January 2004

Bula!

Welcome to FiBure.Com's first newsletter!

We are delighted to tell you that the new world of Fijian village homestays for travellers is taking off in a big way! Not bad for a concept launched just six months ago.

This month we have a large number of people booked in to stay at our participating village homestays and have now attracted the attention of both the Fijian Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Finance. The financial benefits flowing back to the villages is getting people in government sitting up and taking notice!

It is your support that has made this possible.

I will be travelling to Fiji in March next year to meet with the Ministry of Finance - my goal is to get the department to assist in funding the establishment of telecentres, or Internet kiosks, at participating villages. The benefits to travellers and the village goes without saying. The ongoing maintenance of the kiosks would be underwritten by FijiBure.Com through money raised from village stays.

In March I will also be meeting with the Minister of Tourism who's department has said that they will be endorsing the project and will be orgainsing a media event.

Tonight the travel editor of London's Daily Mail, Liz Hunt, is staying at our invitation at the village of Namuamua - tomorrow she will be hosted by the village of Namatakula. We expect an article on her adventures at Fijian villages to appear in the Daily Mail later this year and we are delighted for our Fijian village friends.

In closing may I just say that the FijiBure.Com project has provided my wife and I with a new zest for life (we are both in our 40s) as we are delighted to be part of a programme which is providing Fijian villagers with direct financial independence as opposed to working for a minimal wage at a Fijian hotel controlled by overseas interests.

Please tell your friend about FijiBure.Com by forwarding this email to them.

Kind regards

FijiBure.Com

Scott Balson