Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Bula,

Another week has flown by here on Vorovoro, and it has been another eventful one. Team Fiji have been working very hard on the pig pen and it’s progressing quickly. They were building the 3 compartments for the pigs to live in and this meant a lot of heavy lifting, bringing sand, water and gravel from down on the beach, up to the building site. I volunteered myself on Monday to lend a hand and it really was tiring work. We collected gravel from another section of beach and loaded this into the boat, as well as some rubbish we collected that had been washed up. We carted this to the top of the hill and then started to mix the cement, finishing the first of the three compartments. Work continued throughout the week and all the sections are now finished, the plan for next week will involve securing the fencing around the perimeter and building the roof for shelter.

Sevusevu was good fun on Tuesday, once again everyone got dressed up and entered into the spirit of things. No meke this week, unfortunately. We moved the grog session outside under the shade of the coconut trees and continued to drink. I stayed up late with most of Team Fiji and drank grog until the end, however I knew it was time for bed as soon after I got up off the grog mat, I lost my balance and almost stumbled into the fire.

I woke up Wednesday morning not feeling too good, no doubt the excessive amounts of kava played a key role in that. Night fishing was another great success, catching 6 this week, with Wavu catching an impressive total of 0. He is still yet to get off the mark, however we do wish him the bet of luck for next week. The sunset that evening was particularly beautiful and on return from our trip we were greeted by more grog.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the reef trip, with some of the tribe claiming they saw up to 7 reef sharks, definitely a highlight of their time here. Jim also held an island forum in the afternoon on Thursday, this was a chance for all the current tribe members and team to raise their thoughts on the project; how things could be improved or changed in order to cater for them better. There was a lot of positive things that came out of that meeting as well as some great ideas.

After a short game of high tempo volleyball the tribe all headed up to the headland to watch the sun set. It was quite cloudy so it wasn’t the best however the wind was blowing so this made for some great ‘superman’ photos, with our sulu’s tied round our necks acting as capes.

Friday morning turned out to be one of the funniest in my life. Throughout the week Kole, an 11 year old boy from America, has been saying how he loves wrestling and that he could take down the whole of Team Fiji, one by one. So this in its self brought humour, however when Tale agreed to actually step into the ring and fight Kole a date was set, Friday morning, 8:00am sharp. So welcome to VVWC (The Vorovoro Wrestling Championships). We laid out the blue tarpaulin and as the crowd gathered Leavi, the official match referee announced the two fighters in a typical eccentric manner. By this point everyone was watching including all of team Fiji, everyone with their cameras at the ready. I was in stitches watching as Tale pick up and dropped Kole, pinning him to the ground, however he managed to grab Tale in a headlock, at this point Tale conceded taking the championship into its second round and its final challenger, Jim. Now this fight was even funnier, Jim acting as the bad guy of wrestling ripped off his t-shirt and threw it at Kole. After literally 20 seconds Jim had him on the floor and was wiggling his nose, taunting Kole. Everyone erupted in laughter including Kole himself, it was a hillarious start to the day.

As it was Dream Foundation Friday the tribe headed into Mali to the village of Lingu Levu where we all helped out with some gardening and some cleaning around the Church and Tui Mali’s house. The tribe had a great day especially as the children were still on holidays so they were helping out as well as playing games with the tribe members. We had a lovely lunch there as well as some grog before heading home in torrential rain, which was much needed for the island and it helped top up all of our tanks.

That evening we found out that we had run out of power, the first time ever apparently. So with no lights or electricity and it still raining, the members huddled round a small hurricane lamp in the Grand Bure and played all sorts of games until the evening was up.

Saturday we had an Isa Lei for Kole and Patricia, however this one was slightly different as Jim, for the second time, wrestled Kole to the floor but Kole had him in a headlock and Jim tapped out. Not your usual goodbye, but it was all taken in good humour. Saturday also marked a momentous occasion, no grog. The first in 12 days.

Sunday was lazy as usual, but it was marked by the birthday of Jim. He wanted to keep it secret this year but no chance, however I think he was happy to receive his birthday gift of 2 water pistols, which to my knowledge is going to be used in all future hammock society warfare. After a big lunch of Jim’s favourite papaya curry, Tui Mali turned up on the island. So Jim was dragged off to go have afternoon tea outside his house, and this is where all the tribe members surprised him by joining him with a big birthday cake and card. So Jim willingly tucked into his rather large afternoon tea and a few bowls of grog. Then Wavu somehow managed to sneak towards the grog bowl and become guard, which is where he served Jim the largest bowl of grog, nicknamed ‘The Hospital Bus”. Forced under peer pressure, he downed the bowl in one go. After he eventually finished it, he quickly left the mat, casually walking off. But upon his return we learnt that he had actually just thrown up all over Tui Mali’s back garden, much to the amusement of the Chief and the rest of the tribe. I think a combination of all the food and a strong mix of grog eventually caught up with him. After he had finished ‘emptying his tank’, he did to be fair to him, return for more grog. Some of the guys, including Tui Mali, sang some really beautiful Church songs, which was a nice touch and a good end to the evening.

So looking forward to the week ahead; Team Fiji will be nearing the completion of the pig pen, we welcome some more new arrivals and I look forward to getting back to the school on Friday and seeing all the children again.

Vinaka vaka levu

Mike