FIJI Water's Fleet Contractor, Bradley Scougall, gives to Father Law Old Persons’ Home

With such humanitarian commitment established as a benchmark, giving back is a notion that permeates the company. At FIJI Water, employees around the world are encouraged to contribute to charities of their choice through Roll Giving, a program supported by Roll International, FIJI Water’s parent company. Last week, a special ceremony held at the FIJI Water office in Naikabula, Lautoka, honored the employee giving that has become such a valued part of our corporate culture in Fiji.

This year marked the third year of the employee grant program. Launched in mid-2007 with just three named charities, the fund has since grown to include more than 20 organizations identified by FIJI employees. Through this donation infrastructure, FIJI Water gives its salaried, Fiji-based employees $250-$1,000 USD to put toward causes that are important to them.With 100% employee participation, last week the FIJI Water family in Lautoka, Yaqara, and Suva gave away more than $52,000 FJD to benefit 22 local charities. We were privileged to have 16 representatives from these charities attend the commemorative giving ceremony. The organizations supported by Roll Giving include the Veilomani Boys Rehabilitation Center, Fiji Society for the Blind, Treasure House Children’s Home, Golden Age Home, Fiji Crippled Children’s Society, Dilkusha Girls Home, SPCA, Fiji Cancer Society, Homes of Hope, and Save the Children. It’s all a part of FIJI Water’s ongoing commitment to be a better business, a better employer, and a better neighbor by giving back to the communities in which we work and live.

Read more about the Roll Giving Ceremony:

Fiji Times: Workers Pitch In

Fiji Sun: Water Firm Boosts Charities

1% for the Planet’s mission is to build and support an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet. Currently, it’s a global movement of 1,116 companies that donate 1% of their sales to a network of 1,877 environmental organizations worldwide… and growing. We’re incredibly honored to be the first premium artesian bottled water company to join 1% and one of the alliance’s top five brand members based on annual revenue and environmental contributions.

Becoming a member is part of our ongoing effort to help protect the environment. Among a number of initiatives, we’re working to preserve the Sovi Basin, the largest remaining lowland rainforest in the South Pacific, a project that will keep 10 million tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. We’ve also teamed up with the people of Fiji and Conservation International to work on our major reforestation project. Planting of the first 250 acres began in October 2009 and another 1,000 acres will be planted over the coming years. Here’s a video highlighting our Sovi Basin project:

If you know us, you know that we’re passionate about doing well by doing good. We know as a business, we’re responsible for giving back to the communities where we live and work. We couldn’t be more proud of our pledge to 1% for the Planet.

For more information about our 1% membership: Official FIJI Water Press Release

The reforestation of the Sovi Basin begins, in conjunction with Conservation International.

Our reforestation project that helps us to get to our carbon negative status delivers so much more. Joining forces with Conservation International and the people of Fiji, we have begun planting our new forest last month (the first 250 acres, anyway).

What does it all mean?

1. Improving Water Quality: Restoring these lands through our reforestation effort will stop erosion and improve the quality of water supply for local communities. Forests play a critical role in protecting important watersheds, especially in degraded areas such as the surroundings of the Nakauvadra range on Viti Levu, the site of our project.

2. Saving the animals: By safeguarding watersheds and expanding natural forest habitats, our project will also protect existing wildlife and biodiversity in this region. It will become a home to many native, often endangered species such as the masked shining parrot and the Fiji ground frog.

3. Supporting the Fijians: Our carbon forest project will also have an important socio-economic impact in the region. Already, more than a hundred local Fijians have been working and earning wages as a result of this program. As this program will carry on for years to come, local communities will continue to plant and maintain the 500-hectare forest, which will be a mix of native species, fruit and spice trees, and high-value timber such as mahogany and teak. As a result, community members will be able to support their livelihoods through selling agricultural products and sustainably harvested timber.

By improving water quality, saving the animals and supporting the Fijians, we’re doing all we can to commit to our pledge to be carbon negative.

Read more about our planting activities:
Fiji Sun: FIJI Water employees help forest carbon project

FIJI Team leader, Moses Hicks, demonstrates the clean water filter.

Since 2008, the Give Clean Water organization has installed more than 1,000 household water filters in communities around Nadi and Ba. Beginning July 2009, the FIJI Water Foundation has donated $30,000 USD (more than $60,000 FJD) toward the installation of as many as 300 water filters in Ba area homes. Friday and Saturday’s volunteers installed more than 130 water filters in the Natunuku and Sasa villages. In 10 years, Give Clean Water aims to install a filter in every home in Fiji.

