Tribewanted: Vorovoro

I had a few twitchy reality slap moments this week. Before arriving on Vorovoro the wind turbine project has been a figment of the romantic side of my imagination. On this side I arrive with a gift, welcome arms carry me to a beautiful village and I press the pop-up turbine button on the side of my pre-shipped crate and new useful domestic appliances are buzzing to life with free electricity by afternoon tea and I spend the rest of my stay swimming with brightly coloured fish and slurping fruits.

Sometimes this way of thinking can overshadow and blinker the enormity of the task In hand but it’s a necessary mechanism that I have to make sure that I am motivated and not put of from trying at all. The whiplash comes when I am standing on the island chiefs porch staring over all of the raw “to be assembled” parts at the naturally manicured island village garden that is soon to become a building site.

After the rose tints have melted in a short panic I begin to take stock of the task. Village elders, young adults, children and visitors on the day begin to gather with interest and questions start to flow. I feel in a position of great responsibility and at the same time like I am about to start blagging it. I remind myself that this is a natural feeling because in reality I have never done this before. The feelings of doubt and ill-confidence are soon replaced with a sense that I am about to learn some seriously new experiences.

It feels like my gift is going to cause a major upheaval not only in the landscape but also for resource, scheduling and labour. I have spent the first few days understanding that my project is a major extension to the general weekly and longer term planned tribewanted activities. Helpers from team fiji and the island members are pledging their support and the village elders ( Poasa,Semesa and Pupu ) are taking special interest which is a great sign. There is a wonderful politeness and accommodation displayed when the project is discussed at the site and I have been made to feel free to start directing the initial stages. It soon becomes apparent to me that construction engineering is not a discipline to be blagged. Save, with the most gentle handling regails his earlier years experience as a student of this very art ( buildings engineering, not blagging !) and begins to make suggestions for altering my foundation plans. Also, Pupu makes a suggestion for the hinge mechanism over a nice cup of tea. Poasa delivers a new winching idea as we stroll the gardens and Semesa provides sensible anchor plans as we enjoy the morning breeze up the beach. A great wave of relief grips me and I embrace all of these fresh ideas. It took a day or two but we are now integrated and sharing the project. There was always something ghosting me from the start of my visit and at this moment I realised that it was the loneliness of a personal idea. This feeling has now gone and the project is in the cradle of Vorovoro. A very good place for it to be.

Under Save’ direction we have dug and built a large rectangular hole for the foundations. Tribe members Emily,Nienke and Dan helped to collect large rocks from the immediate beach to fill the base which was cemented flat to form a heavy and stable foundation in the otherwise loose sandy surroundings. On top of this a re-enforced wire frame cube was bent into shape and surrounded by a custom made wooden box. This became the vessel for a stout concrete and gravel mix pillar on which the turbine hinge mechanism would sit. Shallower anchor positions for the wire guy ropes have been dug and cemented with wooden ‘dead men’ for ballast. A further excavation was made for the upturned turbine crate to form the battery house. The turbine mast tested me. I had to accompany the top section back into Labasa to weld a 1.5” diameter short pipe section to the top which fits the turbine head ( I had forgotten about this requirement in all the excitement ). While I had the luxury of welding gear I decided to add eight strong pole anchor loops to the top pole for the wire guy ropes to take the strain only to find that I had put one set of them too close to the top of the mast. The attached wire ropes would have interfered with the blades. This I only discovered as boat captain Joni helped me load it onto the skiff for transport. The next day saw another journey to sort that mess out. We had a 1 hour boat schedule window to do the fix but this didn’t agree with the mainland engineering workshop jobload so Poasa and I did the grinding ourselves ( to remove the old anchors and re-position ). Flip flops, shorts, no goggles and no eardefenders made this a British safety standards nightmare. We rolled with it Fiji style. Our show of willing attracted an immediate re-weld. While waiting, some activity at the top of the road caught my attention. As a nice time filler I became swamped by the end of the regional commissioners parade. Hundreds of the regions police force and marching bands ( starting in the local sports stadium ) swarmed through Labasa back streets. The annual event awards the force’ finest with medals and promotions. When this had finished the pole was ready to take back to the boat. I wondered if extra doughnuts were ordered for all the café in town. Not sure what Fijian police chow during lunch time.

We had documentary film coverage from Australian international news channel ABC on Tuesday just in time to see the first practice tower lift ( without the turbine head ).This demanded all of my co-ordination with a large crew but was a resounding success. The tower stands today with the wire ropes strumming like tuned guitar strings. If Wednesday morning is cool and still it will be safe enough to try a real launch. The wooden hand carved blades travelled well and assembled with good behaviour also so relief is forthcoming today. The major hardware activities are complete, or so it seems. I only have the total off-grid system to wire up yet.

I was asked today if my dream had come to fruition. I said I’m still in it….