Lautoka City Centre and some
outer boundaries of Lautoka
who are supplied through
Buabua and Saru Water Treat-
ment Plant (WTP).
This planned water dis-
ruption is a result of major
maintenance work that will
be carried out at the Nagado
Water Treatment Plant. This
maintenance work includes
replacement of a defective
control valve and another re-
pair in the main transmission
pipe to Nagado Water Treat-
ment Plant.
Supply is expected to be
gradually restored after the
repair. However, the restora-
tion operation is a complex
process that involves with
air bleeding and flushing of
the trunk mains. Since en-
tire transmission system and
all service reservoirs below
Nagado WTP becomes empty,
the anticipated time for com-
plete water restoration will be
2.5 to 3 days after the repair.
Therefore, the total estimated
time for the entire operation
will be 3.5 to 4 days. The sup-
ply will be restored by 5pm on
Tuesday 06th February.
WAF advises that to suf-
ficiently satisfy your water
requirements over the shut-
down period that each house-
hold should store 200 litres of
water for drinking and cook-
ing purposes. For other pur-
poses such as bathing, wash-
ing
dishes and clothes, more
water should be stored. Once
households run out of water
they have stored, there will
be around 100, 5,000 litre and
10,000 litre water tanks that
will be located at strategic lo-
cations for people to go and
fill in their containers and gal-
lons. In addition WAF will at-
tend to specific requests that
will made by domestic cus-
tomers via water carting.
WAF will ensure that dur-
ing the shutdown period there
will be no interruption in the
major services such as hospi-
tals, airport, schools and ho-
tels as 100 water trucks will be
deployed to cart water.
Therefore, the Authority is
kindly requesting its custom-
ers residing in these areas to
support this essential opera-
tion by storing sufficient wa-
ter prior to the disruption and
using water wisely for their
immediate needs during this
shutdown period. regrets any inconvenience For further enquiries, cus- 5777 (Vodafone, Digicel & waf.com.fj
The Water Authority highly caused to its customers. tomers can call 3346777 and Inkk users) or email contact@ WAF

Malolo Businessman
Arrested after Drug Raid
By ANA SOVA

A 47 year old businessman of Malolo,
Nadi was arrested and charged after a
raid conducted by Nadi Police resulted in
the seizure of parcels of dried leaves and
plants later confirmed to be marijuana
on Friday, January 5.
The Fiji Police’s war on drugs contin-
ues to gain momentum as members of
the public show their support in eradicat-
ing the illegal trade from their communi-
ties.
Police Chief of Operations, ACP Rusi-
ate Tudravu said over the last few days
plants have been uprooted, parcels and
sachets of dried leaves seized and mon-
ey believed to have been earned from
the sale of drugs seized from the homes
and farms of suspected dealers.
On Tuesday January 9, a team of offi-
cers from the Eastern Division conducted
an early morning raid at Wailailai Settle-
ment in Naibulini, Wainibuka whereby
they had to cross a river and uproot plants
ranging up to three meters in height.
In the Northern Division information
received led to a raid at the home of 47
year old farmer at Nasavu Settlement
in Bua whereby sachets of substances
wrapped in foil and dried leaves believed
to be marijuana was seized on Monday
afternoon.
In the Southern Division again after in-
formation was received, a team from the
Valelevu Police Station uprooted plants
believed to be marijuana from a home in
Newtown Settlement on Sunday morn-
ing.
ACP Tudravu said these are just some
of the arrests and raids conducted by of-
ficers throughout the four policing divi-
sions.
“Momentum of our war on drugs con-
tinues to intensify as a result of the assis-
tance shown by members of the public
which is very encouraging,” he said.
ACP Tudravu has urged anyone with
information to call Crime Stoppers on
919 or the following Command Centers
if they have any information on the illegal
drug trade;
Western Command Centre – 9905 457
Eastern Command Centre – 9905 563
Southern Command Centre – 9905
529
Northern Command Centre – 9905
722. An officer uproots a marijuana plant from a home in New-
town Settlement. Photo: SUPPLIED.

Re-union Municipal to Deliver Quality

Date Service
Confirmed
By MARIA LAQETA
The Speed dating for Swa-
mi Vivenkananda Ex scholars
Association date is confirmed
on February 10, 7pm, at Sitar
restaurant in Nadi.
Secretary for the event
Shanti Devi said approximate-
ly 120-150 people are targeted
in order to qualify for the
speed dating competition.
“We will put all the names
in a hat and will take out only
20 males and 20 females to
participate in the event,” she
added.
Mrs Devi said more give
a way prizes and lucky door
prices will be given to lucky
people.
“Participants need to spend
$20 for entries this includes
drinks, chaser, entertainment
and entry to participate in
speed dating Competition.
She said day cruises, gift
hampers, hotel vouchers, re-
charge cards and many more
prizes to be won will be dis-
played on the day.
“We look forward to wel-
come sponsors and volun-
teers on board and all funds
raised will be given to the
SVC ex scholars association
and the main objective of the
event is the Reunion for SVC
ex scholars Association.
For reservations of tickets
please email on eventsfj@
gmail.com .
By MARIA LAQETA
High expectations of the
public is for the municipalities
to provide the best and quality
service.
These include Suva,
Nadi, Lautoka, Navua,
Sigatoka,Rakiraki, Labasa, Sa-
vusavu, Nabouwalu and even
outer islands like Taveuni and
Levuka.
The Ministry of Local Gov-
ernment is trying to look into
the matter and continue to
work with all the council Chief
Executive’s to get the best out
of their service delivery.
Permanent Secretary for
Local Government, Joshua
Wycliffe, says the Ministry will
continue to come down hard
on CEO’s of all municipalities Customers at a fresh produce market.Photo: SUPPLIED.
who do not meet the stan-
dards.
“Will closely work together to every city council and Wycliffe told the various ensure quality service is pro-
so what our expectations are its put on paper and we CEO’s that twelve municipal vided.
from the citizenry the people follow up with them on a councils will be provided with
have been made very clear quarterly basis.” resources by the Ministry to

4 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

www.thejetnewspaper.com
Huge Turnout Expected at
Thaipusam Festival
Sri Subramaniya Swami Temple in Nadi Photo: SUPPLIED.
19 Homes in Vunarewa Receive
Electricity
By ANA SOVA
Nineteen homes in Vu-
narewa Settlement in Nadi
received electricity for the first
time on Tuesday, January 9.
The 19 homes in the settle-
ment were assisted through
Government’s Rural Electrifi-
cation Project.
Prime Minister, Voreqe
Bainimarama commissioned
the project bringing years of
relying on diesel generators
and lamps to an end.
In commissioning the proj-
ect Mr. Bainimarama said
though small in size, projects
that empower the country’s
communities make positive
impact on the lives of Fijians.
“When we invest in devel-
opment, like this electrifica-
tion project, we bring Fiji and
the Fijian people close to re-
alising our tremendous poten-
tial as a nation,” Mr. Bainima-
Employment Public
Consultation in Nadi
By ANA SOVA
The Minister for Employ-
ment, Productivity and Indus-
trial Relations, Jone Usamate
held a public consultation at
the Capricorn Hotel in Nadi
on Wednesday, January 10.
The consultations were on
Fiji’s first Draft National Em-
ployment Policy for Employ-
ers, Workers, Students, Teach-
ers and Key Stakeholders and
the Public for the Western.
Stakeholders and mem-
bers of the public had the op-
portunity to raise issues and
suggestions on the Draft Na-
tional Employment Policy.
The Draft policy is to iden-
tify and implement ways on
rama said.
““Of course, we have the
big projects, the roads, bridg-
es, jetties, and even the new
airport here in Nadi – but it’s
these small projects as well
that make a real difference
in the lives of our people and
every step we take, no matter
how small, is part of our great
journey forward as a nation.”
He said investing in in-
frastructure and expanding
access to services, such as
electric power, the Govern-
ment gives ordinary Fijians
the chance to be everything
they are capable of being, as
citizens, students, parents and
providers.
employment in Fiji in line
with our National Develop-
ment Plan Development Goal
8, which is ‘inclusive and sus-
tainable economy and decent
work for all.
The interactive sessions
with hoteliers, construction
companies, youths and the
vanua who were present
today allowed the ministry
and the attendees to further
gain knowledge on the policy
which would form the nucle-
us for the Fijian workforce.
“This stakeholder aware-
ness and consultation is criti-
cal in order to discuss issues,
gaps, opportunities on the
Residents of Vunarewa Settlement pictured during the electrification of their homes on Tuesday. Photo: DEPTFO.
Policy before its endorsement
and implementation,” Minis-
ter Usamate said.
“This policy allows the
unemployed to choose freely
their employment preferenc-
es, whether to join the formal
employment service or self-
employment service, foreign
employment service or to
become a volunteer includ-
ing becoming a professional
sports person.”
The Policy is a result of
robust analysis and consulta-
tions around the country and
aims to enhance the dynam-
ics of the labour market.
By ANA SOVA
A huge turnout is expected
at the Sri Siva Subramaniya
Swami temple in Nadi for this
year’s Vaarshika Thaipusam
Thirunaal Festival which will
be held from January 25 to
February 4.
Temple Treasurer, Anand
Kumar said they are get-
ting extra water tanks for the
pooja as a very high number
of devotees are expected at
the 10-day festival.
History
Thaipusam celebrates
the birth anniversary of Lord
Murugan, also referred as
Subramanium, the youngest
son of Lord Shiva and God-
dess Parvati. The festival also
memorializes the mythologi-
cal tale when Lord Murugan
vanquishes the evil demon
Soorapadman with a vel
(lance). The Thaipusam festi-
val is celebrated for ten days,
starting the day of the full
moon. Thousands of devotees
gather in temples to prove
their devotion to the Lord.
According to Skanda Pura-
nam, the legend of Murugan,
and Thirupugal are divine
verses on Murugan, adhere to
Shaivam principles. Murugan
Members of the Nadi community attending the Ministry of Employment Public Consultation
on Draft and National Employment Policy. Photo: SUPPLIED.
THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
is the embodiment of Shiva’s
light and wisdom. Devotees
pray to him to overcome ob-
stacles and vanquish evil. The
motive of Thaipusam festival
is to pray to God and receive
his grace so that bad traits are
destroyed.
Celebrations of Thaipusam
Thaipusam is a major cele-
bration for the Tamil commu-
nity. It is celebrated in many
places in South India and
South East Asia, wherever the
Tamil community has their
roots.
Thaipusam is celebrated
with great excitement in the
town of Palani in Tamil Nadu.
Thousands of devotees flock
to the holy town, especially
to the Temple of Palani during
the annual Thaipusam Festi-
val.
Devotees prepare for the
festival by spiritual cleansing
themselves through prayer
and fasting for approximately
48 days.
On the day of the festival,
devotees shave their heads,
and set out for the pilgrimage
along a set route while engag-
ing themselves in various acts
of religious observance, espe-
www.scribd.com/thejet
cially carrying different types
of kavadi (burdens).
Some devotes simply carry
a pot of milk as a kavadi, some
carry burdens on the flesh by
piercing the skin, tongue or
cheeks with vel skewers.
One of the hardest pen-
ance and one the most amaz-
ing practice in the festival is
the vel Kavadi.
The vel kavadi is a portable
altar about two meters tall,
adorned with peacock feath-
ers and attached to the devo-
tee’s body through 108 vels
pierced into the skin on the
chest and at back. The devo-
tees get into a trance like situ-
ation in devotion to the Lord.
They do not feel any pain,
nor do they bleed from their
wounds and also even no
scars are left behind. Fire
walking and whipping are
also practiced to prove the
devotion by the pilgrims dur-
ing the Thaipusam.
The Thaipusam festival is
the celebration of the utmost
devotion to the Lord Murugan.
Attend the festival to revel in
divine bliss.
5
www.thejetnewspaper.com www.scribd.com/thejet

Spa Academy Graduation 2017

By MARIA LAQETA

The Spa Academy Fiji has industry whilst impacting the

bright future for local fashion
and designers.
This happened after twen-
ty students recently graduated
with bright future in the tour-
ism industry.
Not only that it also cel-
ebrating its 19th Ceremony at
the Tanoa Hotel in Nadi.
Fiji Higher Education
Commission Director Linda
Aumua said it was a special
event with the Academy in
its second year as an Inter-
national CIDESCO accredited
Institute, having all students
passed and guaranteed em-
ployment.
Spa Academy Director
Principal Debra Sadranu said
The Academy is proud to be
facilitating this high demand
livelihood of women.
“Spa Tourism is the sec-
ond largest foreign exchange
earner outside of Hotel ac-
commodation and standards
such as CIDESCO Internation-
al provide a platform for Fiji to
showcase Spa Tourism on a
global level,” she added.
The CIDESCO qualifica-
tion she said it enables gradu-
ates to work anywhere in the
world and endorses Fiji as a
nation that offers quality train-
ing at an International level.
Meanwhile, distinguished
guests were Jennifer Savan-
nah of CIDESCO who present-
ed CIDESCO awards and the
representative of Australian
Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade Leanne Robinson.
The Spa Academy Fiji Graduates. Photo: SUPPLIED.

Hoof Trimming Course

in Sabeto
By ANA SOVA

Animals Fiji, a registered major issues for horses in Fiji

Fiji and US charity with a fo-
cus on animal welfare, will
be hosting a Hoof Training
Course at the Aviva Farm in
Sabeto, Nadi from the 17th
-21st of January.
The course will be facili-
tated by Veteran Trimmer and
Instructor, Lizzie Maundrell
from New Zealand.
Animals Fiji Co-Founder &
Managing Trustee, Casey Qui-
mby said since 2011, they we
have pursued the improve-
ment of the lives and health
care of animals in Fiji, which
in turn improves the lives of
humans.
“Over the years we have
worked with various hoof
trimmers and ferries with
great success and interest
from the public. If a horse is
looked after well and healthy,
it will be able to take its owner
further and do more work for
them,” she said.
Casey said for the last six
years they have found the
are: saddle sores, rain rot/skin
issues, mouth issues from
improper bits, and one of the
largest issues is hoof care.
“Recently, at the Sabeto
Horse Races, these issues
were brought to our attention
yet again. Then in November
horse owner, Sharlene Mer-
cer, said that she had a very
experienced hoof trimmer
contact in New Zealand and
suggested we set up a one
week course. Thus, our Hoof
Trimming course was born,”
she adds.
The objective of the course
is to give Fiji horse owners the
correct basic training in natu-
ral hoof trimming.
Casey revealed currently,
there is no certified Fijian Fer-
rier or Hoof Trimmer that they
know of.
“This course will give the
basic on healthy and un-
healthy hooves, how to trim,
basic horsemanship, lame
prevention, basic healthy and
Hoof Trimming. Photo: GOOGLE.
first aid and an opportunity to
learn in a small group from
an overseas expert in the
field, asking questions as they
learn,” she said.
Casey said they are looking
at a maximum of 10 people
to participate in the course to
ensure ample amount of one-
on-one time with the course
facilitator.
“We are already half way
there, with applicants com-
ing in more over the last 24
hours since sharing it all over
Facebook. So, space is still
available, but get in quickly.
And we have plenty of space
for the one day seminar,” she
said.
Casey said they are thank-
ful to AVIA farms for donat-
ing the space and help from
Fiji Airways in getting Lizzie
Maundrell to Fiji.
Casey said as is the Gov-
ernment’s stance on public
health, Animals Fiji believes
in the One-Health policy ad-
opted by the World Health Or-
ganization (WHO). Horse riding. Photo: SUPPLIED.
“It basically states if we
have healthy animals, we can humanely and safely use said.
will have healthy humans are animals to help us with things
diseases can be passed be- like transport it improves our,
tween them—but also if we humans, quality of life,” she

