July 13

Today is our anniversary.  Am planning to take Scott to a really nice restaurant on the bay.  Will probably invite the other senior missionaries.

With the Jacksons we visited Fiji National University today.  They had an open house for perspective students.  It was packed.  Many came with their colleges.  College in Fiji is the same as high school in the US.  So the colleges brought all their seniors (I believe that is Form 13 here) to the open house.  I do not want to speak poorly of anything Fijian (Feegin) but I would die in the classrooms of FNU.  They look so old, because of the rain/moisture in the air here everything ages so much faster.  There is moss everywhere.  Moss on cement is not a pleasant thing.  FNU was once a trade school, but has become a university.  We saw trade departments; hair/beauty, auto mechanics, tourism, hotel, culinary.  We saw university departments; social sciences, humanities, medicine, art, etc.  As we were speaking with the different departments, Sister Jackson asked each one if they had employment services for their students that graduate.  None did.  Finally she ask one how many of their students got jobs when they graduated.  "Few" was the answer.  The employment rate is high here, really high.

All the LDS kids want to go to BYU-Hawaii.  There use to be quite a few I-work positions at BYU-H, but money is tight right now and I believe that only 14 Fijians will be able to participate this year.
I-work is the program that brings kids from the Pacific Isles to BYU-H and gives them jobs. (Ok, I am tired of typing the -H.  In Fiji if one says BYU, one means BYU-H.  They have no chance of getting to BYU Provo.  None) I-work students all work at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Scott and I have spoken with so many LDS kids here that can not get into BYU without I-work.  They simply do not have the financial resources.  Many are taking online classes from BYU.  That is a pain for them.  None have access to computers, so to do classes at BYU online, they have to wait until 5pm when the primary school is empty and they can use the computer lab there to do their homework.  Every night these kids walk, take a taxi or bus to the lab and work on their classes at BYU with little hope of getting a job when they are graduated.  I am not sure I would be dedicated enough to continue studying if I knew that chances were slim that I would be employed.

Eliesa is an example.  He served a mission honorably.  He is now home and 23.  He wasn't accepted into the I-Work program so he is studying online.  He has no job, so I am not sure where he gets the money for tuition.  Almost every night he is at the computer lab.  He is trying to be a substitute at the LDS Primary School, and at the LDS College.  He spent all week learning how to be a sub during the day and then spent the evenings at the lab; well except Wednesday night when he attends my institute class, and we did see him in the temple on Thursday afternoon.  After which he was going straight to the lab.  There is a brain drain or leadership drain (whichever) in the church.  So many of the missionaries get educated anyway they can and then leave for some place else for a job.  Lote the Facilities Manager has 7 siblings.  He is the only one in Fiji.  They are all in the US because they needed jobs.  He feels so blessed to have a job that allows him to stay in Fiji.

American kids are so blessed.