• We are now set up to receive stocks as donations.  Ask us how.
• You can make a tax-deductible donation with PayPal

    You will receive a tax receipt.

  Most Commonly Requested Fiji Info  

• To join a mission trip check out these pages: Participant Information,  Participant Mandatory Requirements and Calendar links.
     
• Click here for Physician, Dentist and Nurse-needs, information and schedules.     

If you would like Stephen Arrington to speak at your church or academy call or email him steve@drugsbite.com.   There is no charge, his is a faith ministry.  He would do the church service and a Saturday night vesper program; it is only at the vesper program that he would ask to take an offering for Fiji.

Steve's Speaking Schedule:

• Caldwell SDA Church, ID
  June 26 at 11:00 am & 8:00 pm
• Redding SDA Church, CA
  July 03 at 11:00 am & 7:30 pm
• Palo Cedro SDA Church, CA
  July 10 at 11:00 am & 7:30 pm
• Cloverdaale SDA Church, ID
  July 17 at 11:00 am & 8:00 pm

How Project Fiji began:
The morning song of an exotic bird stirs me gently from my sleep. The melody drifts through an open window on the back of a warm tropical breeze. It is still dark outside here in the South Pacific as I listen to the drumming sound of an approaching rain squall. The cascading water marches in rapidly from the ocean, hammers across the tin roof, then it tramps up the mountainside leaving a moist freshness in its wake.  Click here to continue...

News Flashes: (Updated June 20, 2010)

June 10, Cyclone Update:

See our new picture lower left of gardening tools, starter roots and seeds delivered to Loa Village. Like deliveries were made to Rabi Island.

We have completed food deliveries and are now purchasing gardening tools, seeds and starter roots.  With so many disasters around the world it is difficult to know who to give to...we are a small foundation so our donations go much further.  Helping people to grow food costs a lot less that trying to feed them.

URGENT!  A mission group is going to Rabi Island as part three of our relief effort.  Want to join.  They will be doing medical and dental evaluations and need more volunteers.  You do not have to be a medical or dental professional to join.  They are leaving July 26 for two weeks.  Contact us to join.  We also need donations to help support this group.

April 12 Cyclone Update:

The big news is that twelve days after the cyclone we distributed over eight tons of rice, flour and Dahll root into the villages of Buca Bay and Rabi Island.  This was a full week before any other agency was able to deliver food.  We are very proud of our staff and volunteers in Fiji and a big thank you goes out to all the donors in the USA who made this possible  Know that these emergency rations have saved lives...particularly children who were in a weakened state might have succumbed to post cyclone diseases.  See the new pictures lower left, which include food distribution, the damage to the Methodist Church on Rabi and the Presidential yacht which arrived in Buca Bay last week to survey the damage.

Regarding the picture of the Methodist Church, note that most of the roof has been ripped away.  This is exactly the same damage that has happened to so many homes, however they didn't have cement walls so their houses got leveled.  The DMF has now entered stage two of the cyclone relief which is providing gardening tools, seeds, starter roots and roofing tins to repair the homes.  We were very blessed that the SDA church built by the DMF and the SDA church built by a Canadian mission group three years ago, were both hardly damaged, thank you Lord.  In your giving please don't forget the people of Fiji over the next couple of months.  The huge disaster in Haiti has understandably pulled most USA relief efforts to there.

Big news regarding the President of Fiji's visit to Buca Bay to evaluate the damage.  He arrived with sixteen senior members of government and anchored just off from the new clinic called Mission at Natuvu Creek (funded by the Tooma Family Trust).  Remember there are two foundations side-by-side in Buca Bay.  We are separate, but work closely together.  The DMF's main focus is relief and medical support into the villages, the MNC operates the clinic and provides very advanced medical, eye and dental services.  When the President of Fiji came ashore at the clinic he was so impressed that he decided to stay there for two days.  What an opportunity to get to know the senior government members of Fiji.