Ministry of Waterways and 11

Municipal Councils Sign MOA
By ANA SOVA
The Ministry of Water-
ways signed Memorandum
of Agreements (MOA) with
11 municipal councils for
disbursement of grants for
drainage maintenance works
within their boundaries.
While speaking at the sign-
ing in Suva on Wednesday,
January 10, Minister for Wa-
terways Hon. Dr Mahendra
Reddy said Government was
committed to addressing
drainage issues within towns
and cities boundaries.
In the 2017 – 2018 budget,
a provision of $1.32 million
was made to carryout drain-
age maintenance in munici-
palities around the country.
“These grant funds are
shared among 11 town and
city councils for maintenance
of drainage activities as per Nasinu Town Council chief executive officer Mr Lute Berends signs the MOA for drainage maintenance works while Minister for Waterways Hon. Dr Mahendra
submission from municipal Reddy and PS Mr Yogesh Karan look on. Photo: SUPPLIED.
councils and clearance by the
Local Government Ministry,” to timely submission of quar- improve its efficiency and ef- $476,000 Lautoka City Council - Labasa Town Council -
Minister Reddy said. terly acquittal reports from re- fectiveness as required by the Nausori Town Council - $40,000 $48,400
Minister Reddy reminded spective municipal councils”. Government,” he added. $80,847 Ba Town Council - $32,300 Savusavu Town Council -
the special administrators “The municipal council Grant disbursement to the Sigatoka Town Council - Tavua Town Council - $12, $21, 954.11
and chief executive officers must utilise the grant as effi- municipal councils is as fol- $32,201 290 Levuka Town Council -
that “the grant will be paid in ciently and effectively as pos- lows: Nadi Town Council - Rakiraki Town Council - $15,000
quarterly instalments subject sible and must take action to Nasinu Town Council - $352,000 $212,000
6 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
www.thejetnewspaper.com
Naitasiri OFFICERS REMINDED
Farmers TO WORK HARD
Plead
Agriculture
Assistance
By MARIA LAQETA
Growing demands from
rural farmers especially in
the Naitasiri province in need
of agriculture assistance for
crops and livestock manage-
ment.
To assists the matter, the
Minister of Agriculture Honor-
able Inia Seruiratu during one
of the ministry official visits to
the province, it has been iden-
tified that there has been a
shortage of staff as the need is
urgent in order to cater for the
growing demands from Naita-
siri farmers.
Mr Seruiratu commented
that the ministry is attentive of
the shortage and Suva officers
are currently working around
Special Cane
Payment
By ANA SOVA
A special and final cane
payment was made to sug-
arcane growers who deliv-
ered cane in 2016 crop year,
of $3.05 per tonne by the Fiji
Sugar Cooperation (FSC) on
January 12.
This is the final cane pay-
ment in respect of the 2016
season crop.
In a statement released by
FSC it said the final cane price
payable for the 2016 season
(including this top-up) will
thus increase to $82 per tonne
compared to $76.66 per tonne
in 2015 season.
“This special 2016 cane
top-up payment is further sup-
port for cane farmers flowing
from the ongoing commit-
ment assured by the Hon.
Prime Minister and Minister of
i-Taukei Affairs, Sugar Industry
and Foreign Affairs, Rear Ad-
miral (Retired) Josaia Baini-
marama,”
“The payment is in line
with the announcement in
October last year, of a final
special cane payment to
growers for the 2016 crop, to
be paid out before the school
term in January 2018. There
will be no deductions from
this special cane payment.”
All payments will be dis-
bursed directly to growers, ei-
ther by cheque or directly into
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the clock to address the issue.
“I know that we have some
HR issues and logistics and
also support as well, the team
is here and we will definitely
look into it, right now the
team in Suva is already pre-
paring outstanding issues.
The minister commented
that this is one of the Perma-
nent Secretary priorities to
catch up on some of the out-
standing issues.”
The ministry is working
towards modernizing the
ministry by going out to the
field to hear from officers and
farmers besides the ministry
currently touring the Western
division this week.
their bank accounts.
The statement also re-
vealed that growers, who
have existing crop liens with
the Sugar Cane Growers’
Fund, will be paid (free of
deductions) via the grower’s
fund, who will make the de-
posits directly into the grower
bank accounts. Growers’
statements from FSC will in-
dicate this where applicable.
FSC reiterated that sup-
port for cane farmers remains
significant under all programs
initiated by the Prime Minis-
ter Bainimarama through the
Ministry of Sugar Industry.
“It is particularly pleasing
to note the ongoing positive
results becoming evident
from the material increase in
the area planted; supported
by the cane planting grant
system, as well as the mean-
ingful uplift in fertilizer and
weedicide application facili-
tated by these two additional
support programs.,”
“Repairs to cane access
roads, funded by the Ministry
of Sugar Industry, will be on-
going to ease cane deliveries
from farmers in the 2018 sea-
son.”
FSC has also extended its
best wishes to all school chil-
dren for the start of the new
school year.
Officers of the Fiji Corrections Service pictured during a parade at Naboro Complex.:Photo: FIJI CORRECTIONS SERVICE.
The hard work starts now,
says Commander Kean
These were the parting
words of the Commissioner
of Corrections, Commander
Francis Kean to the 88 officers
who were promoted during
the final Commissioner’s Pa-
rade for 2017 at the Naboro
Complex on Thursday, 21 De-
cember, 17.
“The expectations from
those above you and below
will be high for you to perform
your duties diligently and hon-
estly at all times and every
time.
“Our roles for Security and
Safety and Through Care, of
the men and women under
our care is paramount.
“You must not give an op-
portunity or laxity and negli-
gence creeping into the per-
formance of our daily work,
it’s very important that you
remain focused and that you
Fiji Bureau of Statistics
Releases 2017 census results
By ANA SOVA
The Fiji Bureau of Statis-
tics has completed the 2017
Census and has published de-
tailed and updated statistics
on Fiji’s population and popu-
lation distribution by age, sex
and geographical location.
The Census also contain sta-
tistics on unemployment, fi-
nancial inclusion and other
demographic categories.
Key highlights from the
available statistics are as fol-
lows:
• Fiji’s total population
stands at 884,887 compared
to 837,271 in the 2007 census.
This is an increase of 47,616
or 5.7 per cent. The average
annual population growth is
0.6 per cent, due to low birth
rates and out migration.
• The median age of
population is 27.5 years. This
means that half of our popu-
lation is below the age of 27.5
years.
• 69 per cent of Fiji’s
population is below the age
of 40.
• Men make up 50.7
per cent of the population
while women make up 49.3
percent. While the proportion
of males was higher below
the age of 59 years, the female
population was higher in the
remain true, and that you re-
main honest in the delivery of
correctional services.
The hard line by Com-
mander Kean was in response
to the two cases of collusion
experienced in the institutions
in the recent week.
“The two col¬lusion cases
in the past week – one in Nadi
and the other at Naboro – has
tarnished the image of the
in¬stitution,’’ Commander
Kean said.
In one case, money was
promised to an officer but
only a small portion paid out
to him then promised while in
another case a mobile phone
was passed on to an inmate.
The offic¬ers’ involved
in both cases have since lost
their jobs and are now in the
hands of the Police.
Commander Kean said
to collude with inmates was
dangerous be¬cause it put
age groups above 60, indicat-
ing greater female longevity.
• 55.9 percent of Fiji’s
population reside in urban
areas, an increase from 50.7
percent in 2007. The urban
population stood at 494,252,
an increase of 69,406 (16.3%)
from 2007. This is attributed
to extension of town boundar-
ies and also due to movement
of people from rural to urban
areas.
• 44.1 percent of Fiji’s
population reside in rural ar-
eas, down from 49.3 percent
in 2007. Rural population
stood at 390,635, a decline of
21,790 (5.3%) from 2007.
• Unemployment rate
was down to 4.5 percent, the
lowest recorded in 20 years.
This is lower than the 5.5
percent unemployment rate
estimated from the 2015-2016
Employment and Unemploy-
ment Survey.
• The Labour Force
Participation Rate (labour
force/ population aged over
15 years) is 57.1 per cent.
• 62.7 per cent of the
population aged 15 years and
older reported to having bank
account. This represents a to-
tal of 392,148 individuals.
• 13.7 percent of popu-
THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
them in a position of advan-
tage if their demands were
not met.
“They can report you if
their demands are not met,”
he adds.
He added that those in po-
sitions of leadership must al-
ways attend to the welfare of
their men and women. “This
is very important – it is not an
easy job being an officer.”
He mentioned that their
role was 3-pronged – one to
those under their care, one to
the men and women under
their supervision, and the de-
livery of services to the Gov-
ernment and citizens of our
country.
“I want to take this op-
portunity to thank all of you, I
have been to the North, I have
been to the West thanking
the officers for the work you
have undertaken through-
out the last 11 months and in
Fijian children. Photo: GOOGLE.
lation aged three and above
reported at least one function-
ing challenge (disability). The
international benchmark is 15
percent.
In publishing the available
statistics, the Government
Statistician thanked all those
involved in conducting the
2017 Census and compiling
the statistical information.
“Thank you to the Fiji Bu-
reau of Statistics, the enu-
meration team, our develop-
ment partners and the general
public for supporting the 2017
Census and for contributing
toward this important national
www.scribd.com/thejet
our financial year of the last 6
months.
“It is a good time for us to
stand still and take stock of
our performance individu-
ally and as an organization
to identify the gaps that need
to be plugged, to identify the
weaknesses that need to be
strengthened.”
Cmdre Kean also remind-
ed all of the sermon delivered
by Chaplain Rev. Josefa Tiko-
natabua at the family church
service – to always remember
your families.
“This is the time to be still,
and spend quality time with
your family during this festive
season. Our families should
always be at the forefront of
whatever we do.”
FIJI CORRECTIONS
SERVICES
exercise. We hope the statisti-
cal information provided goes
a long way in helping the Fi-
jian Government formulate
and implement policies that
have the greatest possible
impact for Fiji and the Fijian
people,” he said.
Full information on the
available statistics can be
found at www.statsfiji.gov.
fj. Other information from
the census is still being com-
piled and will be released
progressively over the coming
months.
7
www.thejetnewspaper.com www.scribd.com/thejet

Outgoing
Ambassador
Seong-In
Receives Award
By ANA SOVA
Outgoing Ambassador of
the Republic of Korea to Fiji
His Excellency Kim Seong-In
was presented the Order of
Fiji Award by His Excellen-
cy, President Major General
(Ret’d) Jioji Konrote, during a
special investiture ceremony
held at Borron House in Suva
on 5 January.
Outgoing Korean Ambassodor presented Order of Fiji Award byPresident Jioji Konrote. Pho- President Konrote ac-
to: DEPTFO. knowledged Mr Seong’s ef-
forts in enhancing the re-
lations between the two
countries.
“Fiji considers itself very
fortunate to have a close part-
nership with Korea and we
are keen to enhance our re-
lations and bilateral coopera-
tion,” President Konrote said.
The head of state also ac-
knowledged Korea’s assis-
tance towards the construc-
tion of the Biomass facility
in Sigatoka that will help Fiji
towards achieving the elec-
tricity target of achieving one
hundred percent renewable
energy by 2030.
The investiture ceremony
was attended by the Minister
for Defence and National Se-
curity Ratu Inoke Kubuabola
and other government repre-
sentatives.

Water Disruption Fijians Have Visa

Notice- Nasinu/ Free Entry into
Tacirua Argentina
By MARIA LAQETA
The Water Authority of Fiji
(WAF) is advising its custom-
ers living in elevated areas of
Nasinu and Tacirua will be
facing water disruptions until
Friday this week.
Thus, the interruption in
supply is a result of a failure
in a raw water pump at Waila
Water Intake.
With areas affected in-
clude; Tovata, Tuirara area,
Makoi, Davuilevu, Nakasi Ka-
labu, Wakanisila, Valelevu,
Delaitokatoka, Rewa Delta,
Nadera,Kinoya,Laucala
Beach Estate, Vatuwaqa,
Grantham area, Nagatugatu,
Tacirua, Dokanaisuva, Colo-
i-Suva, Tamavua village, Up-
per Ragg Avenue and Loloma
street.
Customers advised its cus-
tomers residing in the areas
enlisted above to consume
water wisely for immediate
needs.
Meanwhile, Water carts
will be on standby to service
the affected areas when the
need arises and supply is
expected to be gradually re-
stored on the same day in the
evening.
The Authority deeply
apologises for any inconve-
nience that this disruption
may cause.
For further enquiries, cus-
tomers can call 3346777 and
5777 (Vodafone, Digicel &
Inkk users) or email contact@
waf.com.fj
Fiji and Argentina have enjoyed over 40
years of diplomatic relations and to mark this
growing relationship both countries signed the
“Agreement on Waiver of Transitory Visas for
Holders of Ordinary Passport”, on 22nd Sep-
tember, 2017.
Following the signing, both countries have
completed all domestic processes and proce-
dures and the Agreement will come into effect
on 10th January 2018.
Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
Ioane Naivalurua said “the visa free entry of
Fijians into Argentina and vice versa will en-
courage increase in opportunities for trade,
investment, sports particularly rugby and tour-
ism”.
“The visa free entry into Argentina will en-
courage Fijian businesses to explore possibili-
people-to-people relationship.
“The visa free entry into Argentina is anoth-
er milestone achievement for the Fijian Gov-
ernment and further strengthens Fiji – Argen-
tina bilateral relationship and enhances Fiji’s
foreign policy to reach out to all the all corners
of the world and consolidate on Fiji’s position
as the hub of the Pacific.”
Mr Naivalurua also thanked the Argentine
Government for their support and cooperation
in opening their borders to Fijians.
Argentine Ambassador to Fiji His Excellency
Hugo Javier Gobbi stated, “It is the first bilateral
agreement and shows the recent development
in our bilateral relations. The agreement cre-
ates stronger bonds of friendship between the
two countries and provides further opportuni-
ties for tourism, trade and investments.”

Peace Corps
ties for expanding business and trade to South
America. This will also encourage visits by
sporting teams and tourism activities between
both countries thus, solidifying cultural and
Fijians wishing to travel to Buenos Aires, Ar-
gentina, could easily connect from Auckland,
New Zealand.
DEPTFO

Volunteers Attend Agriculture Minister

Award Leader’ Trainig
Meets Farmers in the
West
By ANA SOVA

Nine Peace Corps volun-

teers underwent Award Lead-
ers’ training to offer Duke
of Edinburgh International
Award (DEIA) Program to
young Fijians in various parts
of the Western Division.
The training was facili-
tated by the Ministry of Youth
and Sports staff and Sara
Conklin, a Peace Corps Vol-
unteer based at the Western
Division office.
The main objective of the
training was to register Peace
Corps Volunteer as Award
Leaders and to promote DEIA
to youth clubs, schools and
communities.
The Minister for Youth and
Sports, Hon. Laisenia Tuitu-
bou, welcomed the training
and encouraged youths to
actively participate in the pro-
gram.
“It is very encouraging to
see the Peace Corps Volun-
teers attending the Award
Leaders’ training,” Minister
Tuitubou said. “This will ex-
tend opportunities to as many
eligible Fijian youths to par-
ticipate in this program.”
“We have recently award-
ed the first special school
and a youth club with bronze
medal awards in the North-
ern Division and I hope to see
Peace Corp Volunteers with Ministry of Youth and Sports staff
after the training programme. Photo: SUPPLIED.
many other schools, youth
clubs and individuals being
part of this wonderful inclu-
sive non-formal education
program across all Divisions.”
One of the Peace Corps
Volunteers and a participant
during the Award Leaders’
training, Anisha Banerjee
said “I think that the Duke of
Edinburgh program is really
important because it encour-
ages the development of re-
ally well-rounded youth.
“It gets them to look at a
lot of different areas of their
life and develop their skills in
a lot of different areas. I really
like that it gives room for artis-
tic expression. I think there is
a lot to be said for ‘hands-on’
learning experience outside
of the classroom.”
Another participant, Blake
Covington, said “I think DEIA
is very beneficial for youth
for many reasons, but the
most important is that it al-
lows them to experience, in
a structured environment,
many different activities and
skill sets”.
By ANA SOVA
The Minister for Agri-
culture, Rural and Maritime
Development and National
Disaster Management and
Meteorological Services, Inia
Seruiratu has begun his visit
to the Western Division, a
continuation from the Cen-
tral Division Tour last week to
farmers and stakeholders.
Minister Seruiratu is ac-
companied by senior officials
of the Ministry of Agriculture.
During the three-day visit,
Seruiratu will be briefed on
agricultural progress taking
place in the Western Division.
The Tour includes visita-
tions to farmers as well as
agriculture stations of the Min-
istry.
“The main aim of the visit
is to monitor the progress of
the agriculture sector particu-
larly the implementations for
this financial year. We have to
ensure funds are well utilised
and the implementation rate
is also on par with the expec-
tations of Government,” Seru-
iratu said.
He said that the visit will
also assist the Ministry to pre-
pare for the next budget.
“The Ministry is prepar-
ing for the next financial year.
The Agriculture allocation has
been increased significantly
over the past years and we
hope the trend continues.”
The first day of the min-
isterial visit included the
visitation to cocoa farmers
in Wainibuka and Ra, yam
farmer of Burenitu, Banana
and Organic ginger farmers of
Nubumakita, Pineapple and
livestock farmers of Rakiraki.
“Our stakeholders are very
important namely the farm-
ers, processors and exporters
and the local communities.
We need to listen to them and
issues that needs the attention
of the Ministry and we need to
maintain this linkage with our
stakeholders.”
Seruiratu added that there
has been positive indica-
tion on the ground based on
production and most of the
Ministry assistance programs
have created an impact that
the Ministry and Government
wants to achieve.
“The Ministry therefore
wants to plan early in terms of
preparing for the next finan-
cial year which is important
and of course the seizure of
opportunities for the growth
of the agriculture sector to-
gether with the nutrition well-
being of the people of Fiji.”
Cocoa farmer of Navuniivi,
Nakorotubu in Ra, Josefa Qio-
kata said he is grateful for the
Ministerial visit.
“I am thankful that we are
not neglected as we farm in
far places and we know that
there is hope in farming and
the commodity we have cho-
sen and today’s visit is a posi-
tive feedback of the relation-
ship we have,” Qiokata said.
The visit will continue to
farmers, exporters and stake-
holders in Ba, Tavua and Lau-
toka and will conclude later
this week.

