...at the T junction where Queen Elizabeth Drive (the sea front/sea wall that runs past College) meets the main road, about a 20-30 minute walk away. No idea why, really. I'm always stomping down that way for exercise and fresh air, ocean on the right, through the newly landscaped picnic park by the ancient mangrove swamps and past the first part of Laucala (pron. Lauthala) Bay. It's part of what's been labelled commercially now (by Nestle - discuss) as the Milo Mile.
Anyhow, as today (Friday 26th June) has turned out to be a public holiday (these things suddenly appear, I must try and keep up) I've been out walking for three hours before settling down to read and comment on another couple of chapters of someone's MTh thesis. This evening, it's the closure ceremony and farewell feast for the Peacebuilding course that's been here for three weeks - mentioned in the last post - and we're invited to go and join in, so that'll be a good time of affirming all the great work that's gone on. So, a nicely balanced Friday: pleasant breezy walking; some concentrated reading; a communal celebration.
When you do turn right at the end of the road - reverting to where we started - it's amazing what you discover. Possibly the prettiest Police Station in the world for starters!
Then the sites where a few of our neighbour educational institutions sit...
I didn't sample on this occasion but will report back in due course should that occur. These things matter.
A couple of important meetings at PTC have also mattered this week. The first was for those of us who are Faculty members to consult among ourselves about whether we want to recommend any changes to the Pacific Theological College's Constitution and bye-laws at the forthcoming Council meeting - the Governing Body. Full Council meets every two years; Executive more often, but it's a full Council this year, so we need to get our acts together by the end of July to give sufficient notice of anything we feel led to raise. And there are matters that we should definitely give a push on. Faculty are free to discuss and recommend through our representative, and I sit on the Executive so can also be alert for what's coming. I found myself thinking, 'Mmm - been here before...' recollecting experiences of other Church and College committees. I haven't been here before of course, so the human and cultural dynamics naturally differ, but the issues are disturbingly similar. (i) How to inspire, convince and lobby for critical change when saddled with impenetrable and sometimes inconsistent legal documentation. (ii) How to ensure that those who serve on Governing Bodies do so vocationally and sacrificially: with real hearts for service and the desire to fully engage and contribute both at meetings and in the life of the institution as a whole.
The second meeting was about whether PTC might want to take on board a Consultant to advise on organisational development, strategic planning, fundraising and the like. The 'offer' stems from a European organisation whose way of working stipulates that the 'person' must come by way of an expatriate secondment. Why? No one from the Pacific available if a bit of funding was put behind them?
And so the global mission questions repeat and repeat - a bit like persistent indigestion.
But hey. The latter of the two meetings was held in the extremely 'posh' PTC Boardroom - squishy leather seats, shiny table, air-con: not a place to which we are frequently summoned.
#scary #needsmartsuit
This public holiday which crept up on me is actually called National Sports Day with a big Government and NGO emphasis on health and wellness. Jocularity in the Fiji Times about whether Government ministers would be seen with their jogging gear and water bottles in Albert Park.
But, joking aside, health and wellness is so vital. If you pray, please hold in your prayers just now...
... some of our dear staff here at PTC who bear burdens of un-wellness: that they may find healing and restoration
... those who have left PTC or taken leave because of troubling circumstances: that they may find new life and purpose
...one of the families at Nanuku settlement whose son faces a difficult spinal operation next week, in the hands of Fiji's only neurosurgeon: that all may be well
Here's some of the publicity snapped at the park this morning, reminding us of some important basics for fullness of life.
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