Letter to Yadua

Apologies for not having added much here for a while. In the intervening time however it looks like the money I raised is on it's way to Yadua, and with it I sent the following letter addressed to the villagers. Hopefully I'll soon hear that everything has gone smoothly.
The original plan was to get the money there by today (August 10th, which is incidently "Yadua Day"!), but bank confusion has likely put a stop to that. Next week it should be sorted though.

To Ratu Jone and the Villagers of Denimanu,
Bula!
This is from Tom Taylor (though many of you called me simply Tomasi, and Pita rather confusingly decided to call me Pita!), ex-Greenforce volunteer from Phase 27, back in the last few months of 2004. As you hopefully know by now (through Jone Niukulu, Pita or maybe Greg) I have recently raised a little bit of money that I hope will go towards a couple of projects on Yadua.
When I first arrived on Yadua I really didn’t know what to expect. I had been on one Greenforce expedition to Borneo a couple of years earlier, and though I remember the diving there being spectacular we never properly got to know the local community.
So it was a real surprise to discover how much a part of village life the volunteers on Yadua were. The diving was every bit as amazing as in Borneo (in fact I couldn’t believe it when I saw the size of the fish you have, not to mention the sharks, dolphins, manta rays and turtles!), but above all my best memories of Yadua are of our frequent trips to Denimanu.
You all welcomed us into your homes and made us feel a part of the community. You shared your food unselfishly, challenged us to many games of Vidi-vidi (always beating us I think!), and served us tremendous quantities of kava from the bottomless kava bowl. I am not a religious person, but I looked forward to church on Sundays, to hear the fantastic voices of your choir and take my chance to show my respect to your customs.
I know I will never forget my time on Yadua because of all of you, and since I left I have wanted to do something constructive to show you all how much it meant to me.
That was one of the major reasons I decided to run the London Marathon (for the third time!) this year. I had spoken to Greg about this and he suggested the Village Development Committee would be a worthy cause.
So on April 23rd I tied up my shoes and set off on another 26.2 mile lap of London. It took me just over 4 hours, and though hard work I actually enjoyed the run, waving to the huge crowd all the way round! Enclosed are a couple of photos of the day, just so you all believe me!
Anyway, thanks to many of my friends (including a few ex-Greenforce volunteers) and especially my parents (who ran a Fiji themed evening for their friends to raise over half of the total!) I managed to collect £1,040 (which works out as around 3,300FJD).
Hopefully by now Jone Niukulu has already explained to you how I am donating this money to Denimanu, but just in case, here goes:
I would like 2,000FJD to go towards the Village Development Committee to fund the project of producing electricity for the Community Hall and Church in Denimanu using the solar panels at Nawaisevu Bay. I understand that a researcher/electrician working on Taba has estimated that the project would cost this much, and I personally think that it sounds like a very good use of these cells. If for any reason you manage to complete the project with some of this money left over then please feel free to spend it on whatever you see as fit, though either way I would love to be kept up to date on how the money is spent (perhaps the occasional message could be passed to Greg or Jone Niukulu and they could forward it to me).
The remaining money (about 1,300FJD) is to go to the newly formed Environment Committee. I do not have a specific project in mind for this, but from hearing about it’s planned activities I would like to support it. Again I want to allow the committee to have freedom to choose where the money gets spent, though I would like to be informed as to how things go. However I do personally believe that anything involving educational activities for the children of Denimanu is certainly a worthy cause.
I hope this letter finds you all in good health and doing well. Finally I would like to again thank everyone on Yadua for the amazing time I had back in 2004. It would be hard for me to mention everyone by name, because I have to admit with time I cannot quite remember everyone I met, but a special thanks has to go to Ratu Jone, Anare, Pita and his whole family, OJ, Sepu and last, but by no means least, Jerry Soata and his family who adopted me whilst I was on the island. The sunday lunches you served were always a treat and I would eat til I thought I would explode! Then I would head off to teh bure to sleep and your kids and their friends would invade it and get me to play endless games of "ABC"!
I miss you all, and hopefully one day I’ll have the chance to come back and see you again.
Take Care

Tom/Tomasi/Pita