Royal Treat for Savusavu Villagers
Villagers of Naidi and Savudrodro in Savusavu are in for a royal treat.
Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, a Princess of the principality of Monaco, will open new village halls at Naidi and Savudrodro outside Savusavu Town tomorrow.
Jazmin is the daughter of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Tamara Rotolo and granddaughter of the American actress Grace Kelly.
The princess helped in the funding of the halls after they were both destroyed during Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016.
The halls were built by volunteers from the CAUKIN Studio in the United Kingdom and the Naqaqa Giving Foundation, who are finishing construction work.
Looking for an evacuation centre when natural disaster strikes will be a thing of the past as villagers of Naidi and Savudrodro outside Savusavu Town will have new village halls.
The foundation’s executive officer, Max Cross, said the halls were built to architectural standards to withstand adverse weather in Fiji.
He said the halls would be an added blessing for the villagers because it would also become their evacuation centres during natural disasters.
“The volunteers from the CAUKIN Studio, an architectural group based in the UK, had spent two months in the two villages to help build the halls,” Mr Cross said.
“Apart from constructing the halls, volunteers had the chance to experience first-hand life in an iTaukei village, which is something that they will take back with them wherever they come from after the completion of the projects.
“The Naidi Village hall is funded by the CAUKIN Studio, Fulton Hogan Hiways (FHH) and Naqaqa Giving Foundation, while the Savudrodro structure is funded by the Jazmin Fund
Eparama Waqa of Naidi Village said their assistance came in time because Fiji was now approaching the cyclone season.
“They told us that the hall can withstand a Category 5 cyclone,” said Mr Waqa.
“I am thankful for their timely assistance. Now when their cyclone, we have somewhere to run to and take shelter.”
In November 2006, Jazmin visited eight islands in Fiji on a humanitarian mission to help bring the local children assistance in education, medicine, and community development.
One of her stops was at a school for the disabled and she donated 30,000 prenatal vitamins to the Savusavu Hospital on the island of Vanua Levu. She has also established a humanitarian fund for the region called the Jazmin Fund.
In an interview with Tory Daily she said she was inspired to start The Jazmin Fund because “From an early age, I’ve been passionate about volunteering and getting involved in local outreach programmes and always wanted to start my own initiative”.
She said that her best experiences in Fiji was “dancing and singing with the kids of Fiji and seeing the excitement on their faces as we introduced their picture to them — through a camera — for the first time!”
And she said that her proudest moment was being able to raise awareness and provide many items off of the villages’ wish list.
She was born in March 1992 and is the daughter of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Tamara Rotolo, and the elder of the Prince’s two known illegitimate children.
Prince Albert II publicly confirmed Jazmin’s paternity in June 2006, noting that he had wanted to protect her identity until she was an adult.
Edited by Epineri Vula
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