8 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

www.thejetnewspaper.com
Even the iPhone’s
Designer is Worried
about Phone Addiction
Apple is catching heat
about the iPhone from an un-
likely source: the phone’s co-
creator.
Tony Fadell, a former Ap-
ple executive who designed
the iPod and iPhone, echoed
recent criticism from major
Apple investors: The iPhone is
causing detrimental effects on
children and teenagers.
Fadell tweeted in that “de-
vice addiction” is real and
Silicon Valley has to fix it, re-
sponding to the Wall Street
Journal story about the inves-
tors’ complaints.
“We need to control our
own environment & we need
information. Step 1: We need
to know where the line is and
when we’ve crossed over to
addiction. Step 2: We need
our ongoing usage habits re-
flected back to us,” Fadell
tweeted. “Our smartphone
‘bottle’ needs to tell us we’ve
had enough.”
He continued that Google,
Facebook and Twitter have
“gotten so good at getting us
to go for another click, an-
other dopamine hit. They now
have a responsibility & need
to start helping us track &
manage our digital addictions
across all usages - phone, lap-
top, TV etc.”
Fadell also said that gov-
ernment regulations might be
needed if these companies
Oprah Winfrey vs
Donald Trump in
2020: A Mudslinging
Match for the Ages
Donald Trump vs Oprah
Winfrey in 2020 would be
an all-out war for the White
House, a battle of the bil-
lionaires, the clash of the TV
titans, a mudslinging match
for the ages. And America is
salivating at the prospect.
Democrats are energised,
believing Ms Winfrey would
have the star power to beat Mr
Trump. But Mr Trump himself
remains confident, dismis-
PNG Volcano: Tsunami
Warning for
Communities
Living Near Erupting
Kadovar Island
Authorities in Papua New
Guinea have warned people
living near the Kadovar Island
volcano to prepare for the
worst, with fears an eruption
there could trigger a tsunami.
The entire landmass of Ka-
dovar Island is essentially just
the 365-metre-tall volcano, sit-
ting off PNG’s north coast.
Video taken during an aeri-
al assessment of the island on
Saturday showed a spectacu-
lar plume of smoke and ash
iPHONE displayed.Photo: SUPPLIED.
“don’t step up.”
Fadell finished his tweet-
storm demanding that it’s
time for Silicon Valley to act.
“Screen time rules, living
in the moment, screen-free
meals, relearning analog
objects like books & writing
& sketching, tech-free days
for the family to be together.
(And yes it’s ironic I’m tweet-
ing this...) :)” Fadell tweeted.
Can algorithms help kick
addiction?
Two of Apple’s biggest
sively saying: “Yeah, I can beat
Oprah.”
He is probably already
thinking about a nickname
for her - perhaps “Overrated
Oprah”. Or maybe “Doprah”.
Here we look at how the
contest, should it happen,
might unfold.
Securing the Democratic
nomination for 2020
This would be Ms Win-
frey’s first hurdle and she is
billowing from its dome.
Ricky Wobar, the District
Administrator for Wewak —
the largest town on the main-
land — was in the plane.
“The volcano was blowing
out ashes, very thick ashes …
It started on Friday around 11
o’clock,” he said.
“The volcano smoke was
very thick, and ashes were
thrown out from the volcano.
There was no actual lava but
only thick ashes and smoke.”
investors, California State
Teachers’ Retirement System
and Jana Partners, said smart-
phones are leading to insuf-
ficient sleep, a higher risk of
depression and suicide. The
investors own about $2 billion
in Apple stock between them.
In a statement, Apple
(AAPL) said it has a “long
history” of parental controls.
“We have new features and
enhancements planned for
the future, to add functional-
ity and make these tools even
by no means a shoo-in amid
what is expected to be a huge
Democratic field.
The early favourite is Ber-
nie Sanders, who was van-
quished by Hillary Clinton in
2016. And then there is Joe
Biden, the former vice presi-
dent who wants to run, and
the.
VARIETY.COM
Mr Wobar said the nearly
700 people who live on the is-
land took it upon themselves
to evacuate, paddling to near-
by Ruprup island.
“If there wasn’t any initia-
tive by boat, there would have
been a very serious disaster,”
he said.
“They were also using
small canoes, paddling across
to Ruprup. There was a ba-
nana boat but no engine.”
ABC NEWS
more robust,” it added.
“We think deeply about
how our products are used
and the impact they have on
users and the people around
them,” Apple said in a state-
ment. “We take this respon-
sibility very seriously and we
are committed to meeting
and exceeding our custom-
ers’ expectations, especially
when it comes to protecting
kids.”
CNN
Hundreds of villagers have evacuated from Kadovar island,paddling to a nearby island.
Photo: SUPPLIED.
THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Sony’s Robot
Dog has Learned
New Tricks
Sony robotic robot dog.Photo: SUPPLIED.
Sony’s iconic robotic dog
Aibo can now dance, find a
bone and recognize people in
your family.
The Japanese electronics
company showed off Aibo’s
new tricks at CES 2018 in Las
Vegas this week.
The revamped version of
the robotic dog, which Sony
first launched in the 1990s,
costs ¥198,000 (about $1,740).
Pre-orders began in Novem-
ber, and it will start shipping in
Japan next week.
Sony hasn’t said when it
might become available in
other countries.
Related: CES 2018 kicks off
with oddball gadgets
Aibo drew big crowds at
CES, with fans and media ea-
ger to see the latest version of
the robotic puppy.
Sony (SNE) has made a
slew of upgrades to Aibo. Un-
like previous models, it has
OLED eyes, which make it
look more realistic and dis-
play more nuanced expres-
sions.
Aibo is outfitted with new
artificial intelligence capa-
www.scribd.com/thejet
bilities, such as developing its
own personality over time. It
has facial recognition so it can
detect different members of
your family and can tell peo-
ple apart from an object like
a bone. If someone in your
house pets Aibo the most, it
will interact with them the
most.
The main camera is locat-
ed in the nose and it has touch
sensors on the top of its head,
chin and back. Sony also says
its movements are more dog-
like and realistic -- for exam-
ple, its head shakes.
It can do fun tricks like find
a ball or bone, lay down or
give a high-five. For now, Aibo
understands English and Jap-
anese, but more languages
are coming soon.
Sony says Aibo’s main pur-
pose right now is to be a com-
panion robot. However, since
it has an accompanying app,
it could eventually be a com-
petitor to smart speaker de-
vices like Amazon’s (AMZN)
Echo and Google’s (GOOGL)
Home.
CNN
9
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10 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

www.thejetnewspaper.com www.scribd.com/thejet

Hard Working Work Hard

Devi
for a Living
By MARIA LAQETA

Devi’s sweets being sold near the Nadi bus stand.Photo: SUPPLIED.
By MARIA LAQETA
Selling for a living is not easy for Savita Devi
aged 43 years old of Navu, Nadi, who has been
in the industry for almost sixteen years.
With nurture of business blood runs to
her veins, owning a bean cart and selling
sweets beside Nadi bus stop, is nothing to be
ashamed off.
Outspoken Devi is happily married to Ka-
mlesh Kumar of Nawaicoba, Nadi and have
two grown up children who both are tertiary
students believed in hardwork and patience.
“In the last sixteen years, selling is not the
problem because cost of living is not so ex-
pensive compared nowadays people need to
work hard and struggle in order to survive,”
she added.
“Actually this business is under my hus-
band’s name so we decided to split role in
our family, he worked as a sugarcane cutter
whereas my responsibility is to sell sweets ev-
ery day,” she added.
Devi said money earned on the day she
needs to buy ingredients for tomorrow sweets
which nowadays is very expensive because of
rising cost of living while her husband has to
look after the family welfare.
“Also the changing of weather patterns
also play major role in selling my sweets,
this is when it’s very hot season in the town,
people minimized buying sweets because of
oily ingredients added onto the product and
is consumed it sweets tastes different” she
added.
Another Major barrier she faced as a seller,
is that there are a lot of people selling similar
sweets as her and competition in the market
arises in the Jet set town.
But good news to Devi, during festivals like
Diwali and Eid, not forgetting major Rugby
and Soccer tournaments it pulls the crowd to
buy from her.
“I usually earned enough for the family
during those seasons,” she added.
Devi’s dream is for her children to secure
bright future and good job.
Nothing is impossible
when Christ is the centre of
someone’s life.
Those were the words of
Miriama Kaliniyaba, a 21 year
old of Sanasana village, Siga-
toka.
Miri, she preferred to be
called, is the only child to Meli
Nasau, aged 50, hailed from
Malevu village in the Yasawa
island and Sainiana Naimawi
aged 48 of Soso village, Ka-
davu.
All children born and bred
do expect their parents to live
happily ever after but it wasn’t
for Miri’s case.
“My life change when I was
5years old and my grand par-
ent’s was given a major role in
nurturing me,” she said.
Outspoken Miri believed
even though her grandpar- Miriama Kaliniyaba age 21 years olf of Sanasana village,Nadi.
ents are in their late 60s they Photo: SUPPLIED.
managed to look after her and
taught her their faith which ies at Rhamtulla Khan Me- International Tourism Hospi-
she believed it has positive morial School for year 5 and tality Institute in Lautoka as a
impact to her now days. 6 then moved back to Drasa house keeping student.
To some point in life, sepa- primary school to continue She managed to get gradu-
rating her parents from her is to do my year 7 and 8 then ated at the institute and se-
a challenge to Miri. year 9 and ten I attended cured a work at Natadola Golf
On the other hand, she de- Drasa secondary school then course as a food and bever-
cided to grasp and learn more completes year 11 and 12 at ages staff for 6 months not un-
as she could in order to reach Lomawai secondary school,” til last year December she left
her destiny. she said. the company and joined the
Miri’s journey continued Thus, for Miri to complete Shan’s Trading Company as a
after she left the village then her studies and be somebody Sales representatives.
she moved back to her family in life she kept her promise. She advises young peo-
in Sigatoka to attend school. Her hard work paids off ple; no matter how hard life
She managed to attended after she successfully attained was, keep trying until destiny
Drasa primary school as year good marks and she pursu- reached.
one until four. ing her studies at ServicePro
“Then I continue my stud-

FEO Introduces Fiji’s Doton Roars Change!

First Voter Education
Curriculum

Students recieving curriculum materials on an elections for year 10 students. Photo: SUP-
PLIED. Members of the Ba community attending the diabetes Awareness Camoaign conducted by Li-
ons Club of Ba. Photo: VODAFONE ATH.

The Attorney-General and empowered. The 2-week course book

Minister for Education, Hon.
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum today
officiated at the handing over
of curriculum materials on an
election for Year 10 students.
The education materials
- School Curriculum: Intro-
duction to Elections: A Learn-
ing Module for Year 10 Social
Science Students – were de-
veloped as part of the Fijian
Elections Office (FEO) voter
education programme.
While officiating at the
handing over of the voter edu-
cation materials in Suva, the
AG said Fiji had a very young
population who need to be
“The recent census figures
reveal that half of our popula-
tion is below the age of 27.5
years which means they need
to be empowered. They need
to be made aware of the dem-
ocratic processes that lead to
them being governed by dif-
ferent political parties. This is
a great source of empower-
ment for them,” the AG said.
The curriculum materials
include a textbook, a teach-
ers manual, a mock election
kit of a different design, and
a full time dedicated website
for the voter education pro-
gramme.
developed by the FEO con-
sists of five lessons, which
culminates with a mock elec-
tion.
The FEO has printed 20,000
copies of student workbooks
to be given to Year 10 Social
Science students from Term
One this year.
The office will also be giv-
ing each school a ballot box,
ballot papers and a voting
screen. Students will carry out
seat allocation.
Approximately 40,000 bal-
lot papers have been printed.
DEPTFO
The Lions Club of Ba con-
ducted Diabetes Awareness
Campaign on the 1st of De-
cember 2017 at the Adam’s
Triangle, Ba town under the
sponsorship of Vodafone ATH
Foundation and with the col-
laboration of the Ministry of
Health – Ba Mission Hospital
staff.
The total number of people
seen was 152. Majority of the
people screened were known
diabetics, some have missed
attending special diabetes
clinics for some time and
have ran out of medications.
About 3 – 5 people screened
THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
were non-diabetics but had
random blood sugar higher
than normal that needed fur-
ther testing and evaluation at
the hospital.
The screening was main-
tained in an orderly manner
by the Lions Club members.
The nutritionist team talked to
the seated participants on the
importance of their diet – the
food and drinks with the aid
of posters.
Each person had their
blood sugar tested, blood
pressure taken and recorded,
and their BMI determined
from their weight and height
and then get counseled by the
physiotherapist when needed
and a one-on-one advice from
the nutritionists.
2017 smiles through the
new year.
I commend the whole
team in general for the suc-
cess of this project and spe-
cifically the Lions Club mem-
bers for their teamwork and
camaraderie during this cam-
paign.
Dr. Rudy Doton (Team
leader)
VODAFONE ATH
FOUNDATION
11
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ICARE RECEIVED $5000 FROM

VODAFONE ATH FIJI FOUNDATION
ICARE Received $5000
from Vodafone ATH Fiji Foun-
dation
Vodafone ATH Fiji Founda-
tion in partnership with West-
ern Charity Alliance handed
$5,000 to ICare, a ‘love’ home
for a group of disadvantaged
children.
“When we care, we trans-
form behaviours and talents,
and when we transform lives,
especially the lives of the dis-
advantaged,” said the Founda-
tion Executive Ambalika Devi
Prakash
ICare’s volunteer carers
- Margaret Wise and Felix
Chaudhary - said the drive to
care for this particular group
of children was propelled by
love and compassion, and a
desire to bring smile and hap-
piness on the faces of the not
so fortunate.
The couple have been tak-
ing care of at risk children,
some impoverished through
circumstances beyond their
control, since 2012.
“The welfare of children
is something that we are pas-
sionate about and we are
grateful that the Vodafone
ATH Fiji Foundation recognis-
es the need to support these
children in a manner that is
sustainable in the long term,”
Ms Wise said.
“We don’t operate like a
vulnerable children’s home,
but like a family that is cre-
ative and innovative and does
things differently,” Mr Chaud-
hary added.
ICARE president Padro
Laddpeter, who himself is a
part of the ‘love home’, said all
children were encouraged to
explore their talents and skills.
“Whether it is in storytell-
ing, food, dance, entertain-
ment or in fun events, we
learn to be faithful in the little
things, beginning from our
chores,” Mr Laddpeter said.
“When we learn to be dili-
gent and responsible for the
little things, we grow to love
what we do and this makes us
happy. As a result, we are able
to spread this joy to those we
come into contact with.”
“It’s like a vision home for,
and by the youths, to prepare
us for the future.
“Our hope is that we can
use this blessing from the
foundation to not only help
us, but to bless others as well
that creates future for children
who use their talents culture
and tradition to make a differ-
ence in their lives as well as
those out there, he said.
Six of the 12 children at
ICare are musically inclined
but the absence of musical in-
struments due to lack of fund-
ing severely limited the chil-
dren’s creativity and potential
to thrive.
They have had to rely on
the generosity of others, using
borrowed guitars whenever
the opportunity arose to hone
their skills.
“Owning our musical in-
struments will make such a
big difference because it will
give us the opportunity to
practice, learn and expand
our creative talents,” said sec-
retary Keshia Sariri.
“We will also get the
chance to use our talent to
generate income by playing
music as a group. This will be
useful to us not only now, but
later in life as well because Vodafone ATH donated $5,000 to ICare in Lautoka. Photo: SUPPLIED.
playing an instrument is a
skill.”
“The children are excited Over time, the children the children were brought up funeral in 2009 where as a in tourism. She is now work-
and so overjoyed that we can also want to buy raw materi- in in love, they were also firm 15-year-old orphan she had ing in Savusavu and lives with
now buy some of our instru- als for salusalu and dance ma- and very honest about the dropped out of school without her family. There have been a
ments and perfect our skills. terial. world. completing Class 8. They took stream of children since then,
Ms Sariri said the plan was “Ten of the children at our “We are optimistic that the care of her and with the help and presently we are taking
to use the funds to generate ‘love home’ are in school so support will ensure that we of a Methodist Church pastor care of 12 children”, said Ms
revenue from catering, per- the profits generated will be sustain whatever project we put her back into school until Wise.
forming at events, playing and used in the health and educa- undertake. she completed Form 6. She
entertaining at birthdays and VODAFONE ATH
tion needs of the children.” The couple met the first left to live with her family af-
anniversaries. Mr Chaudhary said while child they took care of at a ter completing a short course FOUNDATION

