3/7 - Couchsurf and Nadi

So I had an interesting morning getting to know my host family a little bit. My hostess, Luisa, was occupied this morning, so while we met I didn't really get the chance to interact with her much, but I spent two men, Pio and Ratu, talked with me for a while. It became apparent that Pio, 23, is in love with the idea of becoming a pilot. He told me that there are only two flight schools in Fiji, both costing about $80,000 Fijian dollars. He found a flight school in California that would cost around $23,000, which he thinks he could raise, but was asking me if it is possible to get loans in the US if you are not a citizen. I was pretty sure that the answer to this is no, but if anyone knows different, please comment. Flight school wouldn't necessarily fall under the Dept of Education's restrictions for non-citizens?

After discussing this for a while, he told me his other plan was to join the US military so that he could get pilot training paid for. So then I found myself in the slightly surreal position of trying to help him figure out what he would need to do in order to join the military as a non-citizen..! After some Internet research (part of which consisted in an online chat with an Air Force recruiter...with me pretending to be him, because I typed faster), we found that he is likely going to be too old to become a pilot in the air force, since he would first need to get US residency (and getting a green card isn't cheap...some online sites estimate it costs around $6K), then join the air force as an enlisted man, then get a 4 year college degree (he has two years of college here in Fiji which likely wouldn't count, since it is not an accredited US school) which would be paid for by the military, then apply for ROTC. All before he turns 28.

Throughout this experience I thought about dreams. I thought about my meandering path into medicine, and specifically about how much I've been given the chance to not only try out different paths, but also to learn about the process of what it means to "have a dream" - especially about how the picture of what you dreamed changes as it actually comes into the world, sometimes changing in a way that makes you realize it wasn't what you thought it was and that you don't really want it. What a luxurious life I've had. Not only have I been able to dream, I've also been able to then decide that if my dream wasn't what I thought it would be, to scrap it and dream again, with an equally high chance I would be able to actually pursue it. Pio will be very lucky if he ever gets the chance to even begin to reach this dream, and it will take all of the tenacity he possesses to hold on to his vision and bring it into the world. No doubt, if indeed he is lucky enough to achieve it, he'll notice how it changes in its birth process, but he will likely just be stuck with where it takes him.

All of this goes to say that the people here are poor. On first glance, many here seem to live in what Paul Farmer calls a "dignified poverty", where basic needs are being met, but there is little opportunity for anything more. In many ways I find this place similar to the places in Central America I have visited, but with a slightly higher standard of living. The similarities extend right down to the loud music, which I heard while walking around Nadi, the third largest city here, and the laughing geckos on the walls of the houses. It also seems to extend to the unemployment/underemployment of young people.

On the plane over I discovered that there are a large number of Indians who live in Fiji. Initially brought here as indentured servants by the British, many stayed and started life over here, eventually bringing their families over, or marrying native Fijian people. This has resulted in that after Fijian and English, Hindi is the next most common language spoken. Also fascinating, even if predictable, is that there is a socio-economic hierarchy here in which the Indians are generally more well off and better employed than the local pacific islander population.

While walking through Nadi I saw a physical sign of the large presence of a Hindu community: a Hindu temple. There were also many Indian restaurants, like the one I'm in right now. However, there is evidence of a fair amount of cross cultural influences in the food, some of them unfortunate. Please excuse me now while I "take in" (I can't really say "enjoy") my lunch of "roti" (really just over-cooked vegetables on a flour tortilla), and French fries...