Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Api the boat captain is a popular and well known figure here on Vorovoro, and having recently completed two full years of work for the Tribewanted project we were keen to show our appreciation. On the evening of the second anniversary the tribe had some grog with the man himself outside the captains hut, and a week later a small group of us took a trip out to his home in (village name) on the mainland near Labasa, to give his house a fresh lick of paint. A small gesture, but one which would be appreciated for some time and by his entire family.

The ‘crew’ consisted of myself, the ‘Greek Lady’ Moya [a long term Vorovoro resident like myself!], Geoff & Mary [Amy’s parents], Steve [husband of Anne & father to Robbie & Dave, the family on the island currently], and ‘Pistol’ Pete who had hours to wait until his late afternoon flight out of Labasa, so chose to lend a hand at Api’s.

We took the boat from the usual tribe-member drop off, the Grand Eastern Hotel, further down the river to town, affording excellent views of the market. After stopping off in town to collect the paint & equipment and some supplies from the market for lunch, we wound further along the river to reach Api’s village. As is standard throughout Fiji, we received a warm and friendly welcome into the village and were soon at Api’s home to be greeted by his family. The chief and owner of the land came along to meet us and we sat to have tea and cake with everyone before work began. I presented some Kava as Sevusevu on behalf of everyone connected with Vorovoro, to thank him for the two years of dedication and for keeping everyone safe on the huge number of boat trips he has captained. Frankly it was a pleasure to be able to do that on behalf of so many people and to someone so special in terms of this wonderful place! After LOTS of cake and lemon juice and tea, we set to work in the main living room of the house, distracted by the sizzling and smells coming from the attached kitchen!

Api had chosen light blue for the colour, and once the first wall had been completed in turbo fashion by Pete (his rolling skills are unsurpassed!) it was looking like a good choice for a nice and airy bright looking living space! I had taken the TW video camera along today to record some footage of the event, so was trying to film bits and pieces, and this was when I spotted Geoff, who by now had fully subscribed to the Vorovoro ‘institution’ and was singing along to the hip-hop on the radio in tongues and shaking his booty with brush in hand… never before had I seen window frames painted with such style, and neither had the kids in Api’s village, much to their amazement and entertainment. Jazzy Geoff was born! We finished the living room and then Ben Keene and Amy arrived after attending to some business in town and joined us for a great lunch, with some grade ‘A’ fish caught by Api. After lunch and a rest we bid farewell to Pete who was sharing a taxi into town with Ben and Amy and off to catch his flight and then set about painting as much of the bedroom as possible before we had to leave. The village kids began arriving home from school soon after we got started and Geoff was still in top gear entertaining to gathering crowd, who were all encouraged to grab a brush and spread some aqua blue around the walls. By the end of the afternoon myself and Moya were cutting shapes along with Geoff, with our newly sported blue striped faces and we managed to get the back broken on the bedroom, leaving only some cutting in for Api’s brother to finish off when we left. The walk through the village was nice and we got see to see most of the forty one homes here and the church, along with the many pig pens they have near the river bank, which showed us that our pigs were actually in pretty good condition in comparison! Unfortunately Geoff slipped when walking down the algea covered concrete jetty to the boat and scraped his arm and leg… the local kids found it amusing and being made of tough stuff, Geoff shrugged it off with the smile which we have been accustomed to. I filmed my last piece of footage as we were waved off from the jetty and on route to pick up the new arrivals from the Grand Eastern and make our way back home… [I’m actually considering if I should tell the DVLA and tax man what my new home address is… hehe! ;)]

Thanks again to Api for allowing us to visit his home, which he tells me is home for every tribe member when ever they want to visit. A true gent and a great man.