About Us
Vision
To be Mary, our Lady of Lura in using her soil to provide joy through the development and empowerment of people, so that the door to a hopeful future is open to them
Mission
“The aim of the Marist Training Centre in Tutu is to provide a place/presence in which the people of Cakaudrove (and some tikina’s of Bua and Macuata) are empowered to become more autonomous and take charge of their lives in a rapidly changing world, It involves a transformation and a reciprocal outreach to the peoples of the Pacific.”
Underlying Principles Guiding Tutu
The charism of Tutu is founded on Marist Spirituality.
Adult learning is a formative process whereby a person in and through community assumes responsibility for his/her growth as a person in the service of the world in which he /she lives; it is a process of liberation by which under a skilled guide a person grows in freeing himself/herself from constraints of a personal disorder and a social or cultural order (Cf annex 1).
The heart of the formation and training is the human person development leading to skill training and management for self employment using the participants own resources, particularly for youth, married couples and single women
Our Board
Fr Milikiade
Chairman
Fr Lote
Assistant Chairman / Finance
Fr Petero Matairatu sm
TRTC Director
Mr Rohit Lal
Board member
Fr Isaia Wairoga
TRTC Representative to Board
Mrs Lanieta Tatini
TRTC Accounts & Representative to Board
Mrs Serenia Madigubuli
Board member
Our Associates
Mr Sant Kumar
Fruit Trees & Vegetables Consultant
Mr Lex Thompson
Forestry and Agro-forestry Specialist
Ms Selina Kuruleca
Community Educator
Mr Inosi Navoto
Small Machineries Consultant
Mr Rayner Page
Hydro Director / Senior Electrical, Design Engineer
Mr Mike James
Finance Consultant
Mr Rohit Lal
Agriculture Consultant (MoA)
Our Departments
Administration
Manage Tutu’s daily administrative operations and information management system
Courses
Develop curriculum of TRTC courses and oversee daily course activities
Food Development Unit
Oversee the value-adding and sales of Tutu produce
Hospitality
Ministering the hidden role of Mary at Nazareth.
Hydro
Oversee the daily operation of power using TRTC’s hydro and solar system
Nursery
Manage the daily operation of planting materials; from the nursery to the fields
Ocenia Farm
Restoring and enhancing soil fertility at Tutu and beyond
Maintenance
Managing all essential services like water, housing, and power
A Message from the Director
With the introduction of the Tutu board, it will enhance the future sustainability of the Tutu Rural Training Center especially in securing the insecurity of tenure and the insecurity of funding by using the center’s substantial-quality land and other resources for income generation as well as benefactors to make donations to help fund the courses and capital investments.
Once again thank you for this opportunity to write on the recent development of Tutu and its sustainable future
Sincerely,
Fr Petero Matairatu sm
Director TRTC
Bula Vinaka Everyone!
On behalf of the Tutu Rural Training Centre, we would like to say thank you for your support and your generosity to TRTC as a whole. We have come a long the way since the last 51 years of Tutu operation and we salute everyone for your contribution.
The expectations for young people in Fiji are that they grow up with parents, churches, and government telling them that they must go to school and get a job and find formal employment though the reality is that only a very small percentage will find employment and the remainder are left behind. Tutu programs are an effort to respond to people in another way, the way of adult nonformal education for rural self-employment.
The most important thing for Tutu participants is that they have a process that enables them to critically evaluate their culture. This demands a special type of leader for Tutu.
In faith-based organisations and ventures like Tutu, there should be a refounder who can pass on the word on what happened at the time of our original foundation and then the current re-founding of Tutu.
In the re-founding process, there should be a willingness to live and work in the darkness of faith, the ability to articulate inspiringly and in an empowering way, a vision, a collaborative style of management, non-judgemental respect for people even if they reject the ideas and vision and a commitment to hard work. Tutu has been through this refounding period and thanks to Fr Michael McVerry sm for your on-going passion for the Tutu project. You have set the paths for administrative roles that one should have the gift of being able to go to the roots of problems and create imaginative ways to overcome them.
Reviewers have identified the successful management of non-formal adult education rural training center requires a high level of expertise in leadership as well as a proven record of staff based on using their own resources. On the other hand management need to be highly participatory and responsive to the needs of the constituents with a local focus but with an international character