Traffic from Centre Water Disruption in

Point to Kinoya Labasa
By MARIA LAQETA
Pedestrian and road users
were informed that there will
be road work at the concrete
chambers on the roadway
along Kings Road from Centre
Point to Kinoya commenced
today until January 15.
The Fiji Roads Author-
ity (FRA) will be carrying out
demolition and backfilling
works so traffic lanes will be
reduced to one lane during
off-peak hours.
China Railway Fifth Group,
contracted by the Fiji Roads
Authority will be working on
two lanes during peak hours
that is two lanes for Suva
bound in the morning and
one lane for Nausori bound,
two lanes for Nausori bound
in the afternoon and one lane
for Suva bound.
Due to the urgency of the
works, the China Railway Fifth
Group will be carrying out
works 24 hours.
Work anticipated is part
of the Suva Arterial Road Up-
grading Project (SARUP 1).
By MARIA LAQETA
People living along the
Tovata and Vunisafa road in
Labasa is facing water disrup-
tions now until further notice.
The Water Authority of Fiji
(WAF) in a statement men-
tioned areas affected include;
parts of Tovata and Vunisafa
road and the interruption in
supply is a result of a burst
main at Tovata Rd.
To assists people around
the area, Water carts will be
on standby to service the ar-
eas and attend to when the Good news supply is ex- week.
need arises. pected to be restored.this

Sweet Tweets: Are you ready for this year school year?

Jimaima Tuirara Jone Nauci Samuel Brown Ava McComber William Wilfred Lord Viliame Vakatalesau
13 years old 8 years old 14 years old 10 years old 5 years old 11 years old
NADI SUVA LAUTOKA NADI SUVA NADI

“Yes, am very excited to get “I am so excited to get back “Yes, i do look forward to “I’m ready to go back to “Yes, am very excited to “Yes,off course am look for-
started because it’s my first to school because am going get back to school because Mount Saint Mary’s school start school at Bethel Kin- ward to get back to school
year to attend secondary to see my friends and my to meet my friends I left as class 6, see all my friends dergarden, even for the first in order to achieve my
level and can’t wait to meet after school year last year and get back to my routine”. time I can managed and am dream to become a pilot.
new teacher as well”. at the same time we can all
my new friends”. very excited to learn from He is attending Vunimono__
learn much better together”. all writings and paintings of Primary school and is in
previous students”. class 7”.
12 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
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Review PERSON OF THE MONTH

e press VALENTIN CORCHADO

Meet the Man Behind MasterClass Fiji

By ANA SOVA
If you are involved in the
tourism circle in Fiji or par-
ticularly in Nadi you would be
aware or might have attend-
ed one of Fiji’s tourism rising
event, the Master Class Fiji.
Master Class Fiji is a unique
event where the best Chefs
and Hospitality profession-
als in Fiji work hand in hand
to support and promote
our Industry that was cre-
ated by The Coliseum in 2017.
The Coliseum is a boutique
consultancy firm supporting
businesses and corporate cli-
ents in building strong foun-
dations on core business ar-
eas such as the creation and
delivery of pre-opening strat-
egies, operational training
and development plans and
implementation of operation-
al systems and procedures.
It was founded and is owned
by Spanish born and Austra-
lian citizen, Valentin Corcha-
do who now divides his time
between Australia and Fiji.
He is a qualified Chef and hos-
pitality professional with over
25 years’ experience cover-
ingall aspects of Hotel, Busi-
nessDevelopment, Food and
Beverage Operations, Event
Management and Licensing
at senior management level.
Over the course of his career,
Valentin has been exposed to
successful International Hotel
and Casino brands such as
Intercontinental Hotel in Lon-
don, Park Hyatt Sydney, Raya-
vadee Resort in Thailand,
MGM Grand Casino, Skycity
Casino, Hilton hotels and oth-
Valentin Corchado (front row: third from left) with participants of the MasterClass Fiji 2017.Photo: SUPPLIED.
er world renown World class
establishments such as Chris-
ties Auction House in London
and Entertainment venues
such as The Horden Pavillion
and the Royal Hall of Indus-
tries in Sydney, home of the
famous Sydney Mardi Grass
and other key large events in
the Sydney Event Calendar.
Valentin first came to Fiji in
2007 when he was directly
involved with the pre-open-
ing of the Radisson Resort
in Denarau Island, his love
for Fiji and its people, made
him return ack in 2013 where
he actively participated with
the reopening of Treasure
and Bounty Island Resorts
in December 2013 as Direc-
tor of Operations and later
on joining the Hilton group.
His knowledge and pas-
sion for the industry, team
development and Event
creation,has lead Valen-
tin to create The Coliseum.
His simple and innovated
ways to improve clients’
business performance whilst
maintaining a personalized
approach to training, trust and
commitment to service al-
lowed Valentin to build strong
and long lasting relationships.
Due to his wide experience
and network in the hospi-
tality sector Valentin is able
to provide a wide array of
services to professional and
career minded individuals
as well as to Hotels, Restau-
rant, Retailers and overall
customer service clients.
“My main focus is to provide
skill knowledge and align
operational teams, systems
and processes to our client’s
business objectives and im-
prove their efficiency and fi-
nancial results,” Valentin said.
He adds they achieve this
through active training and
development that is opera-
tionally minded and relevant
to our clients and industry.
“In most instances, we blend
complex and time consum-
ing Human Resources ac-
tivities with real operational
needs and create a tailor
made solution that saves our
clients time and money”.
Valentin said the Coliseum
team and he strive to make a
positive impact in our Com-
munity and always aims
to minimise the impact on
our beautiful Environment.
‘Our corporate responsibil-
ity drives us to actively par-
ticipate on community and
environmental events and
charity activities,” he adds.
These events include the
Vanuatu Appeal Gala Dinner
held in May 2015, The Chefs
Table dinner in November
2015 and the Cyclone Win-
ston Appeal in March 2016.
Valentin said these events gen-
erated a total FJD140, 000 for
the benefit of our Community.
More recently, In 2017 The
Coliseum created Master
Class Fiji which has facilitated
the creation of culinary schol-
arships for Females Chefs.
Valentin said they are
very proud of supporting
our Community, non for
profit organisations and
Events as overall in Fiji.
“We will continue this ap-
proach and support with
the active participation and
creation of education pro-
grams, innovation, and long
term thinking for the benefit
of our Community,” he said.

MasterClass
Promises to be
Bigger this Year

By ANA SOVA Recipients of the MasterClass Fiji Schorlarship 2017. Photos: SUPPLIED.

Master Class Fiji 2018 series will commence again soon and
certainly it will be the space to watch.
Managing Director for The Coliseum, Valentin Corchado said
great panels of chefs and professionals will again be showcas-
ing their talent and passion for the industry.
The first Master Class Fiji season closed last year on a high
note at the Sheraton Fiji Resort on November 17 as part of the
annual HOTEC Exhibition.
On this night the final winner of the first Master Class Fiji
Scholarship was announced.
Mr. Corchado says the lucky and talented female Chef was
Cajetina Mua who achieved 1851 points, and currently working
as Pastry Chef at Kokomo Private Island Fiji.
She is working under the leadership of Executive Pastry
Chef, Jon Gladson and Executive Chef, Anthony Healy.
Ms Cajetina, was awarded with a three months Culinary
scholarship at the renown Le Cordon Bleu Sookmyung Acad-
emy in Seoul -South Korea.
Chef Cajetina was followed closely by Chef Trainer, Alisi De-
lai who scored 1810 points.
Chef Alisi is currently working at the APTC-Suva and is sup-
ported by Chef Patisserie, Amanda Young.
Third position was achieved by Priya Darshani (1794 points)
currently working at the Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort as Execu-
tive Sous Chef under the leadership and mentoring of Executive
Chef, Shailesh Naidu.
Mr. Corchado said Master Class Fiji 2017 has proven to be a
great Culinary and Hospitality Event greatly supported by the
Hospitality Industry overall and general public.
“The Event hit over 112,000 views of culinary demonstrations
and overall competition series, taking place at various locations
of the Vitilevu promoting culinary trade and gender balance in
commercial kitchens,” he said.
Some of the great participating Chefs and industry profes-
sionals such as of Jean Luc Amman from Laucala Island, Lance
Seeto (Malamala Beach Club) Mohammed Arun (Grand Pacific
Hotel), ItalianisimoFlavio, Marielle Hajj (Wakaya Club and Spa)
Cat Adora (Adorawble Treats’), Mike Dennis (Lulu’s Coffee),
Markus Nufer (Castaway Island), PraneshGoundar(Lomani Is-
land Resort) and Avinesh Sharma ( Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa)
among others.
The Event was also well supported by Fiji National University
Hospitality students and APTC in Suva.

THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 13

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Sigatoka Students UniFiji

Assisted with Education Commences
On-Spot
Registration

Students during enrolment last year.Photo: SUPPLIED.

By MARIA LAQETA

The University of Fiji is are urged to take advantage

Outrigger General Manager Peter HopGood.Photo: SUPPLIED.
By MARIA LAQETA
Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort is support-
ing One hundred Sigatoka students who
are preparing back to school this year.
Outrigger General Manager Peter Hop-
Good said the students were sponsored
and hosted at Sigatoka town is more like
a party for nominated students supported
by Outrigger Fijian Resorts providing bar-
ber cue and sausage sizzle as a gift.
Surprisingly, he said volunteers from
New Zealand and Australia also present
on the day to do some voluntarily basis
and it’s a lot more like love and good will
in supporting the children for their future.
Mr HopGood said the idea of sponsor-
ing Sigatoka students is something the
Resort as well not forgetting sponsors, is
pleased to offer the community for stu-
dents to attend school from primary level
then to secondary until reached tertiary.
“The sponsorship team consists of In-
ternational volunteers from New Zealand
and Australia even United States of Amer-
ica who have Fijian inheritance who took
interest to assist students to reach high
standard of education besides it have
been operating for about 9 years and had
been successfully,” he said.
Mr HopGood said sponsors usually
collect $50FJD per month and that covers
all education cost and as besides every
dollar goes to per child and are reserved
for next year if not spend.
“Approximately 100 students, he add-
ed are provided with school stationeries
ranging from primary, secondary right up
to tertiary level this year,” he added.
Mr HopGood said challenged faced
by Sponsors in the last few years is that
students had become older and had
been graduated from form 6 and form 7
and reach a tertiary Scholarship with in-
creased cost.
In order to solve the problem, the
team had allocated Tertiary scholarship
for 5 students in 2018 who managed to
continue Vocational studies or reach up
to University Degree studies.
“Last year, we had two Fijian students
graduated with Bachelors while three
were graduated with Vocational certifi-
cates,” he added.
“For students to get selected for spon-
sored, he said they got to be from needy
background typically have no breadwin-
ner within the family which have difficul-
ty in meeting daily expenses in terms of
provided with books and uniforms, other
options is that they left school young,” he
added.
“Mr HopGood said students selected
for sponsored is identified in the com-
munity by their headmasters and teach-
ers sometimes Social welfare as well
network Agencies in Sigatoka with needy
background who really need care and
had that risks in not continuing their edu-
cation,” he added.
“It’s very easy to bring sponsors and
there lots of people who wants to help
and that’s really fantastic,” he said.
hosting a face to face enrol-
ment soon in Nadi, Lautoka
and Ba in form of road show
this week.
Students of Saweni and
Suva campuses will be an ad-
vantage because they do not
need to travel the distance to
register for courses; on the
other hand they will be en-
rolled including registration
would be prepared at the
road shows.
Marketing and Public Rela-
tions Officer, Ms. Shirley San-
gita Prasad, said roadshows
are highly convenient method
of registration for students.
“The University of Fiji, is
taking its services to our most
important stakeholder, our
students is paramount,” she
added.
Thus, she said the UniFiji is
trying all the different aspects
to reach out to the public at
large and reaching out in vari-
ous towns and city enabled
them to meet parents and po-
tential students.
“On- spot registration is a
good way to expand admis-
sions base and reach out to
more people and students
of this opportunity and regis-
ter for the programmes they
wished to pursue,” she said.
The aim of the roadshows
is to attract students from all
walks of life.
Meanwhile, stated below
are venues and time:
January 5-6, 2018
Town/ City Place
Time
Lautoka Sugar City
Mall 9.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.
Nadi Nadi Town Council
Arcade 9.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.
Ba Near Orange Can-
teen at the Ba bus stand
9.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.
January 12-13, 2018
Town/ City Place
Time
Lautoka Sugar City
Mall 9.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.
Nadi Nadi Town Council
Arcade 9.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.
Ba Near Ba bus stand
and Orange Canteen
9.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.
Sigatoka Wishing
Well 9.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.
Tavua I n front of Courts
9.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.
Rakiraki TBC
9.00 a.m.- 4.00 p.m.

FENC Fiji Thank Donors

By ANA SOVA

Foundation for the Educa- roipita in Lautoka will return

tion of Needy Children in Fiji
(FENC Fiji) a volunteer, non-
profit organization in Suva
has thanked its donors who
have assisted them in mak-
ing it possible for some less
fortunate children to return to
school this year.
In a statement by the or-
garnisation it said “We would
like to also extend a debt of
gratitude to our grant donors
being the Fijian Government,
Solidarité Enfance Fidjienne -
SEF, Fiji Times Online and The
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tu-
berculosis and Malaria - with-
out whom, the depth of our
program services would be
severely restricted.”
Through the donations,
244 children, residents of Ko-
to 32 Primary, Secondary and
Special schools in Ba, Lauto-
ka and Nadi next Monday as
the academic year begins for
five to 18 year olds.
In August last year, 45 Fi-
jians walked 416km around
Fiji’s largest island, Viti Levu,
to raise critical funds that sus-
tain our hallmark child spon-
sorship program.
This year, FENC has re-
ceived 3200 applications from
children and their families,
the highest number since our
inception in 2010.
In 2017, FENC Fiji assisted
1242 students with a school
bag filled with two uniforms,
sandals, stationery & exercise
books.
Children of the Koroipita in Lautoka received education assistance from FENC Fiji. Photo: FENC FIJI.