The PointOne filters, which eliminate 99.9% of all disease-causing bacteria and are designed after filters used in kidney dialysis, come with a lifetime guarantee if used and maintained properly. The Give Clean Water and FIJI Foundation team also conducted a community education session on the importance of drinking clean water. Give Clean Water has three local Fiji staff who will return to these communities in a few weeks to do a follow-up visit and check on the filters.

A big vinaka vakalevu (”thank you”) to everyone who helped out. We really appreciate the gift of your time and effort!

Read more about the Give Clean Water and The FIJI Water Foundation :
Fiji Times: Clean Water at Last for a Flood-Hit Village
Fiji Sun: No More Dirty Water

Teams compete in different sports including tennis, golf, boxing, swimming, bodybuilding, weightlifting, and sailing. This year, some of the nations who participated in the 12-day event included the Cook Islands, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Norfolk, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and, of course, Fiji.

Our representative for the 2009 Pacific Mini Games, Ernest Petueli

We are proud to announce that our representative for the Pacific Mini Games, Ernest Petueli, Jr., took home the Bronze Medal in the Long Jump. Ernest has been playing soccer since the age of seven and has received three gold medals from the mayor and the community of Tavua. He represented Fiji at the Oceania Championships in Brisbane, Australia, and then at the Pacific Mini Games. Ernest’s father, Ernest Petueli Sr., is a a FIJI Water employee and they are both very active members of the Fiji community. You can find them volunteering at community events such as walkathons and cleanings of local schools. Congratulations, Ernest! We are so proud of you!

Susana Tikoisuva recovers at Lautoka Hospital as her mother sits by her side.

Last Thursday, the Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation wrapped up their week of work here Fiji — a week that saw more than 30 individuals receive free life-saving heart surgeries, including single, double, and triple bypasses and pacemaker installations. The FIJI Water Foundation was the major sponsor of the Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation’s 2009 medical trip and had the opportunity to scrub into the wards and to meet with doctors, nurses, patients, and families. We were deeply moved and humbled by the amazing work these medical professionals do, using their own vacation time and getting very little sleep during the week! The youngest patient operated on during the tour was 16 years old, and the eldest was 83.

At Lautoka Hospital last Thursday, the recovering patients were all smiles as the Miss Sugar City (an annual local charity pageant) contestants had just come for a visit. Despite having undergone major surgery only days before, the patients were looking very well, some already walking around, laughing, chatting, and eating. One heart-bypass patient, Maya Telamarawa of Rabi Island, was so inspired by the visit that the doctors and nurses nominated her “Miss Hospital” and presented her with her own crown and ribbon.

Lautoka Hospital nurses pose in front of the event banner.

Such was the lighthearted mood in the recovery wards of Lautoka Hospital as these patients bounce back and embrace their renewed leases on life. The surgeries, normally available only overseas, might cost NZD$20,000 (about US$14,000) or more, but thanks to the generous assistance of volunteers and sponsors, all of these patients have received expert surgery and care at no cost. This is the Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation”s fourth trip to Fiji. To date they have operated on more than 100 of Fiji”s neediest patients.

The mother of 22-year-old patient Susana Tikoisuva of Lau said that the care they had received at the hospital was wonderful. She couldn”t believe how quickly her daughter was recovering from the surgery on the hole in her heart. Lautoka”s regular nurses and doctors were also delighted to work with the New Zealand doctors during their stay, saying their professionalism and good humor allowed them to fit in easily. Local surgeons-in-training were able to observe and scrub into surgeries they would otherwise witness only overseas.

As Foundation spokesman Deepak Singh of Auckland enthused, “This work could not have been done without the support of our sponsors, FIJI Water Foundation, Air Pacific, Air New Zealand, and Rotary [International]. FIJI Water Foundation is our major sponsor, and this is their second year of supporting the Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation medical team.”

"Miss Hospital," Maya Telamarawa

Mr. Singh described the financial challenges faced by some of the patients. For some, they would like to have the surgery but cannot afford transport to Lautoka. One man could not afford bus fare to the hospital from Nadi to be with his daughter during her surgery. Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation was able to cover these costs so that patients and families could focus on preparation, recovery, and being together. “We realized how blessed we are and that it is our duty to help,” said Mr. Singh.

FIJI Water Foundation is proud to be the team”s major sponsor, and we are also inviting all of Fiji to help support the costs of these heart surgeries. Until the end of the year, for every 1.5L bottle of water purchased at participating stores, 5 cents will be given to the Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation. For every six-pack purchased, customers receive a complimentary reusable shopping bag.

The three Fijian children who received heart surgeries return home.

A few weeks ago in August, Shivangani Chand said goodbye to her schoolmates at Rabulu Indian School in rural Tavua, Fiji — but not as any 10-year old child might on a typical Friday afternoon. The following day she traveled to Nadi with her mother, where she joined two other children, Josefo Qionibaravi of Nausori and Timoci Tagiciverata of Kadavu, on a life-changing journey.

