The Fiji Rotahomes Project aims to provide permanent accommodation for disadvantaged households (squatters and homeless people). It is a project undertaken by the Rotary Club of Lautokoa, Fiji. The project was started in March 1985 following cyclones that devastated large areas of Fiji and left thousands homeless in the Lautokoa and Ba areas.

At present, a model Village called Koroipita comprises 83 buildings, 78 of which are used as houses, with a population of approximately 350 residents. The next stage of design and construction will add 220 homes to the existing model village and increase the population of Koroipita to about 1300.

The aim of the Koroipita village is:

To demonstrate that land subdivisions can be developed to resettle squatters very quickly and at an affordable cost;

To provide residents with legal occupational rights for their lot;

To provide services including road infrastructure, water and sewerage reticulation and sewage treatment, storm water and electricity.

To show that cyclone resistant homes can be built quickly and cheaply; and

To provide villagers with community development programs as well as quality support and training to enable them to be involved with their community and be financially independent.

I will be involved with the design of road infrastructure, earthworks, water and sewerage reticulation, storm water drainage and services layout design and project management.

My long-term career plan is ultimately to work in the field of International Development. Lack of property access to sanitation systems and clean drinking water can lead to medical issues such as disease from water borne parasites, and social issues such as lack of education for women, who may spend much of their days carrying water to their homes.

While I can improve my technical and managerial engineering skills in Australia, there many skills that are best learnt in the field. My experiences working in Tanzania in 2006 have shown me that there is a greater need for innovative ideas and contingency plans when working in the developing world. There are also cultural, religious and social differences in other countries that have a direct impact on any sort of engineering project. I wish to improve my community consultation skills, and to learn to be more flexible and practical so that I can apply engineering solutions in a way that will work in the developing world.

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