CAPTION: Dreke Villagers with FHTA Coral Coast Chapter reps.
Dreke Village is the cleanest village in Nadroga/Navosa. The Coral Coast Fiji Hotels and Tourism Association Chapter (Coral Coast FHTA) awarded this title to the village after the initiative was launched in 2012 to create the greenest and cleanest province in Fiji.
Association Chairman and Outrigger on the Lagoon ∙ Fiji General Manager Peter Hopgood presented the $1000 prize money to the villagers of Dreke this morning.
Whilst speaking at the presentation Mr. Hopgood congratulated the residents of the village for their strong commitment to the campaign and encouraged them to continue to strive to be the cleanest village in the province.
“You’ve set a remarkable standard by becoming the first village to win the campaign and I urge you to continue to work together as a community. Your win today is a massive encouragement to the surrounding villages to work hard to keep their villages clean”, Mr. Hopgood stated.
“We as an association are also glad to know that your $1000 prize money will be put towards the building funds for a new kindergarten. Your efforts to become the cleanest village is now filtering down to your younger generation by teaching them the values of cleanliness and now winning money that will go towards their early education”, Mr. Hopgood continued.
Dreke Village Project Development Manager Kelevi Dinavatu said the village is proud of their achievement for being awarded the cleanest village title in the province.
“Every fortnight the village gets together and carries out a community clean up. The Ministry of Health also assisted us by providing gloves towards this campaign. We have areas on the far corners of the village where rubbish is properly separated for disposal. This program has helped us understand the need for a clean village to prevent diseases”, Mr. Dinavayu stated.
“We would like to thank the Coral Coast FTHA chapter for this program and we give our assurances that we will remain the cleanest village in the province of Nadroga and Navosa”, Mr. Dinavatu added.
Dreke was chosen out of 109 villages in the province of Nadroga and Navosa. The Ministry of Health through the assistance of the Coral Coast FHTA chapter conducted the competition using a criteria which looked at proper waste disposal (utilizing the 3 R concept – reduce, reuse and recycle), proper kitchen and toilet facilities per household as well as the general cleanliness of the village surroundings.
Dreke Village is located in the heart of Nadroga with a population of 367 people and 50 households.
Coral Coast FHTA continues to work closely with government to set the example of the greenest and cleanest initiative in the province of Nadroga and Navosa. The success of this initiative will hopefully see the program being introduced into other villages around the country. The initiative started with the schools in the province before being extended to the villages. The chapter also works closely with the Ministry of Health to identify areas of need and assistance for the province.
A key campaign of this initiative is the ‘No Plastics – That’s Fantastic’ to rid the province of plastic bags. This program will soon be passed as a by-law in Sigatoka and the town will become the first not to retail plastic bags in the country.
PRESS RELEASE