I often cringe when I see the brochures about Fiji because they paint this surreal picture of endless sand and smiling faces. In fact we don’t tell people we are going to Fiji very often because they inevitably say, “Ooh that will be lovely”. If they actually came with us they would be gobsmacked at the conditions we live in and those of our friends etc.

Sadly since the coups started there has become a growing selfishness in this nation. When you think about it every coup has at its core ” I don’t like what is happening so I am going to change it. Never mind that this will involve rebellion, corruption and law breaking, the very things I don’t like”.

SO now that we have an illegal government running as a self serving dictatorship this behaviour is starting to overflow into the community.

2 examples of that this week were

1. a Korean tour minibus that fell into a ravine. In front of the attending emergency services and police a group of young people started robbing the dead and dying passengers in the vehicle. They ran off with jewellery, handbags etc. and nobody even stopped them.

2. For the first time in all the years I have been coming here we were warned to not let Raewyn drive alone at night as she would not be safe. Considering where we are in Tavua, which is very poor but historically very safe, I couldn’t believe things were so bad.

And lastly from the “Be thankful for what you have and be glad you aren’t a Fijian local”, one of our friends is a full time pastor and his family lives on around $50 to $75 a week.

They have nothing but God looks after them and with help from friends like ourselves they pay their bills and never starve.

In the last 6 months their food bill has gone close to $!00 a week to feed them and their 3 kids. This is because things that they live on like rice, have doubled in price in 4 months.

A whole chicken that used to cost $2 or $3 is now ELEVEN DOLLARS. $11 is 3 days pay for many people here.

SO whilst we battle inflation in NZ realise that we are very blessed.

Our interest rates are tumbling, our economy is sound, our government is intelligent, educated and relatively honest.

Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.co.nz (coming to you from Tavua)

Following on from yesterday I thought I would tell you some stories of real life here.

Just up the hill from where we are is an area known as Bangladesh. It is a squatter settlement consisting of maybe 100 to 250 people living in all manner of “houses” they have built by hand.

They have no power, no sanitation, nothing.

Many of the people from there work as house cleaners etc. One new friend of ours is raising 2 kids up there and working for $3 a day as a cleaner.

The “best” part though is that she gives the money to her mother who passes it on to her favoured sister.
Yes she works and all the money goes to someone else. I’ve never heard Raewyn say “I don’t know how these people live” so often in one trip.

So be thankful today that you don’t have to try and live on nothing in a culture where the little you do have is taken from you.

Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.co.nz

A minivan hit a truck this week and 4 people died. I don’t know exactly what the death toll is in Fiji but it is horrific compared to the population.

Unsafe vehicles, like you wouldn’t believe are everywhere. I have often seen vehicles with axles collapsed and suspensions rotted through causing accidents. It is just amazing how bad the cars are. So the budget seeks to address this by allowing even older used cars to be imported than ever before and increasing the costs of importing new vehicles. In other words they are making the problem even worse.

What hope is there for a country that looks for ways to disadvantage itself then adopts those very ideas as policy.

My poor Fiji, what will become of us.

Forgive my brevity but access is difficult and I hope these stories create a thankful heart in you, no matter what you are going through.

Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.co.nz

I am enjoying Fiji’s broadband capability in Tavua.

Sometimes I get nearly 5 minutes of access at about half dial up speed before it drops out completely.

It really breaks my heart to see the nation I love so much descending into so much chaos.

The interim government released its budget this week. In a country where there is poverty growing daily and costs spiraling out of control the budget solution is to give the military 15 mil, their biggest increase ever and now more per capita than NZ or Australia. In addition they increased the tariffs on over 1000 goods to put more people into poverty.

I love this place but the incompetence politically is just so tragic.

So remember when you are having a bad day that in Fiji there is now over 60% poverty, people literally cannot feed themselves.

Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.co.nz

Raewyn is finally out of bed after nearly 6 weeks of virus attack and today we are shooting over to Fiji for a few days to catch up with friends and sort some things out.

As you know the people of Fiji mean everything to me so I am quite sad about this trip as it has been several months since I last went and I know things have deteriorated terribly since then. The current regime has seen poverty rise to well over 50% of the population and the gap between the few “haves” and the masses of “have nots” is ever widening.

We do what we can and intend to do more however the problem grows much faster than we can fix which can be exasperating.

I will endeavour to keep the blogs going as per normal. We should have reasonable internet access over there providing the power is on.

I’ll try to do some video blogs to help you understand just how bad things are there and to help you to keep my friends in your thoughts and prayers.

We live in a wonderful land and have privileges we neither appreciate nor fully understand. Take time to be thankful for them. You’ll see what I mean when I show you “real” Fiji.

I’m looking forward to driving on the Kings Rd

Stay Safe and apologies in advance if there is any delay with blogs!!

Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.co.nz

I was sent this picture in a funny email but viewing it struck me quite deeply and not in a funny way

This is an incredible visualisation of most people’s lives.

We are all moving who knows where, crammed in together, not even noticing our surroundings.

We can’t move or get off without possible injury.

As people continue to panic and we start to hear of increased suicides etc. it hopefully starts to dawn on some of us that maybe we are on this desert road to nowhere.

Is our value tied up in our possessions?? Well sadly for many of us the answer is yes, but the truth is no it’s not. If I got wiped out in the current mess it wouldn’t be my first choice but it wouldn’t ruin my life either. My wife, my faith, friends and relationships, THESE are more important.

Is our value tied into our status or job? Well that can come and go like the wind, it is not the sort of thing to stake your life on.

You see we give money so much power in our lives that it controls us. Money was designed to be something we control but for most of us it has become our master and in many cases our God.

So as we weather the storm consider the things that are really important to you right now and decide whether they deserve the priority they have held in your mind and in your heart.

Life is a journey full of experiences and memories. They will be good and bad but all together they enrich, educate and fulfill us. Money should be at the bottom of the list of things that really really matter.

Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.co.nz

I was talking to a lovely lady at my Storage Zone evening last night who was a new investor. Unlike the “crowd”, she realised that she needed to be doing something to secure her future and that of her daughter.

I was thinking about it later and in reality securing our financial future should simply be a part of looking after ourselves. Look at the explosion in gyms and the health industry in recent times.

People theoretically are realising that they need to look after themselves physically so we become gym addicts.

It is unfortunate that we don’t have a similar revolution in the area of looking after ourselves financially.

Whether it’s saving $10 a week till retirement or doing something more sophisticated and leveraged we all must take some responsibility for ensuring we take control for our lives and not just let it happen.

Small amounts of action can create a massive result over time and yet the vast majority of people behave like lemmings and jump when everybody else jumps.

So it was great to meet some people last night understanding the need to take control and take some small but targeted action.

I hope that you will join them and think about what you are doing to look after your financial future and what you could do to get a better result.

It’s all part of Staying Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.co.nz