A FACILITY accommodating single young women and children was one of the first beneficiaries of the five-day Accor Hotels Extreme Challenge.
The fund raising initiative by the hotel chain and Cure Kids Fiji began from Suva on Monday and treks its way to Nadi during the course of the week. This is the fourth event the hotel chain is organising and hopes to raise $300,000 this year.
Competitors tackled their first physical challenge yesterday morning, a five-kilometre paddle in kayaks around Lami Bay.
For the international competitors it was a stunning start to the experience.
Event director Lee Pearce said it was the first of many challenges that must be completed this week.
Mr Pearce, the general manager of Novotel Nadi, said he was pleased that the teams had prepared well for the event.
Once on dry land, competitors who are equipped with clues and a few Fiji dollars, were tasked with taking taxis into the city and finding their way to four separate locations to buy food crops, paint brushes, screws, colouring books and pens all within two and a half hours.
The materials were used to build a playground, fences and shades at the Homes of Hope facility in Wailoku. The complex is a safe haven for single young women and their children.
Teams then travelled by bus to Pacific Harbour where the military helped judge the next challenge.
This involved building rafts with bamboo poles, tyre innards and ropes. The rafts had to be strong enough to complete a course in the bay.
Tomorrow the event continues trekking towards Nadi.
The success of the 2010 challenge resulted in the Nadi Maternity Hospital undergoing a makeover, as well as the allocation of funds for a pilot study into rheumatic heart diseases.