14 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

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THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 15

www.thejetnewspaper.com
J Hunter Boss to Speak at
By ANA SOVA
Italy Jewellery Show
J Hunter Pearls Founder,
Justin Hunter has been invited
to speak at a seminar during
the upcoming VICENZAORO
Jewellery trade show in Vi-
cenza, Italy on 22 January.
The seminar is the latest in
a series of educational events
organized by CIBJO and the
Italian Exhibition Group and is
part of their joint programme,
endorsed by the United Na-
tions Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC), to support
Corporate Social Responsibil-
ity and sustainability in the
international jewellery sector.
Environmental, as well as
social and economic respon-
sibility in the jewellery sector
will be the focus of a seminar
scheduled.
Posting on his official Face-
book page, Hunter said “Hon-
oured to be part of this. Thank
you Vincenzo and CIBJO for
the invitation and my friends
at Fiji Airways and Tourism
Fiji.”
30 year old Woman who Designed
a $1bn Business
When a 22-year-old Mela-
nie Perkins nervously pitched
her start-up idea to a Silicon
Valley multi-millionaire she
followed a novel if somewhat
risky tactic.
The university drop-out
had flown all the way from
her home in Perth, Australia,
to Palo Alto, California, for
the meeting with well-known
technology investor Bill Tai.
Melanie had read that if
you wanted to impress some-
one you should mimic their
body language. So seeking
backing for her graphic de-
sign website she decided to
put the theory to the test.
“It was pretty funny,” says
Melanie, who is now 30. “He
was sitting there with his arm
behind his chair, eating his
lunch.
“So I’m there with my arm
behind my chair, trying to eat
my lunch, while flipping the
pages of my pitch... to sell him
on the future of publishing.”
Melanie’s idea for the “fu-
ture of publishing” is Canva,
an online platform that aims
to allow anyone to easily de-
sign everything from greetings
cards to posters, and websites
to calendars.
But while Mr Tai didn’t
seem to notice that Melanie
was copying his movements,
he also didn’t appear to be
that interested in her business
idea.
“I didn’t think he was lik-
ing my pitch at all because he
was on his phone the whole
time,” she says.
Mr Tai was, however, im-
pressed enough to introduce
Melanie to a network of other
Silicon Valley investors, engi-
neers and developers. And he
ultimately invested in Canva
himself.
Today Melanie’s Sydney-
based business is valued at
$1bn, after it secured a lat-
est round of investment this
week.
The company has 10 mil-
lion users across 179 coun-
tries, and 10 designs are cre-
ated via its website every
second. Not bad for a busi-
16 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
He adds “The sustainability
of our organic Fijian Gems is
central to our identity and we
look forward to sharing our
story with the world.”
About Justin Hunter
Born to an American fa-
ther and Fijian mother, Justin
Hunter grew up in the small
town of Savusavu in Fiji where
his love for island life and the
ocean began.
Moving to the United States
as a young man Justin com-
pleted his high school educa-
tion and university in Wash-
ington State.
After completing his ma-
rine science degree Justin
began working for his family
business, Taylor Shellfish, fo-
cusing on rearing edible oys-
ters in Washington State and
Hawaii.
At an aquaculture confer-
ence held in Sydney, Australia
in 1998 Justin and cousin Paul
Taylor attended a presenta-
tion by Fiji’s Ministry of Fisher-
ness that had its genesis in the
lounge of Melanie’s mother’s
house in Perth.
This was back in 2006
when Melanie was a 19-year-
old commerce and communi-
cations student at the Univer-
sity of Western Australia.
At the time she says she
was frustrated by how long it
took to learn how to use most
mainstream design software.
“It could take a whole
semester to learn the very
basics,” she says. “Even the
simplest tasks, like exporting
a high-quality PDF file, could
take 22 clicks.”
While most of us would
moan about this state of af-
fairs, and then give it no more
thought, Melanie spotted a
business opportunity.
She decided to try to
launch an online design web-
site that would be as easy as
possible for people to use.
“I realised that in the fu-
ture design was all going to be
online and collaborative, and
much, much simpler.”
Deciding to test her busi-
ness idea in the relatively
small scale world of school
yearbooks, she and her boy-
friend Chris Obrecht founded
Fusion Books, a website that
allows high schools to design
their yearbooks online.
Effectively a prototype
version of what would be-
come the Canva system, she
and Chris set up shop in her
mother’s front room, and bor-
rowed money from relatives
to pay for software designers
to build the platform.
Over the next few years,
Fusion grew into Australia’s
largest yearbook publisher,
before expanding to France
and New Zealand. The busi-
ness was so successful that
Melanie decided to leave uni-
versity to focus on it full-time.
Realising that Fusion could
be applied beyond yearbooks,
it was in 2010 that she flew to
California to pitch the idea for
Canva to potential investors,
including the fateful meeting
with Mr Tai.
Melanie says that Sili-
www.scribd.com/thejet
BUSINESS
ies on the potential for a new
aquaculture industry; pearl
farming in Fiji.
This presentation was to
change the course of his life
and see him return home a
year later with a dream of cre-
ating some of the most unique
coloured pearls found in the
world today.
With over 10 years experi-
ence in the oyster industry,
and the support of the Tay-
lor family, Justin returned to
his hometown of Savusavu
in 1999 to begin building his
dream.
Aware of the obstacles
pearl farmers in Fiji had faced
before him Justin began im-
plementing bold new pearl
farming techniques and es-
tablishing vital relationships
with the local villages that
would see him become a pio-
neer in the pearling industry in
Fiji and establish Fiji Pearls as
a global brand to be admired
by pearlers around the world. J Hunter Pearls Founder, Justin Hunter: Photo: FACEBOOK.
Melanie with her two co-founders,boy friend Chris Obrecht (centre) and Cameron Adams.Photo: SUPPLIED.
con Valley was a big culture vestor and actually landing In the financial year 2016- Business School, says that the
shock, due to what she says investment,” she says. “This 17 Canva’s revenues grew key issue for Melanie - or the
is the vast difference between is an incredibly long period of more than twofold from boss of any growing start-up
Australian and American atti- time, and we had hundreds of $6.8m to $23.5m, according to company - is the importance
tudes to self promotion. rejections along the way. Australia’s Financial Review of being able to delegate.
“In Australia, people really “But I think that process website. However, the com- “Having the right people
talk down their accomplish- was really helpful for us, be- pany made a loss of $3.3m, in, recruiting the right people
ments,” she says. “In Silicon cause it meant that we had to and has actually not yet made [is crucial], because you can’t
Valley, where you’re trying to refine our pitch, and really get a profit as it has instead fo- have bottlenecks in decision
raise funds or get an engineer- our strategy down before we cused on rapid expansion. making, and having it all left
ing team, you have to actually started. So when we landed Canva is a private compa- up to the founder to make
be able to speak about your that investment we were able ny, so its $1bn price tag comes these decisions,” says Ms
accomplishments.” to execute quite quickly and from the private investors and Logue.
Perhaps in part due to this effectively.” venture capitalists who are “And that is a real chal-
cultural clash, it took Melanie Subsequent rounds of in- backing it. That’s what they lenge for founders sometimes
three years before she got any vestment have seen Canva think the firm - and Melanie - letting go of their baby.”
investment from Silicon Val- raise $82m in total. While the and her team - are worth. Melanie says that most of
ley. But in 2013 Canva was website’s basic service is free Melanie remains in the Canva’s growth has come
launched, backed by $3m, to use, it makes its money by main chief executive role, and from positive word of mouth,
and with former Google ex- charging a subscription fee Chris - who is still her boy- and she has big ambitions for
ecutive Cameron Adams join- to access its more advanced friend - is the chief operating the company to continue to
ing Melanie and her boyfriend tools. officer. The couple also still expand.
Chris as a co-founder. Today, more than 200 peo- own Fusion Books, but have “Our goal is to enable the
Melanie says it was worth ple work for Canva, which has appointed a team of manag- whole world to design,” she
the wait. headquarters in Sydney and ers to run that business. says.
“It was three years be- Manila, and an office in San Danielle Logue, an associ-
tween first pitching to an in- Francisco. ate professor at Sydney’s UTS
BBC NEWS
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THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 17

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Airline Review: Fiji Airways Economy,

Sydney to Nadi
The cabin is spotlessly
clean and the aircraft feels
fresh, despite being a few
years old.
THE PLANE
Airbus A330-200, which
has 273 seats (249 in econo-
my, 24 in business). Fiji Air-
ways has four newish A330s
(one A330-300; three A330–
200s) in its fleet. From 2018,
all of the airline’s narrow body
fleet will be upgraded to Boe-
ing 737 Max 8s.
THE ROUTE
Sydney to Nadi
THE LOYALTY SCHEME
Fiji Airways partners with
Alaska Airlines, American
Airlines and Qantas frequent
flyer programs.
CLASS
Economy, window seat
35K. I’m seated next to my
daughter, who is in an aisle
seat.
DURATION
Scheduled to last three
hours and 55 minutes, we
depart Sydney late so land af-
ter 7pm (roughly 25 minutes
late).
THE SEAT
It’s a 2-4-2 configuration
and I’m seated by the win-
dow. The fabric seat has a
pitch of 32 inches (81 cen-
timetres) and a 7.5-inch re-
cline. There’s a cup holder,
USB charger, 23-centimetre
Panasonic touchscreen and
in-seat AC power. Cleverly, the
fold-down tray table tells pas-
sengers where the AC power
socket is located.
BAGGAGE
The checked baggage al-
lowance is 23 kilograms (40
kilograms for business) plus
one piece of carry-on up to
seven kilograms. Be wary if
flying domestically with Fiji
Airways to the outer islands.
The baggage allowance do-
mestically is 15 kilograms and
they will charge you for ex-
cess luggage.
COMFORT
When we arrive at our seat
there’s no pillow or blanket.
However, the cabin attendant
quickly rustles some up (a
small pillow and soft blanket).
The cabin is spotlessly clean
(including the toilet to the rear
of economy) and the aircraft,
now three to four years old,
still feels fresh. It’s a daytime
flight so we settle in to watch
a couple of movies.
ENTERTAINMENT
Aside from the in-flight
magazine FijiTime, the enter-
tainment system offers a fair
selection of new release mov-
ies, as well as classics and
comedies, a TV program, an
audio channel and a dedicat-
ed kids’ channel. I watch The
Light Between Oceans, which
I’ve been wanting to see. The
audio made the dialogue dif-
ficult to hear, however. Pas-
sengers should be aware
that there’s no seat-back en-
tertainment on Fiji Airways’
current 737s which we flew
on the return leg (only an
overhead screen showing the
kids’ movie Rio, which was
nigh on impossible to see or
hear). This made it seem like
a long flight. Fiji Airways aircraft. Photo: SUPPLIED.
Advertisement
SERVICE straightaway, they’re back in a drink cart. The meal also in- ferred way to fly to Fiji. It’s a
We checked in online, jiffy with a solution. I felt like cludes chocolate mousse, full-service airline for a start.
which saved time at the air- we’d stepped into Fiji time, water, cheese and crackers. However, the warmth and
port (there was no one in the minus the delays or hold-ups My daughter’s kids’ meal is a charm of the flight crew puts
bag-only queue). It felt like we sometimes associated with thick fettucine pasta with bo- you in holiday mode from the
started our holiday the mo- it. And if you’re travelling lognese sauce, bread roll with get-go. The A330, which flies
ment we stepped onboard. with children, expect five-star butter, a very rich dessert and six times a week from Sydney
Huge smiles, and greetings of treatment. some sort of chocolate drink. to Nadi daily (except Wednes-
‘’Bula’’ greeted us from male FOOD Ella opts for water instead of days), is preferable over the
and female cabin attendants It’s a 1pm departure so the sugary drink (only be- existing 737s.
dressed in smart rich choco- we’re offered a choice of cause she’s well trained). Tested by Sheriden
late brown and aqua uniforms vegetarian ravioli or chicken ONE MORE THING Rhodes, who flew courtesy of
with distinct masi motifs. strips in a cream sauce for Depending on availability, Fiji Airways
Some female attendants wear lunch. There’s no vegetarian upgrading to business may Our rating out of five: 4.5
a frangipani (albeit a plastic left so they offer to get me be an option at check-in with
one) tucked behind one ear. one from business class. Nice fees starting from $400. Go
The service is super friendly, touch. It’s a huge portion and on, live a little. See fijiairways.
and delivered with lashings delicious. There’s a choice of com
of Fijian hospitality. If they red or white wine, soft drink, THE VERDICT TRAVELLER
can’t help you with something beer or fruit juice from the Fiji Airways is my pre-

US Adds Platform for Helping Women in

Stealth Jets to Pacific Aviation

When the Wright Broth- In a field that is so integral legislation, the Promoting
ers successfully launched to our economy and national Women in the Aviation Work-
the world’s first airplane in security, it is essential that tal- force Act, aims to address the
1903, they credited their sis- ented and dedicated women imbalance by encouraging the
ter, Katharine, with providing are given the opportunity to aviation industry to offer op-
the engineering and business contribute. As chairman of portunities, such as pilot train-
expertise necessary to help the Senate Transportation Ap- ing, STEM (science, technol-
F-35 testing.Photo: SUPPLIED. make powered flight possible. propriations Subcommittee, I ogy, engineering, and math)
In 1932, Amelia Earhart com- have joined with Sen. Tammy education, recruitment, and
pleted the first solo transatlan- Duckworth of Illinois to in- mentorship programs that
The US military boosted its stealth attack “Unlike a US base on foreign territory, one tic flight by a woman. During troduce bipartisan legislation would help women to pursue
options in the Pacific on Saturday when the can launch planes from a US warship without World War II, the Women Air- that would encourage wom- and succeed in aviation-re-
amphibious assault ship USS Wasp moved into informing, much less gaining permission from force Service Pilots -- WASPs en to pursue careers in avia- lated careers. Our bill would
the 7th Fleet area of operations. another country,” said Schuster, now a Hawaii -- ferried aircraft from the fac- tion and promote programs also direct the Federal Avia-
The 40,00-ton, 844-foot-long Wasp is essen- Pacific University professor. tories to the front lines with to support their professional tion Administration (FAA) to
tially a baby aircraft carrier. Built in 1980s, it has US Navy press releases have been touting courage, dedication, and sac- development in the field. create and manage a Women
been upgraded to deploy new Marine Corps F- the move of the Wasp to the Pacific since last rifice. In 1983, astronaut Sally It is an honor to co-spon- in Aviation Advisory Board to
35B stealth fighter jets. year. Ride became the first Ameri- sor this legislation with Sen. encourage the industry to pro-
The fifth-generation fighter jets are seen as “This move ensures that our most techno- can woman in space. Duckworth, who herself has vide such programs.
a major advantage for the United States in any logically-advanced air warfare platforms are Despite these historic ac- been a pioneer for women in From the engineer’s draft-
contingencies involving North Korea as they forward deployed,” Capt. Andrew Smith, who complishments during more aviation. A decorated veteran, ing table to the control tower
are undetectable by Pyongyang’s radars. commanded the Wasp until December, said in than a century of powered she served as a U.S. Army he- to the pilot’s seat, women
While the Marine Corps F-35s, which are a press release last summer. flight, today women remain licopter pilot and was one of have made invaluable contri-
based in Iwakuni, Japan, have been involved Even though the amphibious assault ship is significantly underrepresent- the first women to fly combat butions to aviation in Amer-
in recent shows of force on the Korean Pen- half the size of US aircraft carriers -- including ed in the aviation industry. missions during Operation ica. The Promoting Women
insula, their ability to take off from the Wasp the Japan-based USS Ronald Reagan -- Schus- Although women make up Iraqi Freedom. In 2004, her in the Aviation Workforce Act
rather than an airfield brings a new dimension, ter said the presence of the Wasp creates the more than 50 percent of our Black Hawk helicopter was will help to ensure that wom-
said Carl Schuster, a former director of opera- impression of the US having a second aircraft nation’s workforce, they rep- hit by enemy fire and she suf- en can continue to achieve
tions at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intel- carrier in the region. resent just two percent of air- fered severe combat wounds, success in the workforce sup-
ligence Center. Aircraft carriers grabbed headlines in No- line mechanics, four percent losing both legs and damag- porting one of our country’s
“It does add a factor to North Korea’s calcu- vember when the US Navy deployed three to- of flight engineers, five per- ing her right arm. foremost industries.
lations,” he said. gether for exercises off the Korean Peninsula. It cent of repairmen, six percent Sen. Duckworth has noted
“Since US warships constitute national terri- was the first time three carriers had operated of pilots, 18 percent of flight that when she was in flight
tory under international law, it is like stationing together in the Pacific in a decade. dispatchers, and 26 percent of school, she rarely saw other
the F-35s on a mobile piece of US territory. CNN air traffic controllers. women in her classes. Our SEACOASTONLINE
18 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
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Wananavu Beach
Resort Appoints
Manager for Sales
and Marketing
By MARIA LAQETA

Wananavu Beach Resort has announced
the appointment of Lavonne Fremlin Naulu-
matua to manage the sales and marketing for
Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
The Australian based has been part of the
Fiji tourism industry for 30 years in various
roles in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
Acting Resort Manager Beato Dulunaqio
said Lavonne has experience in wholesaling,
retailing, cruising, sales development and mar-
keting.
“She was also a part of the great Wananavu
team from 2014 to January 2017 and we wel-
come her back to our team,” she added.
Mr Dulunaqio said some of her various roles
encompassed operations and office manager,
Rosie Holidays; sales development manager,
Pinpoint Travel; product manager, Escape Holi-
days.
He added the marketing manager, Hogan
and Associates; manager, Spacific Marketing
Solutions; sales manager, South Sea Cruises/
Awesome Adventures and Blue Lagoon Cruis-
es and now manager and director of Pacific
Pulse Marketing.
Wananavu Beach Resort is located on the
Sun Coast overlooking the Sailstone Reef and
the Nananui Islands, Wananavu is an idyllic 4
star resort with 34 deluxe bures. Wananavu Beach Resort newly apponited general manager sales and marketing Lavonne
Fremlin Naulumatua.Photo: SUPPLIED.

