As I sat on the Fiji airlines flight home, my eyes watered as my mind filled with all the little moments that had touched my heart. Upon my paint splattered clothes, busted knees, and bloody knuckles, I reflected on my experience that I will continue to learn from for the rest of my life.   

This summer I spent a month traveling in The Fiji Islands for a cultural immersion and service expedition. I stayed with a native family in the Fijian Village of Nasivikoso, where I earned over 60 hours of community service. In the developing nation, I built schools and exchanged English enrichment with the students of the village.

Along with one other American student, I lived with a native Fijian host family of seven children. I stayed in a one room and zero bath house with no electricity, no running water, and almost no possessions.

I often had to remind myself that I was in real life. I was taken back on how people could live so simplified and happily. With such little exposure to the rest of the world, they only know to love and support one another. While I was there, I couldn’t go anywhere without being tackled by loving children who were so fascinated by my westerner appearance.

For weeks I was immersed in a culture so entirely different from mine. I was often challenged to perceive ideas and actions as “different” that I would otherwise see as “weird.” Nasivikoso is a completely communal village. Therefore, if I put my shirt out on a line to dry, and I later saw someone else wearing it, it is not considered stealing because I clearly wasn’t using it.

I had never expected that people living in such limiting conditions by our standards could be so incredibly happy and healthy. Once the culture shock died down, I began to truly question my perception of “normal” and the way life should be lived. In Fiji, human satisfaction comes from the well being of their community as a whole, because individual income does not exist. In the village they are all equals, and their oblivion to being underdeveloped keeps all of their values and morals in check.

Weeks before I arrived in Nasivikoso, American visitor gave a little village boy a new pair of shoes as a gift. The boy was ecstatic, but shortly after receiving them the shoes were stolen from him, and he was beat up and tormented by other kids. This shows that the second that materialism begins to separate one being over another is when evil and jealousy become present.

As I continued to observe the laid back Fijian lifestyle, the more I contemplated if what I had once considered “privileges” were more like unhealthy and consumeristic attributes to my life. I questioned the way that we classify first world countries versus third world countries only based on technology and industrial development. I think that factors like total health, impact on the environment, and amount of conflict within the nation should also be brought to greater attention.

The amount of selflessness, compassion, positivity, and love that I was fortunate enough to witness is something that I will cherish, and take with me for the rest of my life. I highly encourage other students to push themselves outside of their comfort zones, and experience a different culture, as I did.