See below for full details of the cyclone news from when it hit Fiji:

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A major cyclone named Tomas with winds up to 130 mph hit Fiji on March 13..  The image lower left  shows the size of the eye of the cyclone which came out of the north passing over Rabi, Loa, and Taveuni Islands.  This very large storm was a category 4 out of 5 and has done a devastating amount of damage.   On Taveuni it ripped the roof off the government hospital, which had to be evacuated.  The medical centers on Rabi Island and in Savusavu were also damaged.  Fortunately the Tooma Family Trust's new clinic, The Mission at Natuvu Creek received only modest damage to a few support buildings. The DMF house is also okay.  Since communication is only recently functioning in the Northern Division the news is still trickling in.  According to the two Fiji newspapers (Fiji Times and Fiji Live) the government is reporting that there are three known dead so far, that over 350 houses in the Northern Division have been blown down, that there is extensive damage to government, commercial buildings, roads are out in Buca Bay and that farms have been severely damaged.  Of particular concern for the DMF, the coastal villages of Buca Bay can experience severe flooding during a cyclone and that the septic tanks overflow into the villages.  There is already a typhoid outbreak in Fiji with 110 known cases in the last month.  This can become a very serious problem.  With so many trees down, with fruit blown out of the trees and the damage to family farms food will be a problem.  The government is already reporting that diarrhea  is becoming a problem particularly for children.

A physician, Dr. C.Y. Liu, his wife Ruth and daughter Lora, a 3rd year medical student are scheduled to fly to the Mission at Navutu Creek Clinic arriving on March 31st.  They are taking medicines with them.  Who wants to be next?  To serve at the clinic go to their web page www.missionatnatuvucreek.org.  If you want to serve in the villages and stay at the DMF house email me steve@drugsbite.com or call 530 872 4884.

Rabi Island, as anticipated has been hit very hard, many many house down, roads buried under debris, the top image to the left is all that remains of a family's home.  We just got word that the church we built on Rabi survived the cyclone.

To help the Fijians in Buca Bay and in the surrounding community the DMF is taking immediate steps to help to provide relief in three stages, first is the need for food, $14,000 is already in place and being used to purchase supplies and to cover transportation cost.  Stage two will be to purchase building supplies for repairs.  Stage three is to schedule medical and dental teams to go out into the villages.  These efforts are entirely dependant upon donations.  If you would like to help please send your donations to Dream Machine Foundation, PO Box 3234, Paradise, CA 95967.  You can also make paypal donations on this web page, see top.  You will receive a tax deductible receipt for your donation.  All donations that are directed to the Fiji Disaster Fund will solely be used for that purpose.  Please remember that the DMF still needs financial help for our daily operations. 

Local transportation is again operating including local and international flights, ferries and the roads are open.  The DMF is very interested in volunteer physicians, nurses, dentists and other medical professionals who would be willing to work in the villages while staying at the DMF house.  This will be bush medicine so anticipate rough conditions.  We can promise you hot meals, a warm shower, a place to lay your head and lots of appreciative patients.

We are also eager for medicines.  For more information contact Stephen Arrington (530 872-4884) or email steve@drugsbite.com. 

Here are some news briefs from Fiji:

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji has suffered overwhelming damage in a powerful weekend cyclone, the prime minister said Wednesday, as the first word of houses blown away, trees uprooted, and roads blocked trickled in from regions cut off since the storm.

Fiji’s Health Ministry is working to determine whether there are any signs of a possible typhoid outbreak following one last month in which almost 100 people were affected.

IT was the same scene from island to island. The trail of destruction of Hurricane Tomas was visible from the air.  Flattened houses, roofless buildings, belongings strewn all over the ground and plantations left in ruins.  Most visible was the sign left on the ground of huge sea swells that rushed into coastal villages, destroying vegetation and forcing villagers to flee for their lives to higher ground.

VILLAGERS of Naigani were kept awake on Monday night as seven hours of meter-high storm surges ripped through the village, destroying all crops, temporary shelters used for cooking and three homes.

"People started crying, as we watched the water tearing through the village. It was getting dark and we didn't know how much bigger it would get or how long it would last," he said. The 83-year-old chief said that he had never seen a hurricane with that intensity. "It uprooted houses and threw the materials about a kilometre away from the village," he said.