Pro Mixologist Quyn Nguyen

InterContinental Fiji Golf
Resort and Spa is pleased to
welcome professional Mixolo-
gist Quynh Nguyen who will
reside at the resort for the next
ation of new cocktails that
highlight the best of Fiji’s fresh
local ingredients and flavours
with a splash of international
flair,” said Craig Wood, Inter-

Here to Showcase Expertise

three months to showcase his
expertise and creativity.
Mr Quynh has nine years of
extensive bar and lounge ex-
perience across Dubai, Singa-
pore and Australia, which will
lift the already great service
and bar experience at Natad-
ola Bay to a whole new level
worthy of a large international
city.
Mr Quynh will be based in
Kama Lounge, overlooking
the beautiful white sands of
Fiji’s best beach.
He will be responsible for
implementing the new bar ex-
perience across all three res-
taurants and two bars as well
as Club InterContinental.
His recent work has been
at “Fred’s” and “Charlie Park-
ers” in Sydney where both
venues have been featured
prominently as the best bars
and restaurants in Sydney,
Australia.
His achievements
Fred’s was recently voted
Delicious Magazine’s NSW #1
best restaurant.
Charlie Parker’s was recog-
nised as the Best Sustainable
Programme at the Austra-
lian Bartender Magazine Bar
Awards.
“We are delighted to have
someone of Mr Quynh’s cali-
Radisson Blu Resort Fiji Embraces Re-Design programme for bre at our resort and to engage
his expertise.
Quynh Nguyen. Photo: INSTAGRAM. “He will assist in the cre-
Continental Fiji’s director of
Dining and Entertainment.
“With an emphasis on
freshness, locality and inno-
vation, we look forward to
delivering a heightened expe-
rience across our Restaurants
and Bars, InterContinental
Meetings and Club InterCon-
tinental.
“Valued guests can expect
a true sense of place with our
well crafted cocktails compli-
mented with amazing vistas at
Natadola Bay.”
Kama Lounge is InterConti-
nental Fiji’s flagship bar.
Offering superb views of
Natadola Bay, evening enter-
tainment, and renowned Fi-
jian hospitality, it’s the idyllic
way to watch the sunset in
paradise.
InterContinental Fiji Golf
Resort and Spa is part of the
InterContinental Hotel Group
(IHG) with over 5,000 and
744,000 guest rooms in nearly
100 countries.
Overlooking the azure wa-
ters of Natadola Beach–voted
by CNN as one of the best
beaches in the world, and
Fiji’s finest beach, the resort is
spread across 35 acres of trop-
ical manicured gardens and
offers all of the facilities and
services expected of luxury
international resort.
INTERCONTINENTAL FIJI

Radisson Blu Resort Fiji Embraces Make-over

for Second Block of Rooms
The Radisson Blu Resort Fiji is proud to announce the second
wave of room remodeling after successfully completing and re-
leasing the first of the 12 blocks on Christmas day as scheduled.
Meantime, the room redesign programme is yet to conquer
the remaining 11 blocks from January 8 this year so guests can
enjoy the newly transformed rooms as soon as possible.
Project Manager of the Radisson Blu Resort Fiji, Ritesh Ram
said work is mostly a change in furniture and furnishings with
minimal structural change.
“The rooms will receive a fresh and brighter interior design
with a tropical feel”, says, Ram.
With minimal disruptions to guests and developments on
track, he said progress of the work is looking bright and the
Radisson Blu Resort Fiji team are confident they will meet the
estimated completion date of February 2019.
“Only one block will be closed at each time during the up-
grade and noise will be restricted to individual accommodation
blocks from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday with all hotel
operations to continue as normal,” he added.
Mr Ram said guests, stakeholders and Resort team members
have positive feedback on the new look of the rooms and are
convinced that enhanced room facilities will greatly boost fu-
ture.
General Manager of the Radisson Blu Resort Fiji, John Bendt-
sen said the company also utilised local trade and manpower in
overseeing the project and entirely work done is for the comfort
of guests to maintain the 5 star standards.
The next upgrade project planned for January 8th has a
completion date for February 9th and the Resort will be a step
closer to having all rooms upgraded yet keeping to its elegant
and commodious style.
Radisson Blu Resort Fiji Embraces Re-Design programme for
RADISSON BLU RESORT second block of Rooms. Photo: SUPPLIED.

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ANZ Fiji Excellence in Tourism

Awards Announces Venue for
2017 Awards Gala Dinner
The ANZ Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards
(FETA) is excited to announce that the Gala
Dinner
event will be hosted by Sheraton Fiji Re-
sort’s Denarau Convention Centre on Saturday
17th
February 2018.
In making the announcement, Chair of the
Organising Committee, Ms Olivia Mavoa said,
“We
look forward to working with Sheraton Fiji
Resort to host another successful ANZ Fiji Ex-
cellence
in Tourism Awards. We are expecting to at-
tract more people to attend this year’s event
and
Sheraton Fiji Resort was the best fit for host-
ing our awards night.”
“FETA has revamped its website and we
are currently developing an online ticketing
system to
make the ticketing process easier to access.
Bookings for the Awards dinner can be made
and
paid online and this is expected to be re-
leased next week.”
“We want people to mark the date and with
the venue confirmed they can start planning on
buying their tickets for the biggest awards
night in the country.”
Ms Mavoa added, “Judging is continuing
with our panel of expert judges, headed by the
CEO
of Flour Mills of Fiji, Mr Ram Bajeklal and
they include renowned industry professionals
locally
and internationally.”
The Organising Committee Chair also
thanked ANZ, sponsors and members of the
Tourism
Industry for their support and contribution
towards the organising of the Fiji Excellence in
Tourism Awards.
Ms Mavoa said: “This is a team effort by all
concerned and the Awards whilst recognising
the
excellent contribution of the Tourism In-
dustry, also brings together all members of the
industry made up of Trustees Olivia Mavoa and Craig AFL’s Christopher Chand and Emele Tuilagivou.
to celebrate their excellent achievements Powell
for the 2017 season.” and also includes Nathan Wilson from ANZ,
Members of the Organising Committee are FETA

Working Together for

the Reef
Treasure was very ex-
cited to recently host a Coral
Planting Training Workshop
to increase success rates of
coral planting activities in the
Mamanuca Islands. Planting
coral to enhance and reha-
bilitate our reef is a critical
component of the Treasure
Environment Program. The
resort’s surrounding waters
have been protected since
1997 to give marine life the
best opportunity to thrive and
flourish. To make the reef
even better there is a pro-
gram focused on planting and
growing corals, maintaining
them much like an underwa-
ter garden, until they are ready
to be transplanted to areas of
reef that have been impacted
by cyclones over recent years.
By doing this, the resort is
successfully creating bet-
ter habitat for marine life, as
well as raising awareness of
the challenges faced by coral
reefs globally. The workshop
was facilitated by the resorts
dedicated environment team.
Treasure thanks the other
TREASURE ISLAND RESORT
participants who attended
and shared their techniques
and experience, including
representatives from other
Mamanuca resorts, the Na-
tional Trust of Fiji, Walt Smith
International, Sustainable
Travel International and other
regional operators. This was
a great opportunity to learn
from each other and share
experiences and challenges
to make coral planting activi-
ties in the Mamanuca Islands
more successful.

Germany Now has the Radisson Blu Resort

Most Powerful Excited to Give Back
Passport
Germany has the world’s
most powerful passport, ac-
cording to the 2018 Henley
Passport Index.
It’s the fifth year in a row
in which the European coun-
try has topped Henley’s list,
which takes into account the
number of countries a pass-
port holder can visit without
a visa.
The ranking is based on
data from the International Air
Transport Association, which
maintains the world’s largest
and most comprehensive da-
tabase of travel information.
German citizens can now
visit 177 countries, up one
from last year, according to
the report.
In October, a separate list,
the Global Passport Power
Rank, produced by the ad-
visory firm Arton Capital,
named Singapore as having
the most powerful passport in
the world. But Germany has
since reclaimed the top spot
in that ranking also, solidifying
its standing.
Here are the 15 most pow-
20 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
erful tiers of passports, based
on the number of countries
their holders can visit visa-
free, according to Henley:
1) Germany 177
2) Singapore 176
3) Denmark, Finland,
France, Italy, Japan, Norway,
Sweden, UK 175
4) Austria, Belgium,
Luxembourg, the Nether-
lands, Spain, Switzerland 174
5) Ireland, South Ko-
rea, Portugal, US 173
6) Canada 172
7) Australia, Greece,
New Zealand 171
8) Czech Republic, Ice-
land 170
9) Malta 169
10) Hungary 168
11) Liechtenstein, Slo-
vakia, Slovenia 167
12) Latvia, Lithuania,
Malaysia 166
13) Estonia 165
14) Poland 163
15) Monaco 162
Ukraine (44th) and Georgia
(53rd) were the biggest climb-
ers on this year’s list, moving
up by 15 and 14 ranks respec-
tively, following their recent
visa liberalization with the Eu-
ropean Union.
Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, and
Afghanistan remain at the bot-
tom of the index for the sec-
ond year in a row, each able
to access 30 or fewer coun-
tries visa-free.
Dr. Christian H. Kälin, the
group chairman of Henley
& Partners, thinks the need
for visa-free access is greater
than ever.
“Across the economic
spectrum, individuals want
to transcend the constraints
imposed on them by their
country of origin and access
business, financial, career,
and lifestyle opportunities on
a global scale,” he said. “The
Henley Passport Index shows
individuals where they lie on
the spectrum of global mobil-
ity, revealing the strength that
their passport has in relation
to other passports.”
INDEPENDENT UK NEWS
Friday, 12th January 2018
The Radisson Blu Resort
Fiji are Excited to Give Back
The Radisson Blu Resort
Fiji is looking forward to an-
other successful year of giving
back to the
community. As the first
school term begins for the
year, the resort intends to fur-
ther strengthen its
relationship by continu-
ing its community outreach,
‘Adopt-a-School’ programme
to assist schools in
the local community.
“The resort believes in re-
sponsible business practice
and this programme is an op-
portunity for us to
strengthen ties and provide which intends couraging sustainable busi-
assistance to local communi- to promote good relation- ness practice within Fiji, do-
ties as we proceed into the ships and give back to mem- nating over
new year”, said bers of the community who $400,000 worth of assis-
Radisson Blu Resort Fiji’s contribute to the tance, installing more than
General Manager John Bendt- success of the resort. The 650 computers, setting up
sen. programme, along with other over 30 libraries and
For the first quarter of 2018, Responsible Business efforts distributing over 80,000 li-
the resort has planned to ex- has earned brary books to local schools
pand its outreach, carrying the resort- the Carlson Re- throughout the community.
out projects zidor Group’s 2014 and 2016 “We are looking forward
such as donations of pro- Responsible Business Award to a fruitful 2018, working
jectors and multimedia equip- for Asia hand in hand with the com-
ment; as well as library book Pacific operations and Sil- munity and our
donations to ver EarthCheck certification partners to boost sustain-
Nabila Primary School, Tau in early 2016. able business and maintain
Primary School and Nadele Since its inception in 2012, our commitment to our guests
Primary School among others. the programme has helped as well”, said Mr. Bendtsen.
Radisson Blu Fiji’s Adopt-a- over 30 local schools, both on About Carlson Rezidor Hotel
School is the resort’s on-going the mainland Group.
hallmark outreach project and outer islands, and en-
RADISSON BLU RESORT
www.thejetnewspaper.com www.scribd.com/thejet

THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 21

KIDS CORNER
www.thejetnewspaper.com
Teacher: “Kids, what
does the chicken give you?”
Student: “Meat!”
Teacher: “Very good!
Now what does the pig give
you?”
Student: “Bacon!”
Teacher: “Great! And
what does the fat cow give
you?”
Student: “Homework!”
A child asked his father,
“How were people born?”
So his father said, “Adam
and Eve made babies, then
their babies became adults
and made babies, and so
on.” The child then went to
his mother, asked her the
same question and she told
him, “We were monkeys
then we evolved to become
like we are now.” The child
ran back to his father and
said, “You lied to me!” His
father replied, “No, your
mom was talking about her
side of the family.”
My friend thinks he is
smart. He told me an onion
is the only food that makes
you cry, so I threw a coco-
nut at his face.
What happens to a frog’s
car when it breaks down?
It gets toad away.
Q: What did the duck say
when he bought lipstick?
A: “Put it on my bill.”
Q: Is Google male or
female?
A: Female, because it
doesn’t let you finish a
sentence before making a
22 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
suggestion.
Teacher: “If I gave you
2 cats and another 2 cats
and another 2, how many
would you have?”
Johnny: “Seven.”
Teacher: “No, listen
carefully... If I gave you
two cats, and another
two cats and another
two, how many would you
have?”
Johnny: “Seven.”
Teacher: “Let me put it to
you differently. If I gave you
two apples, and another
two apples and another
two, how many would you
have?”
Johnny: “Six.”
Teacher: “Good. Now if I
gave you two cats, and an-
other two cats and another
two, how many would you
have?”
Johnny: “Seven!”
Teacher: “Johnny, where
in the heck do you get seven
from?!”
Johnny: “Because I’ve
already got a freaking cat!”
Mr. and Mrs. Brown
had two sons. One was
named Mind Your Own
Business & the other was
named Trouble. One day
the two boys decided to
play hide and seek. Trouble
hid while Mind Your Own
Business counted to one
hundred. Mind Your Own
Business began looking for
his brother behind garbage
cans and bushes. Then
he started looking in and
under cars until a police
man approached him and
asked, “What are you do-
ing?” “Playing a game,” the
boy replied. “What is your
name?” the officer ques-
tioned. “Mind Your Own
Jokes for Kids
Business.” Furious the po-
liceman inquired, “Are you
looking for trouble?!” The
boy replied, “Why, yes.”
A blonde and a redhead
have a ranch. They have
just lost their bull. The
women need to buy anoth-
er, but only have $500. The
redhead tells the blonde,
“I will go to the market and
see if I can find one for
under that amount. If I can,
I will send you a telegram.”
She goes to the market and
finds one for $499. Having
only one dollar left, she
goes to the telegraph office
and finds out that it costs
one dollar per word. She is
stumped on how to tell the
blonde to bring the truck
and trailer. Finally, she
tells the telegraph operator
to send the word “com-
fortable.” Skeptical, the
operator asks, “How will
she know to come with the
trailer from just that word?”
The redhead replies, “She’s
a blonde so she reads slow:
‘Come for ta bull.’”
Reaching the end of a
job interview, the Human
Resources Officer asks a
young engineer fresh out of
the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, “And what
starting salary are you
looking for?” The engineer
replies, “In the region of
$125,000 a year, depending
on the benefits package.”
The interviewer inquires,
“Well, what would you say
to a package of five weeks
vacation, 14 paid holidays,
full medical and dental,
company matching retire-
ment fund to 50% of salary,
and a company car leased
every two years, say, a red
Corvette?” The engineer
sits up straight and says,
“Wow! Are you kidding?”
The interviewer replies,
“Yeah, but you started it.”
A teacher asked her
students to use the word
“beans” in a sentence. “My
father grows beans,” said
one girl. “My mother cooks
beans,” said a boy. A third
student spoke up, “We are
all human beans.”
Q: Why was six scared of
seven?
A: Because seven “ate”
nine.
Kid 1: “Hey, I bet you’re
still a virgin.”
Kid 2: “Yeah, I was a
virgin until last night .”
Kid 1: “As if.”
Kid 2: “Yeah, just ask
your sister.”
Kid 1: “I don’t have a
sister.”
Kid 2: “You will in
about nine months.”
Q: Can a kangaroo
jump higher than the Em-
pire State Building?
A: Of course. The Em-
pire State Building can’t
jump.
Q: Why couldn’t the
blonde add 10 + 5 on a
calculator?
A: She couldn’t find the
“10” button.
Instead of “the John,”
I call my toilet “the Jim.”
That way it sounds better
when I say I go to the Jim
first thing every morning.
Bet You Didn’t
Know...
*In 1400 England there was
a law that a man was allowed
to beat his wife with a stick no
thicker than his thumb. Hence
we have “the rule of thumb”
*Many years ago in Scot-
land , a new game was invent-
ed. It was ruled “Gentlemen
Only..Ladies Forbidden”....
and thus the word GOLF
entered into the English lan-
guage.
*The first couple to be
shown in bed together on
prime time TV were Fred and
Wilma Flintstone.
*Every day more money is
printed for Monopoly than the
U.S . Treasury.
*Men can read smaller
print than women can; wom-
en can hear better.
*The State with the high-
est percentage of people who
walk to work:
Alaska
*The percentage of Africa
that is wilderness: 28% (now
get this...)
*The percentage of North
America that is wilderness:
38%
*The cost of raising a me-
dium-size dog to the age of
eleven: $16,400
*The average number of
people airborne over the U.S.
in any given hour:
61,000
www.scribd.com/thejet
*Intelligent people have
more zinc and copper in their
hair.
*The first novel ever writ-
ten on a typewriter: Tom Saw-
yer.
*The San Francisco Cable
cars are the only mobile Na-
tional Monuments.
*Each king in a deck of
playing cards represents a
great king from history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the
Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
111,111,111 x 111,111,111
= 12,345,678,987,654,321
*If a statue in the park of
a person on a horse has both
front legs in the air, the per-
son died in battle. If the horse
has one front leg in the air
the person died as a result of
wounds received in battle. If
the horse has all four legs on
the ground, the person died of
natural causes.
* Only two people signed
the Declaration of Indepen-
dence on July 4th, John Han-
cock and Charles Thomson.
Most of the rest signed on Au-
gust 2, but the last signature
wasn’t added until 5 years
later.

