Valentine season is here again, making us all the more conscious of our hearts.  FIJI Water Foundation is celebrating and showing our love for Fiji as a proud supporter of the Fiji Rheumatic Heart Disease Control Program (RHDCP). 

Primarily affecting school-aged children, Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) begins as a bacterial infection which, if untreated, can develop into rheumatic fever and eat away at heart valves. Recent data from Tonga and Fiji suggest that the prevalence of RHD is the highest recorded in the world and translates to 40,000 children affected across the Pacific.  RHD is most prevalent where people live in close proximity and with poor sanitation. While treatment is readily available in Fiji, detection is inadequate and many sick children are flying under the radar.

To help RHDCP, FIJI Water Foundation has teamed up with Cure Kids Fiji and purchased two portable echocardiography machines. Last November, 575 school children were screened around the FIJI Water factory using these machines and thirty were detected with early signs of RHD. These children are now receiving the ongoing treatment they need to live long, healthy lives. Later this month, the RHDCP team will screen close to 1,000 primary school children in the Savusavu area, and another 500 at Suva schools in March. We hope these screenings can be included in annual school health checks in the future, ensuring that Fiji's hearts stay healthy. That would a Valentines' gift worth celebrating.

Generous individuals and groups overseas often tell us they would like to make material donations to Fiji, if only it weren't for the cost of transport to the islands. This month, however, the Fiji Crippled Children’s Society and Spinal Injuries Association  received a 40 ft container full of much needed physical rehabilitation equipment, thanks to the successful coordination of FIJI Water and many Fiji friends.

The materials were donated by PhysioNet -a UK based organization founded by former Fiji resident Peter Thompson- and included 204 wheelchairs and 160 pieces of other equipment such as crutches and walking frames. Similar container loads have been donated to countries such as Bosnia, Romania, Belarus and South Africa, but the Fiji shipment was PhysioNet's biggest and traveled the farthest.

As FIJI Water regularly travels to the UK, we were able to provide heavily discounted container and logistics costs on one of our shipping routes. The Rotary Club of Suva North, Supreme Fuel, Vodafone, and Credit Corp also contributed toward the cost of shipping while government waived all duties on the container.

Packing the equipment was another challenge. Customs and shipping in the UK required that the container be packed in under three hours. Fortunately, Fiji contacts again came in handy. "There are about 60 Fijian families near Yorkshire," Mrs. Thompson said. "Fijian soldiers serving in the British Army based at Catteric Base came down one Saturday and helped us pack the container in about two hours. That evening we hosted them to a Fijian feast. We had a difficult job finding tavioka but we found it and my daughter cooked the Fijian dishes."

Spinal Injuries Association President Joshko Wakaniyasi notes: “Others may not realize all the behind the scenes work it took to make this happen. Wheelchairs are not readily available in Fiji, and those who have them often use borrowed or ill-fitting chairs which would go the scrap heap in another country. For those of us who are confined to wheelchairs, these things are priceless. They allow us to be mobile and independent.”

Mr. Wakaniyasi said that the process of distributing the chairs has already begun. “Four are on their way to Rotuma, and we have chairs going to special schools throughout the country to Ra, Ba, Nadi, Levuka, Savusavu, Labasa, Nausori, to Orthopedics at CWM, Tamavua Rehab Centre, and to people who have been identified by the Fiji Disabled Persons Association. Thirteen people in Ra received chairs yesterday who had never had them before. It is such an amazing gift. Our sincere thanks to PhysioNet, FIJI Water, and all the stakeholders who have assisted us." FIJI Water is proud to have played an important role in making this donation possible, and we hope to team up with PhysioNet again in the future.