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Our Project Manger, Roger Lutz, just returned from a very successful mission trip to Vietnam.  For Roger it was the mission trip of a life time as he was a medic who served extensively throughout that war ravaged country during the Vietnam Conflict.

Just back.... The picture left: a beauty from Vietnam---she caught my eye---the smile so engaging and one eye was wandering a bit! She also needed some dental work. Now--the dental work is done (along with 1630other kids---and maybe surgery for the eye--or maybe corrective lenses...??  Thank You for your prayers. and the stats are noted below...Dental: 1635: kids---lots of fillings, extractions, and even some cosmetic dental procedures---to help with the smiles.  Eye Surgery: 41 kids---for crossed eyes etc.  Med outreach---over 2000---to the Community for all kinds of owees... Water systems for schools--over 10 schools reviewed---and a pilot program in the works for a couple...Roger Lutz

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Above is the new clinic, built and operated by the Mission at Natuvu Creek Foundation, for more information on this facility which is located on a separate property next door to the DMF in Fiji click here

Attention all Physicians, Dentists, Nurses & Physical Therapist.  The Mission at Natuvu, the new eye and dental clinic is now open five days a week and they are looking for volunteers.  You can come out on your own schedule.  The need in the area is huge!  The closest government hospital only has power two hours a day, during which time they have to quickly fill every water container, then when the electricity is shut off see patents using flashing lights, kerosene lanterns and candles.  For more information visit www.missionatnatuvucreek.org.

Looking for Mission Groups.  After the last powerful cyclone  we've had some children in the villages come down with typhoid fever, which prompted the DMF to step up our water filtration projects for four villages.  We have placed one such system at Buca Village.  If your church would like to accept one of the villages as a mission project please contact us.  We are also eagerly seeking mission groups to help us develop the DMF 100 acre property.  We need to build housing (bungalows and tree houses), a shower house and other projects.  Steve and Cindy want to film documentaries of life and soul saving mission work in Fiji and show them worldwide on Loma Linda Broadcasting Network.  Having a mission facility with a Swiss-Family-Robinson look to it would help to capture the attention of the world, particularly Christians who have never done mission work, and un-reached youth.  We are youth oriented and very much like to see young people come to Fiji for a life-changing mission trip.

Catch Steve & Cindy on our weekly half-hour Satellite Television program on Loma Linda Broadcasting Network:  High on Adventure is a youth and family program that seeks to inspire youth and young adults to go for their dreams through positive choices, to encourage a commitment for doing good and to cement a sincere working relationship with Jesus Christ.  Cindy's and my goal is to share our path to adventure, challenge and satisfaction in life.  As the name implies this is an adventure quest with whales, dolphins and sharks, but it goes way beyond that as we dive into life quests that lead to a purpose-driven life.  We'll talk about health issues, examine exciting careers, spend time tramping around beneath the ocean and go on mission trips to Fiji.  Fun for the whole family!  If you don't have the satellite connection, then catch it all on the internet at http://www.llbn.tv/  High on Adventure airs six times a week, this is the Pacific Daylight Time: Sunday 2:00 pm, Monday 6:00 am, Tuesday 12:30 am, Wednesday 8:30 am, Thursday 10;00 pm and Friday 5:00 am

The DMF has completed its first bungalow, which can sleep 20 people.  This has been a real financial challenge for us because the coup of 2006 has pushed-up the prices of construction materials and we had to hire the work out instead of using volunteers.  The take over of the Fijian Government by the military meant we had to cancel our 200708 mission season.  Note: no one was hurt in the coup, which went forward with the permission of the Fijian president.  All remains calm in Fiji and we expect to begin our 2008 mission season as planned.  The only reason we had to cancel for 2007 was because we could not obtain Accident Risk Management Insurance from the GC.  Our relationship with the Government of Fiji is excellent.  The Ministry of Health is particularly interested in our continued support and free service.

1. Make Donations To Specific Projects:  To make a donation to a specific project & see our project needs click here. 

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