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Sa ‘Ara Na Yadra’
“TOBU village is an hour drive from
Rakiraki Town”, said Youth Administra-
tor Tevita Nakaba. The following are the
steps to access grants he said. “Number
1, the village identifies projects through
needs assessment, 2 we come in the
picture to develop projects and write
proposal. When it’s approved , we come
down with grant agreements for signing
and then there is big cheque handover
for visibility and transparency purpose,
after which we receive funds in the ac-
count. It’s quite a process and it ensures
that funds given by the Vodafone ATH Fiji
Foundation is put to good use”, said Mr
Tevita Nakaba.
The grant agreement stipulates the
conditions of grants disbursed and also
the reporting requirements said the
Foundation Executive Ms Ambalika Devi
Prakash
“Vodafone assistance for youth en-
tertainment income generation proj-
ect is indeed timely said TOBU Youth
President Mr Josaia Lewadina. When
we opened the box first time we al-
ready generated revenue of $150 said Mr
Lewadina.”Income generation projects
is currently the most powerful projects
that the youth have been doing since
2012”, said The Ms Prakash during the
inauguration of the youth entertainment
centre.
“We don’t want our youths to get into
town to get entertained and spend mon-
ey but have the money circulated within
the village”, said the Turaga Ni Koro Mr
Joseva Rateri. Like this the youths are in
front of our eyes and we can guide them.
We have used mostly local resources
from our farm areas like bamboo and tu-
lip posts. This is how we saved money
he said.”Team Vodafone ATH Fiji Founda-
tions visit to the villages was not only to
open the centre build by the TOBU youths
but also to build the capacity, share suc-
cess stories and lessons learnt and how
we can maximise on profits that can be
generated from one project to another”,
he said
“Sharing such stories motivates us to
even work harder, especially where we
are asked to team up, do projects and
do markup, where individual youths get
their allowance and markup goes to the
youths said the President.
“WE have 157 people in our village
and retired elder continues to build ca-
pacities of youths and young women to
utilised their talents and local resources
said Mr Rateri.”Your speech is so motivat-
ing that it answers all the questions we
about to ask”, he said.
“Our villages blessings are with you
and may the good Lord bless the Foun-
dation and business who share their joy
with us during festive season”. We will
ensure to we be consistent with our
plans and projects said the villages el-
ders.We have done hygiene and sanita-
tion projects and also have a free toilet
that can be used by anyone said the Mr
Lewadina.
Our other projects include water,
electricity to the village and land side
near community hall he said. We need
funds here to ensure that we have these
projects executed said the Turani.
“WE can’t just do income genera-
tion projects and not stay healthy said
Ms Prakash. We want the projects to be
sustainable and this can be achieved
through concerted efforts and consisten-
cy she said. There is also lots of people
getting sick around the villages and we
challenge the youth and women’s groups
to steer villages people away from pain
she said. This can be done through small
steps like eating from farms, not consum-
ing too much salted and sugar foods and
also exercise and play games she said.
It’s painful when we say that we have
distributed 12m worth of mobility device
in a year. We want our villages to be
more proactive and rather not get sick
when we are young said Ms Ambalika
Prakash.We applaud the hard earned
profits by the youths and women’s club.
We are seeing that this makes the youth
club extremely happy when they see the
output of their productive work said Ms
Prakash.
“I have a lot of stories to share with
the youths and young women which is
part of my experiential journey that was
achieved through sheer dedication, per-
severance and consistency she said”.
We want people to say oh yes Tobu Youth
and Young Women are productive mem-
bers of the community and they are in-
spiring others too.
Our grassroots community matter to
us and we would them to grow from pil-
lar to pillar and from strength to strength
said the Vodafone ATH Fiji Foundation
Executive.”Let’s prove to the world that
we have the power and we can do any-
thing said the Turaga Ni Koro. He also
said that some youth clubs in other prov-
inces are becoming the first millionaires
and we can do the same said Mr Joseva
Rateri.
The Foundation Executive requested
clubs to open their gmail and facebook
account using clubs name and upload
all project progresses including meeting
updates, needs of the community and tag
their youth administrators, youth work-
ers, their Turaga Ni Koros and preferably
us so we can monitor and evaluate proj-
ect successes and also provide tips and
ideas on how to make it more lucrative
she said. Vodafone ATH Executive, Ambalika Devi with villagers of
VODAFONE ATH FIJI FOUNDATION Tobu in Ra. Photo: VODAFONE ATH.

First Day Back

First Day Back Safety Train-
ing, starts 2018 for Fulton Ho-
gan Hiways
More than 400 workers of
Fulton Hogan Hiways (FHH)
and selected subcontractors
took part in the company’s
Back to Work Safety Training,
held simultaneously at Sam-
abula, Rewa and Savusavu
Depots.
FHH Manager Health and
Safety, John Tinsley, said it
was important after coming
back from a holiday break,
that workers “refreshed and
refocused themselves on ba-
sic safety rules, procedures
and hazards of our work.”
“Upgrading and maintain-
ing roads carries a lot of risks
and potential hazards, and
so our First Day Back Safety
Training initiative ensures
that we do not take safety for
granted in everything we do,”
said Mr Tinsley.
The day-long event cov-
ered refresher training in five
key risk areas: Emergency
First Aid, Temporary Traffic
Management, Vehicle Load
Security, Fatigue Prevention
and a session with the Fiji
Independent Commission
Against Corruption (FICAC).
Workers are divided into
groups of 20 to 30 alternating
between the five different risk
areas, with each session tak-
ing up to 20 minutes.
At the completion of the
training activities all vehicles,
safety and Personal Protec-
tive Equipment (PPE) was
checked to ensure all were
in good condition prior to the
start of work.
Mr Tinsley said while their
Fiji operation’s Injury Fre-
quency Rate was lower than
their parent company in New
Zealand and Australia, there
are still areas that can be im-
proved.
“Despite that, we still did
not achieve our goal of zero
harm in 2017 because of a
few injury incidents during
the year, with the most recent
happening in late December,
reminding us that safety is
every workers responsibility,”
said Mr Tinsley.
“As a team, safety remains
our top priority with zero
harm our ultimate goal for
2018,” said Mr Tinsley.
PACIFIC REACH LIMITED

BROCHURES

Tel + 679 670 5443

WEBSITE
or + 679 670 7075
support@media.com.fj

www.media.com. 6 Queens Rd, Martintar Nadi, Fiji

THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 23
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Gamel Meets
Wara in Europe
By ANA SOVA

Vodafone Fiji football coach Christophe
Gamel is trying his best to secure the services
of England based Scott Wara to play for the na-
tional team.
Gamel met Wara on his current trip to Eu-
rope and is trying come to an agreement with
his club to be released for national duties.
Gamel was present to witness Wara debut
for Stoke City against Coventry in the FA Cup
competition last weekend.
The national coach was impressed with his
performance and wants Wara to play for Fiji.
Gamel says he will leave the decision on
Wara to opt for which country he wants to rep-
resent as he is eligible to play for England as
well.
“He is very much interested to play for Fiji
but he has a lot to think,”Gamel said.
According to Gamel, the talks are slowly
taking shape and he is hopeful for a positive
outcome.
Warra is a Fiji born and left the country
when he was seven years old and also carries
Fiji passport.
The Frenchman also visited Qatar and had
talks with the Aspire and Aspetar Academies to
play matches against the youth national teams Fiji Football Coach, Christophe Gamel with Scott Wara and a rep of the Stoke City Football
In future. Club in England. Photo: FIJI FA.

Vodafone Premier League Launched

By ANA SOVA

The first eight rounds of
the Vodafone Premier League
have been confirmed which
kicks off this Sunday.
Three exciting matches
have been scheduled where
fireworks are expected to ex-
plode with start of the football
season this year.
Rewa will host arch rivals
Suva at Ratu Cakobau Park,
Lautoka will host Tavua at
Churchill Park in Lautoka
while Nadi plays Ba at Prince
Charles Park in Nadi.
All three matches will start
at 3pm.
Northerners Labasa
and Dreketi will not fea-
ture this weekend but have
two matches next weekend
against Rewa and Suva at
Ratu Cakobau Park.
The Vodafone Premier
League was launched on
Tuesday January 9 at Fiji FA
Headquarters.
Fixtures for the eight
rounds.
Week 1
1. Lautoka/Tavua Churchill
Park (14/01/18) @ 3.00pm
2. Rewa/Suva Ratu Cako-
bau Park (14/01/18) @ 3.00pm
3. Nadi/Ba Prince Charles
Park (14/01/18) @ 3.00pm
Week 2
4. Lautoka/Ba (Fri-
day Night) Churchill Park
(19/01/18) @ 7.30pm
5. Rewa/Dreketi Ratu Ca-
kobau Park (19/01/18) @
5.30pm
6. Suva/Labasa Ratu Cako-
bau Park (19/01/18) @ 7.30pm
7. Rewa/Labasa Ratu Ca-
kobau Park (21/01/18) @
3.00pm
8. Suva/Dreketi Ratu Cako-
bau Park (21/01/18) @ 1.00pm
Week 3
9. Dreketi/Lautoka Subrail
Park (28/01/18) @ 1.30pm
10. Labasa/Lautoka Subrail
Park (27/01/18) @ 1.30pm
11. Tavua/Rewa Garvey
Park (28/01/18) @ 3.00pm
12. Suva/Ba Ratu Cakobau
Park (28/01/18) @ 3.00pm
Week 4
13. Rewa/Nadi Ratu Cako-
bau Park (04/02/18) @ 3.00pm
14. Lautoka/Nadi (Fri-
day Night) Churchill Park
(02/02/18) @ 7.30pm
15. Dreketi/Labasa Subrail
Park (03/02/18) @ 1.30pm
Week 5
16. Tavua/Suva Garvey
Park (11/02/18) @ 3.00pm
17. Rewa/Lautoka Ratu
Cakobau Park (11/02/18) @
3.00pm
18. Labasa/Nadi Subrail Reps of Vodafone and Fiji FA during the Vodafone Premier
Park (10/02/18) @ 1.30pm launch. Photo: FIJI FA.
19. Dreketi/Nadi Subrail
Park (11/02/18) @ 1.30pm 22. Rewa/Ba Ratu Cakobau (03/03/18) @ 1.30pm
Week 6 Park (25/02/18) @ 3.00pm 26. Dreketi/Ba Subrail Park
20. Nadi/Tavua (Friday 23. Labasa/Tavua Subrail (04/03/18) @ 1.30pm
Night) Prince Charles Park Park (24/02/18) @ 1.30pm 27. Ba/Tavua (Week days)
(16/02/18) @ 7.30pm 24. Dreketi/Tavua Subrail TBC
21. Suva/Nadi Ratu Cako- Park (25/02/18) @ 1.30pm 28. Lautoka/Suva TBC
bau Park (18/02/18) @ 3.00pm Week 8
Week 7 25. Labasa/Ba Subrail Park

24 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

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THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 25

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International Field Fires Doping: Four New

Up at Jeep World Junior Zealand Rugby
Players Banned for
Championship in Kiama Drug Offences
It’s been another exciting
day of action at Bombo Beach
for Day 5 of the 2017 Jeep
World Junior Championship.
With small clean condi-
tions continuing, event organ-
isers were able to complete
Men’s Round Two and six
heats of Men’s Round Three
in the 2-to-3 foot waves before
the high tide swallowed the
remaining surf.
Mateus Herdy (BRA) burst
onto the scene at last year’s
World Junior Championship
with an equal 5th place in his
maiden appearance.
The progressive young Bra-
zilian has been turning heads
with his super fast aerial at- Robertson played for New Zealand U20s in 2010 and 2011
tack and looked to dominate and the NZ sevens side in 2011-2012. Photo: BBC NEWS.
into today’s smaller condi-
tions.
That was until South Afri- Four New Zealand rugby Clenbuterol and metandie-
can Adin Masencamp (ZAF) players have been suspended none are both prohibited sub-
decided to rain on his pa- for doping offences. stances under the NZ Sports
rade, finding a gem of a left Zoe Berry, who played Anti-Doping Rules.
and posting an excellent 8.33 one Test for the Black Ferns “This serves as a reminder
(out of a possible 10). Herdy against England in 2012, and that all athletes have to be
scoured the lineup looking New Zealand under-20 and very careful about what they
for an answer, but it was to no sevens international Glen put into their bodies,” said
avail as Masencamp went on a beautiful place and has so left their mateship on the competition resumes. Robertson were both given New Zealand Rugby general
to win with a two-wave total many fun waves. It was good beach and got to work in the The 2017 WSL Jeep World four-year suspensions. manager Neil Sorensen.
of 14.33 (out of a possible 20). to get competition back on small clean conditions. Mc- Junior Championship will Two other club-level play- All four players, who were
“I feel like Mateus and I are today and I’m stoked to have Donagh built slowly through be held from January 4 - 12, ers received a two-year ban playing club rugby at the time
a closer match if the waves made it into Round Four. It’s the heat consistently upping 2018. For more information, and a 21-month ban. of the offences, pleaded guilty
are a bit bigger but thought a great atmosphere with all his wave scores to eventu- highlights and images, head Rhys Pedersen, Berry and to at least one of the alleged
he might have an edge in the of the Aussies getting behind ally win with a heat total of to www.worldsurfleague.com Robertson were banned for offences.
smaller waves today,” Masen- one and other.” 13.27. Wrice was eliminated and on the WSL App. possessing and in some cases The charges were brought
camp said. “I knew he would Jeep World Junior Cham- in equal 25th place. Remaining Men’s Round using or attempting to use by Drug Free Sport New Zea-
bring his air game but I just pionship Men’s top seed Cody “It’s been a really whirl- Two Heat Results: stimulant clenbuterol. land, which enforces World
focused on my strengths and Young (HAW) was excited to wind few days,” McDonagh Heat 11: Mikey McDonagh Ben Qauqau-Dodds was Anti-Doping Agency codes.
it paid off. I surfed earlier and hit the water against Erwan said. “I thought I was going (AUS) vs. Lucas Wrice (AUS) charged with possession and
was really familiar with where Blouin (FRA). A few days off to surf yesterday morning Heat 12: Adin Masencamp use or attempted use of ana-
to sit, so that definitely helped showed how excited the pair then we went on hold then (ZAF) vs. Te Kehukehu Butler bolic steroid metandienone.
me through what was always were to return to the water, in the afternoon we went off (NZL)
going to be a hard heat.”

