Klein provides computers,

books to students in Fiji

By Shawn Hogendorf

Staff Writer

When the Peace Corps sent an invitation to Jay Klein to be an environmental educator in Fiji, it took him about 10 minutes to respond, saying, “Yeah, I’m in.”

 Klein, 30, of Prior Lake applied to the Peace Corps in September 2004. The application process takes from six to 18 months.

Klein left on a 14-hour flight from Los Angeles to Tailevu, Fiji two weeks after he accepted the invitation.

There, he attended an intensive 10-week training program that began June 2, 2005.Jay Klein recently returned from
Fiji, where he volunteered as an
environmental educator for the
Peace Corps. (Photo by Shawn
Hogendorf)

The training program consisted of 102 hours of language training in Fijian with some Hindi-Fijian training and 17 additional hours of applied-language training enhanced by living with a Fijian family.

“The primary language in Fiji is English,” Klein said. “You can probably get by without knowing the language. It wouldn’t be easy, but you could get by.”

Klein also received 164 hours of community-based training, which included community-development projects, health and wellness training, administrative and policy sessions and safety and security training.

After successfully completing the training program, Klein was sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer on Aug. 12, 2005.

He was assigned to Loreto Catholic Primary School in the village of Tokou on the island of Ovalau. The school has 175 students and eight teachers.

Klein was assigned as an environmental educator, but he spent most of his time teaching 10 -to 14- year-old children English, math, science and sports.

In addition to teaching, Klein was also the environmental advisor for the 700-person village of Tokou, where he lived.

“I thought I was supposed to be doing environmental conservation work,” Klein said. “That’s what they told me when I applied. I thought I would be working on the coral reefs. I’m a scuba diver, so I was like, ‘Yeah.’ But when I got there, I was doing something completely different.”

Klein adapted to his role. Soon after being assigned to Tokou, Klein became the only Peace Corps volunteer on the island.A view of the village of Tokou, Fiji.
(Submitted photos)

The volunteer originally assigned with him got sick and went home after three months. A year later, a second volunteer assigned to work with Klein got homesick and left the island after a week.

“The first year for Peace Corps volunteers worldwide is not a fun year,” Klein said. “You’re getting used to everything and being away from home. The first year, nearly every volunteer gets sick.”

Klein said it was interesting being the only volunteer on the island.

“It sucked at times, not seeing another volunteer,” he said. “But the cool part was that I really got to know my village.”

As a primary-school teacher, Klein advocated environmental awareness among the students and teachers.

His primary project was to teach environmental-awareness courses. In an English class, Klein developed a syllabus that combined the science of local botany and wildlife with English language.

He also combined environmental awareness with education on a project about animal population that he fit into his math syllabus.

Klein also served as a counselor for 17 primary-school children and was a Cub Scout leader for 12 primary-school boys in the village.

Klein played a pivotal role in helping out with the school’s organization, too. He created databases and organized paperwork to help the school’s teachers locate and organize tests and school work efficiently.

He assisted in coordinating a school fund-raising bazaar in 2006. During this effort, the school raised $10,000. In addition, Klein helped his teaching counterparts professionally develop as teachers.Jay Klein’s house in Fiji.

He nominated one of his fellow teachers at the school to attend an International Leadership Program by the U.S. Department of State and the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. His teaching counterpart was accepted into the conference.

Outside of the classroom, Klein helped village children by acquiring seven computers and more than 700 books from companies and schools in the United States.

Klein taught the basics of typing and searching encyclopedia software to find information.

“At first, the children were cautious of the computers because they didn’t want to break them,” Klein said. “People on the island see computers, but no one has one.”

Through a book drive, Klein started a library check-out system, providing students with an opportunity to improve their reading skills.

“The village was my everything for two years,” Klein said. “It was my work and my social life.”

Klein lived in a small wood house with tin siding and no roof in the center of the village. Everyone passed by his house, so about 75 percent of the people on the island knew who he was. Klein didn’t have any shutters or blinds.

“It was hot,” Klein said. “If it was 100 degrees, it was 105 degrees in my house without any shade. But that gave me the opportunity to meet people because I couldn’t stay in my house during the day.”

In addition to the heat, Klein said his house had rats, bugs and centipedes. “You name it, I had it in my house,” he said.

Klein immersed himself in the culture as he worked with the people of Tokou to build awareness of composting toilets, water-safety and health. Klein also attended a World HIV Awareness Day conference facilitated by the Red Cross. The goal of the conference was to educate the youth of the island about HIV and how it’s spread, he said.Jay Klein mixes up some grog.
Grog is a mild sedative that acts
as a conversational catalyst in
the Fijian culture.

When Klein wasn’t hard at work in Fiji, he spent his time scuba diving in one of the world’s best diving spots. He also hung out with the locals drinking grog, a mild sedative that acts as a conversational catalyst as beer does in the United States culture, Klein explained.

“Many of the volunteers didn’t get to know their communities the way I did because they hung out with other volunteers. I was around my community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I really got to know everyone,” Klein said.

Klein was born and raised in Shakopee. In 1994, he moved to Colorado, where he graduated from high school. He then spent four years on a missile-guided cruiser stationed in Florida while he was in the Navy. After he got out of the Navy, Klein attended a college in Florida before transferring to the University of Colorado in Denver, where he graduated.

Klein has been to 25 different countries since his time in the Navy.

He is currently living at his parents’ house in Prior Lake while he reacquaints himself with life as an American. He’s seeking out graduate-school options for international development and security. He hopes to do more work overseas.

“It is really strange to go shopping at Target and have a million different options for a bar of soap again. It was a much simpler life in Fiji, and I liked that,” Klein said.

If others want to join the Peace Corps, Klein’s advice to them is to be open-minded.

Ninety percent of the time, volunteers do something different than they’re told they’re going to do, he said. That affects a lot of volunteers, and they get frustrated and go home, Klein said.

 Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at (952) 345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com.