Today’s luncheon was a peek into the future of technology. Three members of the Rotary Club of Taveuni in far-away Fiji spoke to Redondo Beach Rotarians via Zoom. Fiji is an island nation that is about 5,000 miles away in the South Pacific Two of our members, Karen and Jeff Weigel, have a second home there.

Taveuni Rotarians Terri Gorton, Helene Brown, secretary and Paul Purvis, president, gave us a tour of some of the projects their club, which is comprised of only about 10 members, sponsors. Several of their projects were with cooperation of the Rotary Club of Redondo Beach.

Helene Brown noted their club has sponsored the Taveuni Eye Project for 15 years. More than 10,000 Fijians--out of a total population of less than 900,000 people on 118 inhabited island--have had eye surgeries, mostly cataract surgeries. Funding for the eye clinic comes from the Rotary Foundation Global Grants, and clubs such as ours.

In addition, Taveuni Rotarians have facilitated a pre-school system, added classrooms and facilities to many of the local school, provide family and education support for uniforms and books.

Through the efforts of the Weigel’s, the Rotary Club of Redondo Beach has worked with Taveuni Rotarians to bring disaster relief after a typhoon devastated the island of Taveuni, scabies eradication, pre-school teacher training, clean water and sanitation projects, training on chemical disposal procedures and vocational training around clean water.

Among the current projects of the Taveuni Rotary is raising funds for a scholarship program, the rebuilding of a community hall devastated by cyclone Winston and a Rotary Podcast studio.

For a tiny 10-member club, the Rotary Club of Taveuni clearly reaches out worldwide in its personification of Rotary’s humanitarianism.