Jimmy Cahill and his team from Bridge the Gap Villages: Vorovoro Island are creating a unique community-based tourism operation in Fiji. Read more to find out how you can help.
Over three years ago, our family of five traveled to Vorovoro, Fiji for ten weeks. This trip represented a springboard for us, a launching pad into creating a life that included doing work that we enjoyed. So, we set off to rural Fiji for the summer, cautiously trusting that we would know the next path for our lives when we saw it.
As it turns out, the path was made pretty clear! Vorovoro felt like home to us almost from the moment we stepped off the boat. Fijian friends soon became like family, and we ended up staying on to work as community project directors for the next year. Over the course of that year, the island became a part of us, and our respect and admiration deepened both for Vorovoro and for the remarkable people who call it home.
The project we worked for is no longer active on Vorovoro, and Tui Mali asked us to help him and his family reopen their island. So for the last 2 years, we have dedicated ourselves to turning this dream, their dream, into a reality:
To create a unique community-based tourism operation that they could operate themselves, share their culture with the world at large, and conserve the traditions and land they hold most sacred.
That’s what we are doing through Bridge the Gap Villages. We’ve partnered with the local community and have co-created plans that incorporate unique models of business education/mentorship and vocational/cultural apprenticeship into employment. We want to help our Fijian friends be in the best position to utilize the benefits of tourism to strengthen their community. Tourism should empower, not exploit.
Come join us and be a part of this revolution in travel! Visit http://www.btgvillagesfiji.com/you-can-help/ to help, or sign up for the mailing list to stay up to date with the latest news on Vorovoro!