Heat 5 of Round Three saw
a battle of the goofy-foots with
Cole Houshmand (USA) take
on Sandon Whittaker (AUS).
The two revelled in the reeling
catching a total of 21 waves
in the 30-minute heat. Young
had the Frenchman on the
ropes for the entire heat post-
ing a 12.83 heat total to move
so I feel like I’ve been in the
zone preparing for this heat
for days.
It was tough coming up
against my good friend Lucas
Wrice in that heat, you always
Fiji FA Mourns
Men’s Round Three Results
Heats 1-6:
Heat 1: Rio Waida (IDN)
15.10 def. Leo Paul Etiene
(FRA) 14.26
Heat 2: Yuji Nishi (JPN)

left-handers with Houshmand
holding the upper hand for
the majority of the heat.
With only 5 minutes left
Whittaker found one of the
closer to the pointy end of the
draw while Blouin is eliminat-
ed in equal 13th place.
“That was a slow heat
but I’ really glad we ran be-
cause I was super pumped to
the Loss of
prefer to have those heats 14.97 def. Momoto Tsuzuki
later in the event. At the end (JPN) 14.27
of the day we are here to win Heat 3: Adin Masencamp
heats so friendships are left (ZAF) 14.33 def. MateusHerdy
on the beach. I’m enjoying my (BRA) 11.57

bigger waves of the heat and
went to work, posting a heat
total of 14.00 to take the win
from Houshmand and move
into Round Four.
compete today,” Young said.
“These smaller conditions
are definitely not my strong
suit but I just worked hard on
staying positive which is really
time here in Kiama, it’s really
relaxing and reminds me of
home (Lennox Head) which
is super comforting.”
Indonesia’s Rio Waida
Former
Heat 4: Joh Azuchi (JPN)
12.73 def. Ryland Rubens
(USA) 11.80
Heat 5: Sandon Whittaker
(AUS) 14.00 def. Cole Housh-

“It is a little slow out there
but when the waves come
they are really fun,” Whit-
taker said. “We have had a
couple of days off which has
been fun to test boards and
hang out here in Kiama. It’s
important on days like today.”
The opening heat of the
day saw a much-anticipated
battle between local ripper
Lucas Wrice (AUS) and Len-
nox Head’s Mikey McDonagh
(AUS). The two good friends
Goalkeeper
(IDN) continued his great mand (USA) 13.30
run in Kiama posting another Heat 6: Cody Young (HAW)
heat win and progressing into 12.83 def. Erwan Blouin (FRA)
Round Four. He will join other 7.23
Round Three winners Yuji
Nishi (JPN) and Joh Azuchi
(JPN) in Round Four when WORLD SURF LEAGUE

Preparation Boost for

‘Sniper’
By MARIA LAQETA Former Nationa Goalkeeper, Afroz Nabi.Photo: FIJI FA.

The World Boxing Foundation Asia By ANA SOVA

Pacific Super Lightweight title has to be
retained to our shores.
Sebastian “The Sniper” Singh the
holder of the title received a timely boost
from his sponsor Inkk Mobile Limited as
he preparing to defend his boxing title in
Lami next month.
The Inkk Mobile Limited the team at
Inkk Mobile are super excited for Sebas-
tian’s first boxing contest as their first ever
brand ambassador.
Inkk Mobile Limited operations man-
ager Amitesh Narayan said Sebastian is
the latest boxing sensation in the country
and is poised to achieve greater heights.
Meanwhile, the company is happy to
release the much needed funds for the
champ preparation and attire needs, as
he will be in tough match against a tough
Australian opponent.
“We are glad to support Sebastian
achieve his dream of becoming a world
rated boxer,” he added.
Mr Narayan understand that success-
ful defense of his title will land Sebastian
more lucrative international fight offers
and still the Inkk team will support him
with his endeavors all the way.
World Boxing Foundation Asia Pacific Super Lightweight title holder Sebastian
“The Sniper” Singh.Photo SUPPLIED
World Boxing Foundation Asia Pacific
Super Lightweight title holder believed
his team is doing all the hard yards during
the training sessions as they countdown
towards the big fight.
“The preparation is going good as
we’re just three weeks away so we’re re-
ally putting hard now besides we don’t re-
ally have any problems with our training
camp as everything is running smoothly,”
said.
Mr Singh proudly thanked his sponsor,
Inkk Mobile, for assisting him a lot as be-
fore they have a habit to find people to
help with their preparations.
To assists them with the World Boxing
tournaments, he said the former IBO Asia
Pacific champion from Australia will be in
the country on Sunday to inspire and give
tips and it will be a good opportunity for
him.
Westwood Boxing Promotions pro-
moter Praneel Dass tagged the main bout
as an ‘explosive battle’.
“Brent Dames is also a rated boxer,
pound to pound, and has also proven
himself so we will surely be having an ex-
plosive fight,” Dass said.
Mr Dass believed whenever it’s a title
fight whereby two countries are involved,
it’s always a cracker so the fans will ex-
pect a classed fight between the Fiji and
Australian boxers.
Scheduled for the fight will be com-
menced on February 2 at the Novotel
Convention Center, Suva.
The Fiji Football Associa-
tion President Rajesh Patel,
its Board members and the
whole football fraternity was
saddened by the passing
away of former national goal-
keeper Afroz Nabi.
Nabi passed away at the
Ba Mission Hospital on Janu-
ary 7.
Nabi represented Ba, Nad-
roga and Suva in his playing
days.
The 35-year-old also rep-
resented the Fiji Olympians
team and the national squad
in the early 2000’s.
The highlight of his career
was winning a gold medal
with the national team at the
South Pacific Games in Suva
in 2003.
Fiji Football Association
Chief Executive Officer, Mo-
hammed Yusuf acknowl-
edged the contribution of
Nabi on the football field.
“It’s a huge loss. He was a
great goal keeper of his time
and contributed immensely
whenever he was given an
opportunity to do so. A great
leader and a good football
player. He will surely be
missed by those who knew
him,” Yusuf said.
Yusuf said his thoughts and
prayers go out to the family in
this difficult time.
“To lose a family mem-
ber is never easy, and to lose
someone with their whole life
ahead of them is devastating,”
Yusuf said.
“As a father myself I can
only imagine what Nabi’s
family are going through. I tru-
ly hope our prayers can pro-
vide a little comfort for them
during this time.”
Nabi was laid laid to rest
on January 8 at 12.30pm at
Maururu Muslim Cemetery in
Ba.

26 THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

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Fiji Sports Awards

By MARIA LAQETA
The Fiji Sports Awards ac-
knowledged 2017 athletes
and those behind the scenes
for the hard work and com-
mitment towards sports in
Fiji.
Also enlisted were 2017
Fiji Sports Organization of
the Year with nominations in-
clude clubs, commissions or
sporting organizations.
According to the Fiji
Sports Awards Committee,
said Nominee should have;
achieved excellent outcomes
at Olympic or World events,
shown efficiency in admin-
istration, hosted sports pro-
grammes and competitions
and had initiatives in youth
development.
“Also participated in na-
tional, regional and inter-
national competitions with
achievements and successes
in supported the develop-
ment of players, coaches and
volunteers within the organi-
zation as well promoting the
Olympic values of friendship,
excellence and respect.
With 2017 Fiji Sports Volun-
teer of the Year; nominations
are open to volunteers, who
by their participation, com-
mitment and dedication have
contributed significantly to the
success of the organization in
2017.
As for Fiji Sports Adminis-
trator of the Year nominations
are open to all sports admin-
istrators and must have detail
achievements during 2017, in-
cluding the significance of the
achievements and the value
of the organization and the
sports community.
Selection will be based
on innovation, leadership,
accreditation, commitment,
professionalism and results
achieved. The nominee must
have contributed significantly
in the development of the
organization’s administration
capacity in 2017.
Fiji Technical Official of
the Year its nominations are
open to all technical officials
and must detail achievements
during 2017, including the sig-
nificance of the achievements
and the value of this to the
organization and the sports
community thus the selection
will be based on innovation,
leadership, accreditation,
commitment, professionalism
and results achieved.
The Fiji Coach of the Year,
its nominations are open to all
national coaches and must de-
tail achievements during 2017
including the significance of
the achievements and the val-
ue of this to the organization
and the sports community
where the selection will be
based on innovation, leader-
ship, accreditation, commit-
ment, professionalism and
results achieved.
For the Fiji Sports Pho-
tograph of the Year, entry is
open to all sports photogra- outstanding results at the
phers and must be still pho- highest level of the sport in
tography only, with a 2017 2017.
sporting theme (details of Fiji Sportsman and Sports-
the event must be included). woman of the Year nomina-
Each photographer can enter tions are open to individuals
three photos published in the both male and female who
year of the award and must be have excelled and achieved
endorsed by his/her Editor in outstanding results in 2017.
Chief/ Sports Editor or Nation- Meanwhile, all nomination
al Federation to verify entries. Forms need to be delivered
Fiji Young Athlete of the before January 19 which no
Year Male and Female, its later than 5.00pm with nomi-
nominations are open to indi- nations form endorsed by the
viduals both male and female relevant National Federation
aged 16 years or younger as (or Media House).
at 31st December 2017, who
have excelled and achieved
outstanding results in 2016, ei-
ther locally or abroad. Nomi-
nees must have: Excelled at
the highest level in the sport,
in their age group, within the
past 12 months
As for the Fiji Sports Team
of the Year its nominations are
open to Sport Teams which
have excelled and achieved

Sabeto Horse
Race Set New Date
By MARIA LAQETA
Nadi is looking forward
to one of country’s premier
horse racing events, The 2018
Sabeto Races which is con-
firmed Saturday, June 30.
Horse lovers can have op-
portunity to witness them-
selves the only horse racing
hosted locally besides posi-
tive feedback from people to
attend the event.
The horse racing event is
the ongoing event each year
in the country with the good
hope to continue to improve
from last year.
Despite of changing weath-
er pattern in the Western divi-
sion, organisers have moved
the event earlier in the year, a
more traditional ‘dry season’.
Event hosted is not for lo-
cals it also attracts visitors
from Australia and New Zea-
land who already planning
their holidays to attend.
Nothing change as for the
format of the races because it
would be the same and public
is welcomed to display what
they got.
The 2018 Sabeto Races
have bigger plans is to further
educate and inspire horse
owners to ensure good health
and right treatment continue
to improve.
Meanwhile, the event will
be hosted on a long week-
end, Friday June 29, National
Sports Day. Horse racing in progress. Photo: SUPPLIED.

Billiard and Snooker

Association Fiji
By MARIA LAQETA
The Billiard and Snooker
Association Fiji (BSAF) is look-
ing forward for bigger plans.
Meanwhile, the sport of-
ten hosted in a yearly basis
whereby interested partici-
pant rushed in to be part of
the sport.
For the last season there
have been few hiccup and
downfalls but this year BSAF is
trying their level best to over-
come those issues.
Newly appointed Billiard
and Snooker Association Fiji
(BSAF) President Mr. Bhatti
Riffat expressed his sincere
thanks to all the affiliated
clubs, executive and commit-
tee members for having faith
and electing him as the presi-
dent of the association.
“I promise to you all that
I will try my utmost best and
deliver what is expected as
the capacity of the BSAF Presi-
dent and whatever is needed
to guide a Snooker a Billiard
champion,” he added.
Mr Riffat personally pro-
vide the platform and support
the association all the way
and thanked all the commit-
tee executive and members
for having confidence in him.
“Not forgetting thanking
the all Media Partners Fiji TV,
Sky Pacific TV, FBC, FijiTimes,
Fiji Sun,fijilive.com and All the
Radio Stations,” he added.
He looked forward to start
a professional level Billiards
and Snooker in Fiji and need
support and co-operation in
future.

Bhatti Billiards and Snooker

Association President
Business Riffat Bhatti was elected as
the new president of the Billiards and
Snooker Association of Fiji on Sunday
last week.
Bhatti takes over from Philip Gock
who resigned because of his ailing health
despite having one more year in his ten-
ure.
The appointment was done during the
annual general meeting at the Lautoka
Club.
Bhatti, who is also the president of the
Southern Division Billiards and Snooker
Association, said the aim was to prepare
a good team for the Oceania Champion-
ship.
“The last president resigned due to ill-
ness so I will be at the helm for one year,”
Bhatti said
“The short-term goal is to organise
players for the regional event. We want
to bring the Oceania title to Fiji. There is
a lot of talent in the country but snooker
needs the support of the government and
we need to start an academy.”
Meanwhile the BSAF is ready to host
the Fiji Games snooker and billiards
competition this weekend in Suva.
Riffat said they had received 12 med-
als from the Fiji Association of Sports
and National Olympic Committee (FA-
SANOC) which they would be presenting
to the winners. Eight teams from around
the country will be competing in this
event.
Snooker is a cue sport that is typically
played on a table covered with a green
cloth or baize, with pockets situated in
each of the four corners and a further
two, commonly referred to as the mid-
dle, or side pockets, that sit in the middle
of each of the long side cushions.
The (baize) cloth on a snooker table
has a directional nap running from the
balk end of the table towards the end
with the (black ball) spot.
Riffat Bhatti, new president of Billiards and Snooker Asso-
BSAF MEDIA ciation president.Photo: SUPPLIED.

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THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 27
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Page 26 Page 27
Preparation Boost for Fiji Sports Awards
Sniper

VOLUME 10 ISSUE 99 JANUARY 2018 www.thejetnewspaper.com 50 CENTS

AVIATORS SUPPORT
FIJI NSW TEAM
By ANA SOVA
Nadi Aviators Rugby
League Association (NAR-
LA) has released an official
statement in support of the
Fiji NSW Team led by NRL
Legend Petero Civoniceva
for an endorsement to enter
the New South Wales Rugby
League Cup competition in
2019.
The Association has called
on the Fiji National Rugby
League Board to finalise its
endorsement to the Fiji NSW
Bid team by the end of Janu-
ary 2018.
The Bid team has re-
ceived its license to operate
a team and compete in the
New South Wales Cup under
the New South Wales Rugby
League (NSWRL).
Nadi thanks the bid team
for having wisely chosen to
operate a team from Fiji for
Fijians.
“We are proud of this ini-
tiative by Petero and his team,
and it is one that had not been
done by any FNRL Board in
the past 10 years.”
Nadi Aviators revealed it
supports this movement and
the direction to channel local
talents into the NRL competi-
tion through the NSW Cup.
“Our Fiji National Rugby
League has not been given
a license by the governing
league bodies of Australia to
enter any of its competition. Nadi Aviators team: Photo: FACEBOOK.
Fiji needs to put its energy
into our local competition first
before we can think of ventur- Rugby League World Cup if Fiji needs to work on afford- ary for affiliate members of coming FNRL Annual General respect; now we call on our
ing into other regional and in- they were playing in the NRL ing its players the infrastruc- Fiji National Rugby League Meeting. FNRL Board to have the same
ternational competitions” or other Australian competi- ture and competition needed (FNRL) to see possibility of The Nadi Aviators Rugby and endorse the Fiji NSW
tions.” for the sport to head in the pushing the endorsement League also revealed its fam- Team into the NSW Rugby
“We need to champion the “Together, we have failed right direction”. either by resolution of a spe- ily has a strong commitment League competition by end
dreams of our locally based to do so in 2017 even after Nadi Aviators Rugby cial general meeting of FNRL to our local players. January 2018”.
players who would otherwise many reminders and confer- League will be convening a members or the election of “We have seen the re-
only be able to play in the ences dwelling on this issue. meeting on Friday 20th Janu- a new FNRL Board in the up- wards of our devotion in this

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