A smile is a curve that sets a lot of things straight.

Most days you will find Ted and I wondering through town.

We always have a mission and more often than not we end up at the fruit and veg market. Ted has his usual friends he visits and of course many new ones are made. A dog on a lead is unheard of here, one in town and through the markets is quite a novelty.

Outside one of the supermarkets there sits a lady selling newspapers. She always looked grumpy with a real cloud hanging over her head. I would stop and buy the paper and she would scowl at Ted and barely acknowledge me. As you can imagine she got a few nicknames from me and none of then particularly uplifting. ;-)

One day I saw her plucking small leaves of a branch while grumpily selling papers. The leaves she was plucking were are off a Moringa tree which is a world renown miracle tree and the leaves and seed pods eaten here.

I have been learning about the tree and using it myself so I started a conversation with her. She told me her daughter was sick and she was going to boil up the leaves and some carrot for her. I sat on the step beside her and started asking about her family, her life, how much she earned selling papers. It turned out that she and her daughter lived alone on $40 a week and she had no food in the cupboard and her daughter had been sent to school with 50c in the hope there was something she could buy with that.

I knew she wasn't spinning me a yarn because she had no reason to lie and I wasn't standing there with my wallet open. I was impacted by her story and began to understand why she sits there with a black cloud over her. I tied Ted up beside her which always terrified her and went into the supermarket. I came out with a sack of rice and a few other items and casually dropped them behind her table. She looked in absolute shock and tears ran down her cheeks. I told her I had a good vegie garden and the next day I would drop off some vegies.

Now she beams with a lovely smile as we walk past. I drop of vegies if I have them and purchase a newspaper if I feel like it. I told her story to my friends here and now she gets little rays of sunshine from people she doesn't even know. The best thing about this little story is she now smiles and looks so much happier about her day. I plan to visit her at home one day as she said her house leaks bad in the heavy rains. I also want to encourage her to grow her own vegies.

Here she is looking nervous with Ted holding her newspaper of Moringa leaves.

This is her a week later with Ted on her lap and she is smiling.

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I am loving living here and seeing how God brings people across my path. I could be a bored "trailing spouse" which is the title of the wives here who aren't allowed to work.

Instead everyday is an adventure in meeting people. Ted of course is a major draw card and he has adapted so well to being "world famous in Lautoka"

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Our little angel Rimsha who is at present in India with her parents is doing amazingly well. Mum and dad have found a hotel near to the hospital and there are other Fijian and Tuvaluan families staying with family memebers in the hosptial recieiveing treatment of some kind. So they have a good support network set up which is fantastic.

Rimsha had lots of tests and scans last week and earlier this week she had the first of a series of operations. They removed her feeding tube out of her nose and feed it into her stomach which immediately made her life so much better not having to deal with it in her face (literally) and she is able to be fed more as the tube is wider.

Her first Op was to repair her cleft palate and she has amazed her parents at how she has responded. She is all smiles and looks great.

If you wish to follow her progress closer we have set up a Friends of Rimsha face book page which is up dated every couple of days.

A couple of very happy girls.

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Thank you to everyone who follows our journey and supports us through words, visits and financially.

We feel so incredibly humbled when people entrust us with money so that we can help make a difference in the lives of people around us. We are quietly looking and waiting until the right people come across our path. Little Rimsha was one of those and we were able to contribute towards her medical expenses as well as purchase her parents a smart phone so they could keep in touch with family and friends back in Fiji. I have set up her FB page and already she has over 300 likes after a week. Which is great because they are going to need more financial support. Unexpected extra costs have come in from the hospital due to Fiji not having done all the correct tests but this is not a surprise. Any donations for this little Angel are gratefully recieved. Just click on donate on our webpage and tag it Rimsha.

Vinaka Vaka Levu - Lisa