Koroipita Model Town on the outskirts of Lautoka and home to thousands of underprivileged Fijians, welcomed its first group of volunteers after the COVID-19 crisis hit the country.
The town which was built through funding and gifts from the various organisations such as the New Zealand Aid Programme and Rotary International was one of a few communities in Lautoka that did not experience any cases during the pandemic.
Model Town Charitable Trust Community Development manager Susan Naidu said they welcomed their first group of volunteers last weekend
. “We had our first group come in this weekend and we’ve got bookings for the rest of the year and as we proceed to building more houses we will be looking forward to welcoming more volunteers,” she said.
“We have a total of 105 homes that need to be built to finish Koroipita Stage 4.
“So that will take about two to three years.” Ms Naidu said their first group was from the Leadership Fiji 2022 cohort.
“Having volunteers on site has also rekindled a lot of community spirit within Koroipita.
“The last few years was one of the most challenging for the project and the community, so just having the volunteers on site has really brought back some great community spirit for us.
“So we are looking forward to having more volunteers and to build more homes.”
Leadership Fiji 2022 Koroipita project leader Annjelyn Shalvina said they were pleased with the opportunity to help build a home at Koroipita.
“We had our members travel all the way from Suva, Nadi and those that lived in Lautoka who were very happy to be part of the project,” she said
“We were more than happy to help and assist in whatever way we could to help Koropita and the work that they do for the less fortunate.”
