Despite feeling the full brunt of the COVID-19 outbreak and job losses, Leadership Fiji Fellows of 2020 managed to build desks and chairs for over 100 needy children as part of their community project last year.
The desks and chairs were donated to Fiji School for the Blind, children of Nanuku Settlement in Vatuwaqa, Loloma Home in Nadi and some areas in Vanua Levu.
The cost of each set was $90.
Leadership Fiji 2020 Team Leader Patricia Naisara says they did not give the desks and the chairs to schools because they were closed last year and they instead identified children in the communities who needed it.
Naisara says they managed to accomplish this at a time where members were struggling with job losses, reduced pay and reduced working hours.
She says the donation also encouraged parents in Nanuku Settlement to send their children to a makeshift home school in the area.
Naisara says the homes became the centre of everything during COVID and they are happy to be able to create the right space to ensure these children continue their learning.
30 participants will be part of the Leadership Fiji program this year.
Leadership Fiji Board Chairman William Parkinson says they interviewed 72 applicants from 47 different organisations but they could only select 30.
Parkinson says the key learning experience of Leadership Fiji is the diversity of the group and what they learn from each other.
He says he is thrilled that there are two police officers in the program this year.
Over 500 people have graduated from the program so far.
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