In August, days before our planned departure from Fiji, I was invited by Joeli Veitayaki to come and visit Moturiki Island where people had chosen to build compost toilets. They had assistance from Anna, a Danish architect who has a lot of knowledge about compost toilets. We were welcomed on the island with a tour of the village. They showed us the problems that they experienced with flush toilets. The area was regularly flooded due to spring tide or heavy rainfall. The old system of flush toilets did not have a waste water disposal system other than an open field where the waste would gather. During those floods the waste would wash back into the village. This created a dangerously unhygienic situation. The villagers on Moturiki chose to build compost toilets. They showed us that these toilets could be made with ordinary building materials and did not require special skills to build other than common construction work. The workings of these toilets were based on the idea that all the wet waste (pee) would flow away through drainage pipes and that all the solids (poo) would gather in the cube container beneath the toilet. Each building would have two toilets which would be used one at a time.  It takes a few years to fill the cube beneath the toilet. Then the excrement is left to compost for a few months before opening and using it as fertiliser. Any bacteria that are harmful for humans are being killed in the ‘resting’ period. In the meantime the second toilet is used. This is one of the finished toilets. It is clean inside and doesn’t smell bad. Anna the architect had  her own bure built.  She was experimenting with potted herbs and vegetables.Joeli Veitayaki had made a makeshift cinema with a beamer and some local bedlinen. He was teaching proper coastal zone management.We went to the island on an open outboard powered boat. The way back did become some kind of an ordeal when it got dark and there was no way to see the coral reef under us. It took us a long time to get back. Minutes before arrival we happened to overrun a floating bamboo raft. The boat was picked up and slid all the way over the raft. Luckily there wasn’t any damage on the boat or outboard and we could safely reach land.