Tribewanted: Vorovoro

From Michelle on Vorovoro:

Bula Sia! Here goes my weekly rundown of my first full week as chief and it was hectic.

Monday morning, early start, we were invited to Mali day in Lingu levu, all the tribe members were eagerly awaiting the boat ride over with Tui Mali, after saying goodbye to tribe members Heidi, Matt and Ivan. After being informed of the day’s agenda, I got my first serving of grog at 10am! The day’s activities included meke, singing, grog and eating – one male choir in particular would have put El Divo to shame, they were amazing. Each of the villages within Mali presented the amounts that they raised, totalling over $3000 which goes towards maintenance of the church.

Arriving back at Vorovoro we met the new tribe members, 11 in total including Team Fusion who won a competition to build a solar panelled ice maker. Unfortunately the materials required were unable to be sourced so quick thinking on their behalf, they decided to make a water desalination system also known as Sali, which changes salt water to fresh water which could then be used for showers, running water, etc. an excellent asset to the island if it works! See their blog for more details.

A busy day so an early night for all.

Tuesday Sevusevu day!! The morning meeting was weird and slightly daunting. Some people may not believe this but I hate being the centre of attention. I was just getting used to speaking to a tribe of 10 but now I had over 30 faces staring at me waiting for information. A lot of the morning was spent cooking as we were having a special dinner for the Tribe and Team Fiji to welcome the return of Tevita who has been unwell recently and to celebrate Easter. Those that weren’t cooking were cleaning and clearing. Tevita transformed the Grand Bure as a special guest Tui Macuata who is the chief of the Macuata Provience, was arriving with Tui Mali. As it was my first time to greet Tui Mali as Chief I had to learn the correct way to greet him and his special guest. This involved a two handed handshake, 3 claps and then kneeling/bowing. I’m not a hardcore feminist or anything but I just didn’t think that I would ever willingly bow to a man. I guess its all part of the Fijian experience and more importantly being Chief. The boat arrived with Tui Mali and 6 additional men. I was not aware who was Tui Macuata, so not to cause offence to anyone, I just kneeled and bowed to all 7 men. I found this very amusing, me hobbling around in the sand in my sulu, kneeling down to not 2 men but 7!

Sevusevu was busy. 4 tribe members presented and then we all moved round in a circle shaking hands and introducing ourselves to both chiefs. Over 20 tribe members walking on there knees most of them confused, hilarious! Jim, Amy and James were asked to provide the evenings entertainment in form of the Meke with very little notice. They put on a very impressive performance and done us proud.

Wednesday I woke up early and thought it was going to be a nice chilled day and boy was I wrong. The island seemed to have been sabotaged over night. Someone had left the tap on at the showers all night meaning no water in the green tank that we use for showers. We were unable to use the waterfall as work was being done on the dam leaving that side of the beach as a no go area. There was some disruption in the kitchen and also the wood shed was smouldering, all in the first 20mins of me being awake!

I could have looked on the bright side, we still had the sea, but as it was a hot day, the sea was also hot, so my dreams of having a cold shower were shattered. I was not a happy pineapple!

After all the commotion of the morning those of the tribe that didn’t go into town learnt the Meke. No one left the Island as Mairead decided to extend again! The afternoon saw the arrival of Fiona. The day went with no further incidents. The evening was spent around the fire.

Thursday still no rain so all water on the island is limited. I love the ocean but still dreaming of shower.

It’s been quite a full day on the island. The morning was spent sorting out the recycling, gardening and meke. In the afternoon some members went on the reef trip, those were left had a sustainability forum, the topic of the day was food. 20% of food used for cooking is sourced from the island. Hopefully with the help of the dam, this will be increased to 50%. They also discussed the concept of food mileage, which is the distance between where the food is produced and where it’s eaten. Did you know the average item purchase in the supermarket travels 16000km?! Fact!! Therefore we should go out and support our local farms and markets buying from source wherever possible.

The evening was quiz around the fire and Kava. A few the tribes tried to join, but failed miserably at becoming fully fledged members of the lampchop society.

Fridays = School trip my favourite day of the week!! As we didn’t get to go last week, it feels like years ago since I last went.

The morning was busy, making jam and coconut rolls, the boys decided to see if they could climb coconut trees, all failed at the first attempt but they didn’t give up!! Those that were successful had the wounds to show for it.

In the afternoon the majority of the tribe went to school. We made friendship bracelets and signs for the garden. It was so much fun just watching them painting and running riot, I honestly don’t know where these children get their energy from. I also fell in love; her name is Oona, 9mths old and possibly the cutes kid I have ever seen!!! Everyone had a great day and seeing all the tribe members enjoying the trip as much as I do was fantastic. The afternoon free time got rained out, but that didn’t stop the tribe or the children enjoying themselves or maybe the tribe were excited as they could finally have a shower!!

On our return it was time to say goodbye to Team Fiji for the weekend with a little grog. I am now happy to say that I have acquired the taste for Kava, good times had by all, but as always we’ll miss the team over the weekend.

Saturday we said farewell to Kate and Mark, and we saw the arrival of Claire, Emily and Charlotte.

I spent most of my time on the internet trying to catch up with family and friends after realising that most of them don’t know I’m still here!! For those that I wasn’t able to email, I’m fine, I’m alive and I miss you all xx

That leaves me with today, I planned to chill but there is no rest for the wicked. It all starts again tomorrow, its going to be busy and emotional week.

Ciao for now

Marama P
xx