Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Bula. Tevita here with my first blog for 2009.

PROJECTS:
Lots of projects this year so far. The 2 cultures have been working well together this year on all projects. The dam has been a hard job but with everyone working together and holding hands the projects have been completed.

The tribe has been working really hard on all projects in helping Team Fiji. If it wasn’t for all the help we’d have to pay other people from the community to come and help.

Before Tribewanted started and before Leavi came to Vorovoro to help me with the landscaping, I spent lots of time planting crops so now the dam is built it will help us to grow more crops and vegetables in the future. The water we save in the dam will help the community by saving more rain water for drinking and showers and using the water from the dam for the gardens.

Tui Mali has been saying how impressed he is with the progress made. The world is in Vorovoro and has made a huge difference to Vorovoro. Government won’t build a borehole so we built dam to show them we are busy and not waiting for the borehole. Tribe is doing stuff not waiting for assistance.

In March we went to All Saints High School to meke as the Principal was retiring. White people going to show fijians. Like getting ready for a war. Going to impress and show what you’re made of. We had lots of new tribemembers so I was worried the tribemembers may not have learnt in time. The tribememebrs use their hearts and determination to learn.

Myself and Tui Mali were very proud of the tribe on that day. Lots of laughs and smiles seeing the people of the world coming to Meke. No fijians meke’d that day. Only tribememebers of Vorovoro. Big honour. I spoke to Tui Mali after and he was proud that Vorovoro still making a name for themselves. Tui Mali was so excited when the tribe sat down he lost his breath. Tui Mali was more proud of us then anyone else. Lots of government officials, and parents and students saw the meke that day so lots of people talking about Vorovoro. Was a good lesson for the parents to teach their kids and not buy videos to teach them.

We want to bring Fiji back to Fiji. Continue the traditions. Lots of people are reading and talking about vorovoro. The 2 communities are working together. Proud of all the tribememebrs who are passionate and who meke’d that day. All of Team Fiji felt proud and the wider Mali community. The principal shook my hand after and said thankyou. Lots of people from Fiji didn’t come to my ceremony but the world came to say goodbye. I feel very special that the world came to say goodbye is what she said.

I want to thank tribewanted staff and members for allowing the Team Fiji Kitchen to be built. New dining table and eating area. It gave Team Fiji motivation to work and see we are supporting them. Now they don’t have to sit in rain. We are taking care of Team Fiji as well as the tribemembers. Now they have a house and kitchen and dining table. This doesn’t happen in Fiji. We are suppoting each other. Helping each other. We can show people we care about each other. The future looks good with everyone helping each other.
On behalf of Team Fiji I want to say big thanks to tribe and staff and Team Fiji for allowing this to be built.

We are currently building a new pig pen after Tui Mali said he wants to build up vorovoro with more food. Theres a lot happening in the ocean. We want to show people we are using animals and try to cut down on costs of food and fuel so we want to have as much food as possible provided on the island. So if we have pigs to eat on island we won’t have to pay for them in town and we can make Vorovoro more sustainable. We should have all the things needed for ceremonies on Vorovoro. The food, the plants, the equipment should all come from the island.

So by the end of this month we will have new pigs. We have waste for the pigs and chickens to feed. We have coconuts. Water from the dam for drinking water. Then pig waste will be used for biogas. So now we have all the stages available on vorovoro. The water, the pigs, the waste, the biogas it provides a lot more. We will also be building a roof over part of the pig pen to catch water for the pigs to drink and to use in the gardens.

We have built new gardens in the Fijian Village and we have planted as much as possible over the past few years to make everything available for Team Kana. Orange, lemon, cucumber, pawpaw, watermelon, beans – everything we buy from shops will be available on Vorovoro. The water from dam will make a big difference. End of rainy season now but we still having rain which helps to grow more crops. Cassava, bananas, corn also growing. Our plan is to have everything we buy from the market, available on Vorovoro. We plan to grow capsicum, more dalo, over the next few months. Leavi says we need to plant as much as possible. We have plans to build more paths and create protection for plants from the bats and animals. We would like tribemembers to be able to find fruit from the trees and go and pick their tea fresh from the trees. They can have their Morning Tea in the gardens.

CHANGES IN 2009:
Building a community is not an easy thing. Sometimes we are faced with challenges. So some challenges I am trying to resolve without getting tribemembers involved. Challenges happen not only on Vorovoro but in the wider community. There are rules in the community we need to follow. We live in the community and follow these rules. We are all aware of what is right and what is wrong. Where to draw the line.

