Tribewanted: Vorovoro

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Last week’s hurricane experience made it clear to us that although at times we may lose sight of who is really in charge, ultimately we are always at the mercy of Mother Nature. We are grateful that in the end, Hurricane Tomas veered away from our side of Vanua Levu – a direct hit would have been more devastating than I can even imagine.

As it is, we have months of clean up and rebuilding ahead of us, and
according to radio reports the eye of the hurricane never passed
closer than 100 km to us.

We had been following news coverage of the hurricane since Friday. On Sunday, it it became clear from radio reports that the hurricane was definitely going to cause Vorovoro some damage, so Tribe and Team gave up our usual day of Sunday leisure and got to work.

There were tarps to be nailed down, wind turbines to lower, roofs to secure. We packed up all of our belongings and secured them in a tarp and placed some beds on top. The Fijians cut back banana trees and cassava plants in hope of minimizing the crop damage. All the books and instruments in the Grand Bure were packed away.

From the kitchen to the showers to the toolshed to the hammock area, anything that could blow away or become a flying missile was locked away. Finally, laden with backpacks, mattresses, food,water, and tanoa (you know we wouldn’t forget that!) we made our way to Tui Mali’s concrete house, where we would weather the storm.

Sunday evening and all of Monday, we waited for slowpoke Tomas to make his way to Fiji – all the news reports were that he was moving at 9-10 kmph, and building in intensity. It was the worst hurricane that Fiji had seen since 1972. I think we were all just wishing the hurricane would hurry up and do whatever it was going to do to us – the anticipation was tiring. If we got a direct hit, it was going to be bad. Really bad. My thoughts kept drifting back to a National Geographic documentary I had watched years ago with footage of a direct hit of Hurricane Hugo- images of the flooding from the storm surge kept making their way through my mind. We made the best of our cozy time together, filling the hours with card games, Madlib silliness, reading, and grog.

All day and night Sunday, the fierce wind gusts bent the coconut trees in half and rained coconuts and palms all over the village. The worst came late Monday night, when most of us were sleeping. The winds were ferocious, but sadly for our water tanks, there was not much rain. We actually lost water from the tanks because a pipe became disconnected and emptied our precious water like a geyser.

Throughout the storm, we felt safe and secure – if we weren’t looking out the windows, it would have been hard to know that a hurricane was going on! The concrete walls of Tui Mali’s house kept out the wind and rain that ravaged the rest of the island. Boat captain Jone stayed with the Tribe the entire time – I think everyone took comfort from our capable Fijian friend who had seen many a hurricane and who knew exactly what to do.

Surveying the damage

By mid-morning Monday, the winds were still blowing but had died enough for us to safely survey the damage. As we walked along, climbing over debris and fallen trees, we were quiet as we took in the devastating sight of our once beautiful island. Dozens and dozens of pawpaw trees were snapped in half. Limbs, branches, coconuts, pawpaws, breadfruit, and huge coconut palms blanketed the ground.

An enormous tree had fallen between the Team Fiji kitchen and Tevita’s bure, destroying the Team Fiji dining area. Other large trees were uprooted or snapped in half, completely blocking paths. A huge tree fell into the chicken house. (Luckily all the chickens survived! Sadly, up in the pigpen, there was one piglet fatality.) When another tree was uprooted, it destroyed the concrete stairs leading up to the showers. Corrugated iron roofs had blown off several of the structures. The huge green water tank up by the showers had come down into the village. All of the structures in the village sustained some level of damage, the worse by far being the Grand Bure. The roof, formerly layered thick with reeds, was now thin and bare and completely gone in some places. It looked as if some giant monster had taken huge bites out of the roof, chewed them up, and then spat them out around the village. The Chief, Family, and Team Fiji bure roofs weren’t in much better shape. The arch structure for Tui Mali’s entrance was broken and twisted around itself. The vents were snapped off the compost toilets, and lighting and signage were ripped and strewn about the village.

After the initial shock wore off, the Tribe and Team wasted no time
getting to work on the clean up. In fact, Team Fiji were so quick
with the chainsaw and machetes that we had to rush to tell them to
“Please hold on! Let us get some photos to share with the
tribe first!!”

Throughout that day and every day since, the sounds of chainsaw, machetes, and hammers have rang through the village.

It’s going to take a lot of time, work, and money to restore Vorovoro. The island has a different look about it now – where the jungle between the village and Tanoa Park was once thick with banana and paw paw trees, it is now broken and thin.

But already re-growth is happening – from where Fijians have neatly cut them below where they were snapped, the banana trees have begun to grow again with fresh green shoots. I have no doubt that within months the vegetation of the island will restore itself, just as it is meant to do. The bigger problems lie with man-made structures that cannot naturally restore themselves, although wouldn’t it be nice if the Grand Bure could automatically grow a new roof just as the banana trees are doing?

When it rains (as it has each day since the hurricane), water flows right through what is left of the roof of the Grand Bure. Photos cannot accurately show the damage. As most of you know, the Grand Bure is where all things important on Vorovoro take place – ceremonies, celebrations, meetings, games, grog – aside from the kitchen, the Grand Bure is the most important structure we have on Vorovoro.

In time, with the help and support of Tribe members both on the island and in their home countries, and the hard work of Team Fiji and the Mali community, Vorovoro will be looking and operating better than ever.

Thank-you for your support.

Jenny

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