These three children were all identified by the Fiji College of General Practitioners (FCGP) Children”s Heart Foundation as having severe heart defects, correctable only by surgery overseas. Shivangani suffered from heart valve deterioration caused by rheumatic heart disease, but the needed surgery and airfare to India, at $18,000 FJD (more than $9,000 US, at the time of this posting), was far beyond her family”s modest means.

As a cane-cutting laborer supporting four children, her father, Saras Chand, struggles to make ends meet. Shivangani is the only daughter in the family and excels in school, despite having to take a few semesters away due to sickness. Since her valve dysfunction was first identified, her parents feared the worst and wondered how they would ever afford the needed surgery, which costs patients over $40,000 FJD ($20,000) in Australia or New Zealand.

FIJI Water Foundation’s support of the FCGP Children”s Heart Foundation has given Shivangani a second chance at a normal life. The FIJI Water Foundation funds projects around Fiji in the three priority areas of health, education, and water infrastructure.

Shivangani poses for a photo after her return from Chennai, India, where she underwent heart surgery.

This past Wednesday morning, along with family, FIJI Water employees and Foundation representatives welcomed Shivangani back to Fiji after a successful open heart surgery at Frontier Lifeline Hospital in Chennai, India. Shivangani, Josefa, Timoci and their parents arrived back on their native soil to a local fanfare by FIJI Water and Vodafone. (Justin and Timoci”s surgeries and airfare were sponsored by Vodafone ATH Foundation.)

For Shivangani and her mother, it was their first trip on an airplane. Mrs. Chand, speaking in Hindi, said that she was very scared to fly but Shivangani was the brave one and she in turn had to be brave for her daughter. Mrs. Chand raved about the care and the facilities at Frontier Lifeline, and was happy to see how lively Shivangani has been since the surgery three weeks ago. Her daughter could not wait to get back to school and was busy doing homework on the plane ride home. Said Shivangani”s uncle Pramesh Prakash, “We are truly grateful to FIJI Water and its Foundation for assisting us.”

Family members anxiously await the return of Shivangani at the Nadi airport.

As FCGP Children’s Heart Foundation president Dr. Ponnu Goundar has said, these children presented difficult cases and India was the best option. In addition, the FIJI Water Foundation is a major sponsor of the Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation, who arrived in the country today. Their team of volunteer surgeons and medical personnel will perform free corrective heart surgeries for Fiji”s needy residents from September 10th-18th at Lautoka Hospital. This visit makes additional training and resources available to our local doctors and nurses during their duration of their stay.

Successful grantees and foundation staff celebrate by blowing out the candles on the FIJI Water Foundation birthday cake.

FIJI Water Foundation celebrated its second birthday yesterday — two years of assisting in development projects in water, health, and education throughout Fiji. Supporters, friends, partners, and grantees joined to help us celebrate by officially launching our Foundation website and announcing the Foundation”s most recent group of successful grant applicants, one of who traveled all the way from remote Kioa Island in the north of the county to speak about how the FIJI Water grant will finally make it possible for the island and its villages to have direct access to clean water. We also heard from the Director of Project HEAVEN, a remarkable organization that screens kids in remote parts of Fiji for ear and eye disease, and then makes sure they get treatment if any problems are discovered.

FIJI Water already has a robust online presence on the www.fijiwater.com and FIJIGreen.com sites, which provide information about the brand and mission to customers around the world. Until now, however, online customers, grantees, and partners have had limited access to information about the foundation and our development work in Fiji. Thus, we are thrilled to share our new website with you and with the world. This new site features foundation history, project descriptions, grant application resources, Twitter and news feeds, and an interactive project map. It also links to the partners who have helped make our work here possible. We look forward to growing this list as more companies consider joining our efforts. Internet is still not widely available throughout all of Fiji, but it”s moving fast: The Kioa Island grant recipient accessed the application materials and applied via email all the way from Fiji”s rural Northern Division. We look forward to the increased visibility and accessibility this site will give to our projects and partners.

In addition to observing our birthday and launching the new website, the ceremony honored the work of the inspiring organizations and communities we work with everyday. Fourteen new projects were launched, including four library projects, three kindergarten projects, two new water and sanitation projects, support for an NGO that provides ear and eye screening for children, support of a volunteer heart surgery team, as well as the foundation”s first electrification project, which will help to illuminate an entire district, including three schools, a health center, and a nursing station.

