Criteria for Groups Going to Fiji
If you have a group going over to Vatuvonu in the Fiji Islands, we ask you to
please meet the following conditions:
1. All groups with members under age 21 must have a physician with them. All
groups with members 21 and older must have a medical person such as a dentist,
nurse, EMT, or paramedic with them. The nearest medical care is in Savusavu,
which is 2 hours from the campus. It is very important for your group to
provide its own medical care in case of emergency.
2. Group members must provide their own insurance. SDA members can usually
get Accident Risk Management insurance through their home church. Accident
Risk Management has several insurance levels available, and we recommend that
you purchase the policy which is about $45 to $50 per person. This policy
will also cover people working on a construction project while in Fiji. If
you can't get the Risk Management insurance, your travel agent can issue
travel insurance based on the value of your plane ticket. It generally runs
$60-$100 per person depending on your age. Travel insurance also covers lost
luggage, flight delays, and emergency medical evacuations.
3. There is a $300 room and board fee per week that needs to be paid for each person
going to Fiji. The money needs to be sent to the Dream Machine
Foundation at least one month prior to leaving for Fiji. It will be used for
food, cooks' wages, generator fuel, truck and boat fuel, propane for cooking and showers,
travel expenses for your group sponsor, and general maintenance of our dorm
and cafeteria (Please note the DMF does not profit from this charge). It is very
important that we cover all the expenses of your visit so that the school
doesn't suffer financially from your stay there. If your group chooses to
work on a particular project in Fiji, please contact Roger Lutz at
707-974-8720 (cell), 707-944-2471 (work), or email him at
roger@opspump.net.
He can tell you what projects are available and the estimated cost of
each project. Project expenses are in addition to the room and board fees,
and must be paid by the group one month prior to your arrival in Fiji so we
can make sure you have building materials ready and waiting for you.
4. We
require that you please use the approved DMF travel agent. We have made
special arrangements with Sunspots International to give us competitive rates
and assistance with transportation for our group hosts. They have many local
contacts in Fiji and are familiar with our mission project. They can handle
travel changes and modifications locally, which is critical for problem-free
travel. Also, we have an emergency evacuation plan should the need arise.
For every 20 tickets purchased through this travel agent, the DMF receives one
free ticket. We use this ticket to fly your sponsor to Fiji, because we want
to make sure your group is successful. We also have to fly our Project
Manager to Fiji a number of times each year to insure that the ongoing work is
being done efficiently. If a group chooses to go with another travel agent,
there will be an additional charge of $100 per person to cover the travel
costs for your sponsor and for the additional expenses we incur correcting
problems created by travel agents who are not knowledgeable of our travel
requirements and emergency evacuation plan. In every case where a group
has used a different travel agent they have encountered serious travel
difficulties. Please note that no groups are
allowed to arrive at or depart from Vatuvonu School on the Sabbath.
Groups need to have 20 or more members, but should be limited to 40.
5. All medical personnel planning to work in the clinic must provide the
following information for the Fiji Ministry of Health: a copy of your current
license, a brief resume, and a letter of recommendation. This information is
due at least one month before you go to Fiji, so that we can arrange temporary
Fijian medical privileges. Carry an extra copy of these with you to Fiji.
6. It is critical that each participant know as much as possible about your mission trip. As such please spend a lot time reading the Project Fiji Participant Information page at pfpi.htm, also make sure you download and print out the check list found there. Sometimes it's more important to know what not to take than what to take.
7. Everyone going to Fiji under the Dream Machine Foundation needs to fill out the "Participant Release and Assumption of Risk" form by clicking below: