Vorovoro September 2011
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Dear Tribe,
I am writing to you today from the solar house in Sierra Leone. After nearly a year of discussing a new partnership with Vorovoro, Fiji, we have decided it makes the most sense to step-back from the management of the project and hand over the infrastructure to the local community. I have written to Tui Mali and the Mataqali this week to communicate this.
Professionally for Tribewanted it is the right decision. Personally it was a harder one to make.
Vorovoro was always ambitious – we agreed a lease in 2006 that was, in hindsight, too expensive putting pressure on the project when business was slow in 2010. New lease fees from the government are even higher which is why it does not make sense to pursue a long-term one.
For 5 years we enjoyed being part of something very special on Vorovoro. We learnt a huge amount from our Fijian family as well as ourselves and what it really means to live more sustainably. I will be surprised if I ever meet such a hospitable and beautiful people again. I thank Tui Mali especially for everything he and his family has done to share their culture and community with the ‘Vuravura’ (the world). Living on Vorovoro often did feel like a paradise not so much because of the island but because of the people that came together on it. I’ve not experienced anything like it before or since. Maybe I never will. It was and I am sure will continue to be one of the happier places in the world.
At this moment I also fondly remember those that helped Vorovoro grow but who are no longer with us today: Peta Tale, Raina Jensen, and Justin Martindale.
The Cahills (Tribewanted Project Managers in 2009/10) are now formally seeking a partnership with the Mataqali to continue community tourism on Vorovoro, run locally in Fiji. This is good news. As soon as this progresses I will let you know so that those wishing to return to the island can. I look forward to returning myself. We wish the Cahills, the landowners and the community of Mali the very best of success. Everything Tribewanted and its members built and left on the island will remain to help provide a platform for the next phase of the project.
The idea of Tribewanted has always been to build a new type of international and local community that was sustianble, innovative & significant in its positive impact. This mission has not changed. The momentum and lessons that Vorovoro gave us have rolled on and with a great team we will continue our successful start in Sierra Leone where this week we opened the project at John Obey for season two . In 2012 we will open a new location and based on recent tribe survey feedback will launch an exciting Co-op model through a brand new online platform that is already well on its way to being built.
So, sad as I am not to be making regular trips back to Fiji I know this is the right decision and now feel freer and more focused on taking our tribe forward.
Thank you for playing your part.
Ben
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ben@tribewanted.com
Comments
Vina’a va’a levu Ben for giving us the update and although sad to think Tribewanted has closed its doors on Fiji for a while, extremely grateful that you Ben, opened them in the first place and allowed us all to experience a beautiful culture, a stunning island and to gain so much more than just an eco tourism project. Through your courage, motivation and continual energy, Vorovoro was and is an incredible place, which has inspired and driven us in so many different ways. Long may it continue to be a sustainable hubbub and a cultural celebration of Fiji….
As the sun sets, lets hope the new dawn brings fulfillment to the local community and sends a message out to the world to respect, love, live in the present moment….and laugh!
Moce mada.
Second what Amy said. Vina’a va’a levu Ben. Without your hard work and dedication, being able to experience Vorovoro would never have happened, and for that I thank you very much.
I’m excited to see what will happen with Tribewanted in 2012 and what will happen next on Vorovoro, and wish the Cahills the best of luck!
I am not totally surprised but let us hope all the effort and goodwill that has gone in since the beginning to make Vorovoro what we all appreciate and remember is carried forward in the spirit of Tribewanted. I look forward to keeping up with future Tribewanted locations and who knows may well visit in the future. Thank you to everyone who made my dream happen. Jay
Tribewanted was a brilliant “invention” which has led many people from all over the world to a tiny speck of an island in Fiji; the cosmos works in strange ways to bring the right people to the right places, so many of us have benefited from our experiences in Vorovoro. We have been touched by the years of establishing what Tribewanted would be, we have helped, we have lived the Fijian way, we have experienced deeply the pain of leaving that tiny island and its people which rips your heart apart with sadness to leave behind such a special experience. Ben your larger than life efforts to create this project have been appreciated by so many, and the fact that this project will now move to a different stage is really, only the continuation that we all had hoped for. It is a brave move and a hard one, to let it move on, even if it will not be directly under the Tribe umbrella, its roots are solidly there. Times move on, programs evolve, and those that have lived and loved everything about this project I think will be very happy to know that there is a future for Vorovoro. With great sadness, it will not have Leavi as one of the major figures but his spirit will live on and the memory of so many happy moments with him. I wish you continued strength to move forward with ground breaking projects around the world, you have set the stage for a very different and very significant way of sharing and learning from other cultures. Vinaka vaka levu.
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