Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Have been on island for 4 days now but already it seems a lifetime. The bonding & community spirit between us Pangaea & team Fiji has considerably enhanced since my last time on island in Sept 2007.

I am aware of some early members whom have had doubts re ongoing island progress, as was discussed at XmasTWOT & also gained an airing on the forums. On the XmasTWOT thread I posted that I was reserving any judgement until after my return.

Well my judgement is that contrary to some views that have been expressed the island is in excellent shape and is going from strength. In time to come Ben Keene is certain to go down in history for the creation of this groundbreaking community project.

It is true that progress on the raw eco bits – using eco friendly hygiene products etc has been a little slow. One reason for this is that Fiji in general is some 30 – 40 yrs behind the western world in this area & within the Fijian community at large things change very slowly.
However a good range of products are now available for purchase on island; Kate Walker & others having recently moved the initiative further forward in this regard.

One area of sustainability that does require improvement is the looking after of some of the technical infrastructure. The pile of dead widgets in the Ecotricty hut can only be described as depressing.
Prime reason for all the dead widgets – and some of the lighting that I had installed back in 2007 is the salt laden air that pervades the village when the wind blows southwards (the prevailing direction)
However by smashing off the glass caps on the MR16 LED globes, where the +ve pins had been reduced to nothing by way of electrolysis connections were remade & the majority of the original camp lighting returned to life. some silicon gunk was found in the tool shed and was put to good use in resealing the broken caps following the repair work, just don’t tell my work colleagues I was smashing light bulbs & rebuilding them while on holiday

Having climbed 3 of the 4 peaks by our own means in 2006 the [official] 4 peaks challenge was taken up last Tuesday – ably led by Dan. Some have bemoaned that fact that such island excursions are now officially led but to be fully truthful that really is the best way – some of us first footers were lucky to get away unscathed (well almost) with our antics way back in 2006.

The remainder of Tuesday was spent with Savai Savai best excuse the spelling my brain is taking a long time to get back in gear after which followed a long grog session + tribal singalong _video has been shot but internet too slow here to place on line right now.

Thats all for now – I have an island to get back to.