evacuate

/i'vækjueιt/, v. 1 to leave empty; withdraw from. SYN: quit, vacate. 2 to withdraw from a place in danger or that has undergone some disaster.

This blog post comes to you from my home city of Sydney. Yes, that’s right. I’m back in Australia.

I was enjoying the clean-up process at school on Thursday … All the students had gone home for the holidays, and the teachers were scheduled to have a Christmas party the following day. Suddenly, at about midday, my mobile rang. It was our in-country manager. “Andrew,” he said, “you have to let your housemates know you are all being evacuated to Nadi this afternoon. You are allowed to take one piece of hand luggage and a 20kg suitcase. We’ll meet you at 2pm.” So I headed home. With two hours to go, the packing was a mad rush of me trying to fit all my belongings into the suitcase (which ended up weighing about 25kg). Of course, it was going to be impossible, so then I had to try and decide what to leave behind. We had no idea how long we would be away, or anything.

We were bussed around to Nadi that afternoon, and that evening had a visit from the regional manager. She told us we would all be sent back to Australia the next day.

They put us up at a backpacker hotel on Thursday evening, and paid for our dinner and breakfast on Friday. Friday morning was spent wandering the streets of Nadi, trying to madly cram two weeks’ worth of sightseeing and souvenir shopping into a few hours. Then, on Friday afternoon, following some very hasty goodbyes to friends and flatmates of the last 5½ months, we were on planes headed back to various cities in Australia.

As you’re reading this, please spare a thought and a prayer for the other volunteers on our programme. Some of them had only been in Fiji a few months, and were just starting to get the hang of their assignments and living in Suva. Others still had about six months to go. I have been fortunate, in that I was almost ready to start packing up anyway. I think, in my head, I was already back in Australia (if that makes sense). But for other people, the news was stressful and upsetting. There are some Aussies who now have no jobs and no homes. We have also been told there’s no way they can advise them when they’ll be returning to Fiji … if at all. I guess there’ll be a fair few people with their eyes glued to the TV and internet, watching closely to see what happens over the next little while in Suva…

Since then, I’ve had a bit of a chance to catch up with family and friends (although I still have much more of this to do), do a bit of shopping and mundane household-y organising type stuff, and unpack my suitcase. I have a long list of things that I also need to try and organise in Suva (not the least of which is getting the rest of my stuff — sheets, some clothes, books, painting things, papers — shipped back to Australia). I also want to check up on the people back in Suva, to make sure they’re doing OK.

Thanks for checking the blog regularly. It’s not over yet! Stay tuned to the news, and see what’s happening in the place I’ve called “home” for the last 5½ months!

Cheers,
Andy

coup d’état

/ku deι'ta/ n. 1 a sudden and decisive action in politics, especially one resulting in the overthrow of a government. A coup d’état differs from a revolution in being carried out by a small group of people who replace only the leading figures.

There has not been a coup in Fiji. I am safe. Everyone here seems to be going about their normal business, and — while there has been a lot of talk and rumour — nothing very unusual has really happened. I’m not a very political person at all … I may have mentioned that before. Still, I thought I’d write a little about what’s been happening here, and give you my perspective or opinion on it. As you read this, bear in mind there’s been a lot of speculation, guesswork, exaggeration, and so who knows what else going on.

Our level of travel advice for Suva progressed from one out of five (“be alert to your own security”) to level four out of five (“reconsider your need to travel”) within a week. As I write this — 1:30pm on Saturday 4th November 2006 — that is the current level of advice we have received. The security advice is not at the “highest possible” level. That would be level five out of five, “do not travel”. Check out the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs website for the latest official advice, or if you don’t believe me!

Some people back home have expressed concern for me, and suggested that maybe I should come back to Sydney. For the moment though, we haven’t been told we need to evacuate, and so I’ll just keep going about my business until I get any other official news to the contrary. At various times during the week, we heard that some schools were closed, but there wasn’t really any proof of that. In fact, what with the two Australian warships sitting in international waters just off Fiji, ready and waiting to evacuate us if need be, the staff at school are using my very presence there as a guide to how serious things are! If I suddenly don’t turn up to work, then they’ll know something’s happened, and maybe then they should close the school! My flat mate, Wes, said the fact that the Australian government had even sent the warships didn’t reflect well on their opinion of the Fijian leaders’ ability to handle the situation …

People said if anything was going to happen, then it would have happened last Thursday or Friday. Call me selfish if you like, but my immediate reaction was, “They can’t have a coup on Thursday! I’ve already bought my ticket to the movies!” (I saw Jaan E Mann, a Bollywood film, with a couple of friends). There were a few road blocks scattered around the place yesterday to coincide with the announcement of the annual budget, but I’ve been told that they’re usually set up every year at budget time. Now, people are saying that if there’s going to be a coup, it will be when Commander Frank Bainimarama arrives back in Fiji from the Middle East. This conflicts with some things I’ve read that say he is already here.

I’ve seen and heard a lot of news from Australia about what’s happening in Fiji, but in general the feeling is that the Australian media has really blown the whole thing out of proportion. The latest news we’ve had from our advisors here is that the Australian media is playing things up, the Fijian media is playing things down, and so the truth probably lies somewhere in between. “Just stay alert,” they tell us. I had a forwarded e-mail from our travel insurance people this morning which was three days late (it was warning us about the load of ammunition which was forcefully taken from the loading docks at Suva wharf by the military). However they did give us some reasonable advice about what to do if we do find ourselves in the middle of a coup: Cease all domestic travel and stay indoors!

In other, non-political news, my friend Copland and his wife Theresa have just found out they are going to have a baby. Copland is blogging his experiences, too, so have a look at The Copland’s Baby.

I have booked my flight home. I’ll be arriving back in Sydney on the 16th of December. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends and family again (I can’t wait to catch up with everyone!) … but it will be very sad to leave the friends I’ve made here.

That’ll do for now. Rest assured: for the moment I’m safe. I’ll give you the same advice I’m using here. That is, don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers or hear on the TV/radio, or the gossip people spread. I’m staying “alert but not alarmed”, and if anything happens, I’ll let you know!

Cheers,
Andy