Neiafu Fun Day 2011

PHOTO: Some of the kids (from Matamaka) playing one of the booths at the 2011 Fun Day.

It's that time of year again, Library Fun Day 2011! It was another successful year for the library committee for the annual Fun Day as we raised $780.00 TOP. All the proceeds go to support the financial costs to keep the library running and to have one full time librarian for the year. The library committee has two big fundraiser events every year, the Fun Day and the annual fundraiser dinner which usually takes place in August or September. Regardless, the Fun Day was an excellent opportunity for children and families to have a good time and win some prizes. Peace Corps Volunteers and other volunteers from the Vava'u community were present to help out at the event.

We were very lucky this year as a lot of local businesses sponsored the event . I would say that was were most of the money came in from this year. These businesses include: Mounu Island Resort, Sunset Grill, Pafilios, Adventure Backpackers, Aquarium Cafe, and more (sorry I can't remember all of them at the top of my head). These business sponsored individual game stalls or provided supplies that helped make the event a success.

PHOTOS: Various photos from the event

Some of the game stalls this year were: gold, bean bag toss, ring toss, sponge throw, face painting, and more. A nice fat PIG pinata was also made for the children with nice puppet show to host the entire event--(not going to lie the puppet freaked me out a bit). We also had a cake walk this year that we did not have last year. It took some explaining to the children with the rules, but it all worked out okay.

PHOTOS: Fun day 2011

Overall, I was very impressed with the number of Tongans who volunteered their time to help with the event. "Normally," mostly palangi-foreigners help out at the event, but I was very proud of the number of Tongans at the event. Most of them were teachers or students at the University of South Pacific campus in Neaifu. Lastly, I was so excited to see some of my students from Matamaka to show up at the event. Ma'asi and I have have been hounding them all week to come and four came! woohoo! The Fun Day is something I will truly miss once I am finish here very soon!