Having recently returned from another productive visit to Fiji, we are now able to reflect on recent successes and make plans for future projects.

Our time in Fiji involved travel to some of the smaller islands, as well as helping out at schools on the main island. We returned to the island of Kadavu, where we had a kindergarten opened last year in memory of 3-year old Iva and her grandmother Sera, both of whom tragically lost their lives in a car accident. The school has pledged to hold a memorial service each year for these two very special people on the anniversary of the opening of the kindergarten.

On the island of Ovalau we visited our fifth Sunny Smiles kindergarten in the village of Rukuruku, and in one of the cane growing areas of Vanua Levu we helped out at a school that is struggling with a lack of even the most basic resources.

We have organised for locally made wooden outdoor play equipment to be supplied to 5 kindergartens and we visited the covered play area and sanitation facilities that we have been able to provide for a kindergarten in the interior of the main island.

Whilst in Fiji this time, we came across a beautiful 2½ -year old girl who was born with a very rare life-threatening condition. Her lower jaw is severely under-developed and she has virtually no tongue. As a baby Pooja was unable to suck and had to be kept alive on a drip. She is still unable to swallow or speak, and has to have her food mashed or liquidised. Although doctors in Fiji have identified her condition, they are unable to treat it. However, surgeons from Australia visited her local hospital and were able to examine her. They have said that Pooja might be able to receive treatment in a special unit in Adelaide, but the surgery and follow-up treatment will be a long, slow and very expensive process. Whatever it takes, we are determined to raise the money necessary for this treatment (about 100,000 Australian dollars or £75,000).

Anyone who would like to contribute towards the fund to help Pooja can do so in a number of different ways. You can obviously contact us and pass any donation directly to us. You can pay online (click on the Pooja link) or alternatively you can make a donation from any UK mobile phone by texting Fiji42 £2 (£5 or £10) to 70070.

Please donate whatever you can, however small. If we all work together we can give this little girl hope for the future and the chance of living a normal life.

One of the highlights of our trip was a return visit to the Fiji School for the Blind. Some time ago we had heard that some of the inmates at Wakefield Prison had learnt how to write in Braille and so we asked if they could translate some children’s books for the children at the school. Not only did they agree to do this, but they also insisted that they would cover all expenses. We took the 5 boxes of books to the school and the children were delighted. They immediately ran their fingers over the pages and started reading out loud. Specialist resources of this kind are not readily available in Fiji and so the books were particularly welcome. The head boy wrote a thank-you letter in Braille for the prisoners and then read it out loud, so that we could take a video.

On our return to the UK at the beginning of November, we contacted Wakefield Prison and asked if we could personally explain to the inmates just how much their efforts have been appreciated. The prison authorities said that would not be possible, as it is such a high security establishment. Undeterred, we wrote to Ken Clarke MP and a couple of weeks later were granted permission!

We made our visit shortly before Christmas and it was amazing! Security was very, very tight. We had to send everything in advance to have it vetted and we ourselves were told we should turn up with just a passport. Even the tissues in our pocket were confiscated when we were searched on arrival! We were escorted through numerous locked gates and doors, past warders with vicious-looking dogs and finally into the Braille unit. Once there, we were allowed to show the video and pictures, and then walk around and chat with the inmates. They had never received any feedback from their efforts before and they were thrilled. One man (presumably a hardened criminal, as he’d already been inside for 12 years and still had many years to go) said he ‘welled up’ when we played the video of the head boy. Another one listened to us talking about our work with children in Fiji and said it made him realise how lucky he was!!