Sustainability in Action program immerses students in Fijian village

Have you dreamt of living off the grid? How about a thatch hut on a remote Pacific island where you collect rainwater, live according to the sun and the sea, and become part of the native community? 

This summer, Auburn University students will make that dream a reality through a transformative three-week study abroad program in Fiji. Led by Kate Thornton, director of Global Education in Auburn’s College of Human Sciences, students will fully immerse themselves as guest members of the Mali tribe and engage in sustainable living practices.

“The students live alongside the tribe members and learn about Fijian culture and heritage. We learn about living off the land: we don't have running water; we don't have electricity; we live in open air huts,” Thornton said. “The students really see the full impact of humans and the environment — all facets of it.”

For Auburn students who seek adventure and want to submerge themselves in native Fijian culture, this is the trip of a lifetime.

Vorovoro life

Open to all majors and graduate students, the Sustainability in Action study abroad program enables students to venture across the world to the 200-acre Vorovoro Island, one of 333 islands that make up the Republic of Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean. Here, Auburn students eat, live and work with the Mali people. 

On the first day, they are welcomed by the chief of the Mali people, Tui Mali. 

“During a sevu sevu ceremony, Tui Mali invites us to join him as members of his family and essentially welcomes the students to live alongside the tribe members and learn about Fijian culture and heritage,” Thornton said.

They become working members of the community. Traveling nearly every summer since 2013, students immerse themselves in community projects: helping to demolish rundown buildings and rebuild new ones — including the Grand Bure, the community’s main meeting space; constructing water catchment systems where fresh drinking water is limited on the island; delivering school supplies; planting sandalwood trees from a local permaculture farm to off-set the carbon emissions they generated traveling there — a project known as the “Auburn forest.” 

The Auburn Forest project grows each year with more than 1,000 sandalwood and teak trees planted in the local community to provide carbon offsets for airline travel as well as provide a stable, slow growing dense wood tree crop for local Fijians. 

These efforts have improved the lives of both tribal and community members. Auburn’s work facilitated the building of a dormitory facility on Cegu Valley Farm that is used as a teaching farm to train rural Fijians how to grow food, keep bees and improve both the biodiversity of their farmland and also the nutrient diversity of their diet. Students also worked with several appropriate technology training centers across the country to bring rocket stove technology, reading glasses and solar power to the Mali tribe. 

Beyond this, Auburn students helped the local community on Vorovoro Island set up a land conservancy and cultural center that will allow the tribe to have autonomy over their ancestral lands for generations to come as well as offer community resources and educational programming to local Fijian schools and community groups to come and learn about Fijian heritage.

Global Studies and Master of Development Practice students have the option to stay an additional five to six weeks with an internship option that allows them to further expand their community development skill set. 

“The internships vary depending on the community needs from year to year. One year, a student interned with Save the Children doing a local outreach in a village; another, students worked on the permaculture farm. Students also worked with our partner, Bridge the Gap: Vorovoro, to help run a family program on the island,” Thornton said. “Students come to Vorovoro as learners and within a few weeks are leading the different activities and excursions.”

A lifetime of impact

The experience pays off. Alumni of the program share the lasting impact Vorovoro has on their perspective and way of life.

"One of my favorite things about being so remote is the time spent outdoors. Being surrounded by nature 24/7 starts to become the norm, and there is nothing more special than falling asleep to the sound of the ocean," said Samantha Froman, a psychology major and alumna of the program. 

“On Vorovoro, I learned to prioritize my time being with other people and being close to the earth. And perhaps most importantly, I experienced rejoicing in the tasks of everyday life,” said Andrew Bates, a mechanical engineering graduate who traveled with the program in 2015 and served as the lead engineer in their community projects. “At home, when I can make my daily tasks come alive with joy, and I can prioritize being with people and in the outdoors, I am living my happiest (Fijian-inspired!) life.”

Bates went on to receive a Fulbright scholarship to develop and design sustainable, low-cost methods for water purification for communities throughout the developing world and returned to work with Bridge the Gap on Vorovoro in 2018.

“For any student who's thinking about the Peace Corps or working with resource-poor areas, this trip can be transformative. Students are able to integrate with a community that they might spend the rest of their career or life trying to help,” Thornton said. “They learn the invaluable lesson that when leadership from the community drives the decisions that will then affect them, the work is much more effective and much more sustainable.”

Sustainability in Action is an opportunity for students to live the Auburn Creed and help the Mali community realize their vision for their future. Living off the grid and fully immersing themselves in Mali's way of life and culture can be a stark reality for students and leave a lasting impact.

“This program is not for everybody, but for the students that it’s for, it’s amazing,” Thornton said.