FIJI Water Foundation has donated more than $240,000 FJD to these 14 development projects. Since its establishment in 2007, the foundation has funded over $1,400,000 in projects directly impacting more than 70,000 people in 13 of Fiji”s 14 provinces. The same passion and world-class approach we have brought to bottling water, we bring to our developmental efforts.

We look forward to working with these communities and organizations as they implement their projects, some of which are already underway. We are always looking for new partners who share our development goals and welcome applicants for projects to be funded in early 2010.

Read more about our second-anniversary celebration:

FIJI Sun: FIJI Water Foundation Comes of Age

FIJIVillage.com: FIJI Water Gives $240,000

We strongly disagree with the author’s premise that because we are in business in Fiji somehow that legitimizes a military dictatorship. We bought FIJI Water in November 2004, when Fiji was governed by a democratically elected government. We cannot and will not speak for the government, but we will not back down from our commitment to the people, development, and communities of Fiji.

We consider Fiji our home and as such, we have dramatically increased our investment and resources over the past five years to play a valuable role in the advancement of Fiji.

It is true that Fiji is a poor country, but we believe that the private sector has a critical role to play to address the underserved areas of Fiji’s development, with special attention to economic opportunities, health, education, water and sanitation.

First, we employ nearly 350 Fijians in a rural part of Fiji with very little economic opportunity. We are one of the highest paying employers in the country with an annual payroll of nearly $5 million; we provide health care and other fringe benefits; and we have created advancement opportunities for women. There are also a number of smaller, entrepreneurial enterprises that have been created in the local region to supply our facility.

As an active member of the Fiji community, FIJI Water is committed to enabling positive change by means of social investment, capacity building, and sustainable development. It is important to us that we give back to the communities in which we work and live. We know that Fiji has tremendous potential because we see it realized at our factory every day.

Part of our investment in Fiji comes from royalty and trust payments paid each year that is a percentage of our total volume. As we grow our business, we are able to contribute more in royalty payments. In 2008 alone, we paid $1.3 million USD in royalties representing 1.5% of gross revenues of our Fijian company. These payments have allowed us to bring clean drinking water to the surrounding villages, infrastructure projects like electrification, kindergartens, secondary schools, renovations of community halls and much-needed health care clinics.

In addition, in late 2007 we created the FIJI Water Foundation to serve as a vehicle for social investment around the islands of Fiji. The Foundation has played a critical role in flood relief in Fiji, renovation of schools, and bringing much needed health care to rural villages. We have also partnered with the Rotary Club and Pacific Water for Life to bring clean water to 100 communities in Fiji this year. To date, FIJI Water Foundation has invested $600,000 USD, directly impacting more than 50,000 beneficiaries in 11 of Fiji’s 14 Provinces. You can learn more about the specific projects we have funded at www.fijiwaterfoundation.org.

With respect to the environmental issues raised in the article, our commitments are quite clear and laid out in www.FIJIGreen.com. We are the only bottled water company in the industry to publicly report its entire life cycle carbon emissions. We are independently audited and report to the Carbon Disclosure Project. And we are offsetting these emissions by 120%.

Land access issues are very delicate to negotiate in Fiji, but the Sovi Basin project remains on track and the 50,000 acres of the last remaining lowland rainforest in the South Pacific is protected now and through perpetuity from logging. The project will pay the local villagers not to sell their timber rights to logging companies. Deforestation of our tropical rainforests is one of the largest sources of carbon emissions. Protecting the Sovi Basin is the equivalent of removing 2 million cars from the highway.

Our carbon offset project in Fiji includes replanting the rainforests that have been decimated to plant sugarcane fields. Part of this effort includes planting native tree species, such as mango trees, to provide local villagers with a source of income. We are proud to create projects that protect the environment as well as provide for a source of sustainable income for the local Fijians.

It’s unfortunate that the reporter did not have the opportunity to speak to any one of the thousands of local people whose lives have been impacted in a very positive way because of FIJI Water. Had we known she was in Fiji, we would have been happy to escort her to any one of the 75 villages who have been a beneficiary of a clean water project sponsored by FIJI Water this year alone. She could have visited one of the villages surrounding our plant to visit a kindergarten that was recently built or to meet a local Fijian who received a life-saving corrective heart surgery by a physician we brought to the island.

The real irony here is that the reporter suggests that buying FIJI Water somehow legitimizes a military dictatorship, when in fact the jobs, revenues, and community projects supported by FIJI Water are strong contributors to growth in the well-being of the Fijian people.

Made me think hours later, as this blog entry sat on my TO DO list, that Fijians don”t have this problem. Fiji is one of the farthest places away from industrial pollution. I bet Fijian Mommies get to teach their rain lesson outside without thinking about pollution and acid rain. Maybe the warm tropical weather helps ward off paranoid Daddies too!