Bau Island

  This past week, we were privileged to do eye care on the very historic small island of Bau.  The island is full of history of many wars, bloodshed, cruelty & cannibalism, and ghost stories.  This is where the first Head Chief of all of Fiji lived, and is still today considered to be a very Chiefly Village.   No tourists are allowed to go there, and you must get permission from the chief, and come with someone who has lived on the island, before.  Josese & Aliti Tagicakibou (seen below) from our stake, arranged our visit with the chief, and then came along as our guide for the day as this was the island he was from.

Here we are at the Ferry Landing

We loaded our glasses & equipment into the boat for a 7 
minute ride to Bau Island. It cost F$4.50 each way .

We were glad it was a beautiful sunny
day to ride over to the island.

Our boat driver got us there, safely.

As you can see, it's not a big island;
however it's beautiful.

Approaching the landing to get off the boat

After meeting with the chief of the village
for the traditional "Grog" ceremony, we
were given official permission to begin
our eye exams and providing glasses.

The photo on the wall is the original famous
Chief Cakibau of Bau Island, and we are
standing with his great grand daughter.

We had a very busy and very "hot" day
in the community center providing eyecare.  It is
hard to describe the heat and humidity to anyone
who has not experienced it, before.  

Right beside us was the first, and oldest
Methodist Church in Fiji, from 1854.

Chief Cakobau was converted from Paganism
to Christianity by the missionaries in 1851.

This is the inside of the Methodist Church

The Pulpit...

This is the famous "Killing Stone",
now used for baptizing infants.

Rick had to try out the "Killing Stone" of course!
The Cannibals would have the victim place his
chin in the indent, and then take a huge club
to smash the skull, and then eat the brains that
 would spill out.  I'm glad we got out of here alive!  

This is the Community Center where we performed 
eyes exams and gave out glasses.  It was one of the 
nicer and bigger buildings we have worked in.  

The Chief was kind enough to take us on a
walking tour of the island, something that
is rare.  We felt very honored and blessed.

It started to rain during our tour and we were totally drenched by the end of it.

This is the one remaining Pagan Temple.
The stones from the other 5 temples were
used to build the Methodist Church.

Despite the weather, we had such an interesting
and fact filled tour.  The history is just remarkable.

Inside the renovated Pagan Temple,
now used as a general meeting place.

This is an upside down cooking pot
that the cannibals used to cook in.

More of the island, it was very well kept.

This is the famous, and mysterious "Rain
Tree", where unusual deaths have occurred

At the end of our tour, the Chief asked us to come in
for a moment.  I thought he was showing us how
they weave and what they make but he ended
up  giving us two of these Fijian hand made mats,
made from the leaves of banana trees.  He told us
that this wasn't just a gift from him,  but also from the
Head Chief of all of Fiji (who couldn't make it today).
  Once again, we felt very honored, and will treasure this gift.

As we went to leave the island, we found some
people having fun swimming in the ocean.

The children wanted to say good-bye to
us as we loaded up our things on the boat.

We want to thank Josese & Aliti Tagicakibau
for the amazing day in Bau Island.  This was
a rare and special day, that many tourist would
die for.  We are being so blessed with one great
experience after another during our time in Fiji.