To build relationships and communications these have to be followed. Some of these rules are new to the world and people who come to Vorovoro. Our cultures have different rules to follow. So in Fijian culture you respect elders and respect your chief, respect the community and everyone in it. We want these same rules to follow in Vorovoro. Tui Mali is all our chief – he is like our father. What Tui Mali says we must follow. He told Team Fiji to take care of tribemembers. When females come we should treat them like a sisiter and show them the Fijian way of life. Respect them.Teach the boys to be brothers. Help to bring everyone together.
Every Tuesday at sevusevu he reminds us of these things. He reminds us of the gods we cannot see. God said don’t kill or steal and we should love our neighbours like we love ourselves. Theres a certain line that members of team Fiji cannot cross which is outlined by Tui Mali which all of the team agree to. Unfortunately Save broke the rules twice, and took kava to Tui Mali as an apology. But then he broke the rules again and as a result Tui Mali asked him to leave Vorovoro. Tui Mali made this decision with the world in his mind and for all the people who will come to Vorovoro in the future. Team Fiji understands and agrees with the decision that was made. It is sad that we have lost a member of Team Fiji, but it has helped the team to come together as one in building a better community.

Im very proud of the work Save has done. He has been fantastic teaching tribemembers the language, meke, song, sevusevu and the history of Vorovoro. He has been a huge part of the Vorovoro community. He will be greatly missed and I wish him the best in the future. Although Save will not be a part of Team Fiji. He is still part of the wider Mali Communtiy that we all belong too.

I really miss Ben Katz the old Sustainability Manager. Ben was a great teacher to me. We learned lots from Ben and he learned lots from us. He did lots for the community. He worked really hard on the dam and in the gardens and bringing more sustainable projects to Vorovoro. On behalf of Team Fiji we all really miss you and thank you very much for your help over the last 12 months. He really respected our culture and traditions and helped out many times serving kava at Sevusevu time. So remember the things you learnt here. Continue to tell the Vorovoro story. We will be in your heart.

TRIBE:
I want to thank all the tribemembers who have come to Vorovoro this year. It hasn’t been an easy year for Fiji with the economy and the governments and the tourism industry so thankyou to everyone for coming. It’s been great that tribemembers have still been coming despite this and because of this the project has been continuing.

Thankyou to all the Cheifs we have had so far. Thanks for bringing the community together and for personally working along side myself. Team Fiji loved working with all the cheifs. Even though we have had lots of girls, they have impressed us and done a fantastic job. They have respected our culture and what is happening here and helped to spread Vorovoro and Tui Malis name in the wider community.

Thankyou for carrying the duty Tui Mali presented to you with the Salusalu. I never saw one chief put it down and they all worked really hard. 24/7 service day and night.

HAMPTON COURT FLOWER SHOW:
The London trip is a fantastic opportunity for the people of Vorovoro to show the people of London about Fiji. About the culture and the traditions. 4 members of team Fiji will be flying to London in June courtesy of Tourism Fiji for the Hampton Court Flower Show. Team Fiji will be helping to build Bures and Landscaping for the show. If it wasn’t for the work that tribemembers have done over the past 3 years, it would not be possible for us to go to London. The members of Team Fiji who are going to London are very excited about seeing old tribemembers and catching up for some Talanoas!

LOOKING AHEAD:
Plans and Projects for the next few months include continuing to change the kitchen, fix the roof of the family bure, continue to plant more crops in the garden and hopefully by the time of the 3rd Year Anniversary all the food will come from the island and not in the market. A big cleanup of the village will happen before the end of august, in time for the reopening in september.

I’m looking forward to the next three years on Vorovoro. I’m looking forward to meeting new tribemembers over the next 3 years. And showing the government of Fiji that we have created one big community and bringing Fiji back to Fiji. We are also planning on sharing our knowledge of what we have learnt on Vorovoro, not only with the Mali Community but the whole of Fiji. What we have done in the past 3 years is a fantastic example of a community working together and how to be sustainable. I hope all the tribemembers who have been come back and visit again!

I will continue to write monthly blogs to update the tribemembers. I am looking forward to the last few months of Stage 1 of the Tribewanted Project on Vorovoro.

Vina’a Va’a Levu
Tevita Ratu – Community Manager.