Tribewanted: Vorovoro

I am starting to get settled in now and organizing what I feel what most needs attention. My primary objective this month is to do work on anything that is suffering from wind, rain, and general decay due to this climate. Some bamboo screens will be replaced next week, we are going to cut bamboo from PuPu (grandfather) Epeli’s land and bring it to the island where it has to be split for further use. If it is not split right away, it will just rot.Things need facelifts all the time here, bures start falling apart almost as soon as they are built, and not because they have been built poorly, quite the contrary they are strong structures; none the less, thatch has to be added every year and siding replaced. Mats have to be aired constantly, thatch on the floors replaced. Nice as these things are to look at, they are labor intensive, a little like all those beautiful rock walls in Italy and Greece that took families of 12 to keep them in good repair….

Keep in mind that being here during the RAINY season is like being on another Vorovoro. Life revolves around what you can and cannot do in the pouring rain, which may happen off and on all day, showers of 10 minutes, or it could be a two hour down pour. Everything stays permanently damp and as soon as the sun comes out, you get your bedding and clothes out in the sun. Learning to live on Vorovoro is learning what it means to actually live in a tropical climate, it is a good learning experience, as much as finding out that there is fruit hanging on the trees that we should be eating like breadfruit and avocados.

The pineapple, mangos, and vegetable garden will be producing more when the sun shines more. I just found out that the watermellon season just ended. We have to figure out what can grow here in the two very opposite seasons and eventually have a producing garden all the time. This also may mean moving part of the garden to another spot.

All the clearing that has been done beyond the kitchen and tool shed area over to where the showers and chicken coop are, has served to greatly decrease the mosquitoe population.

At present, there is a little corn coming on, bokchoy (sorry about the spelling, if that is not correct!) long green beans, and of course, what we pick from the trees. I have been encouraging the ladies to give us pieces of the coconut to eat, although they do not eat it that way! They grate it and use it in everything, but do not eat it like we do when we pay large sums to buy it in our supermarkets!

If the hurricane force winds come up, and we have delt with that more than once this year, the goal posts get moved…. you often end up starting over. Some of the banana plants have produced, but they are very suseptable to high winds having a shallow root system. Those plants have to be cut back and you wait, I think, 6 months for another bunch of bananas to form.

Progress is slow on all fronts compared to the world we live in normally, but if we cannot adapt to the way of doing things here, then we cannot survive as a project; the challenge is learning to work with the system, not be taken advantage of by the way things can wander a bit too far, of understanding conducting business in a respectful and enjoyable way, even though it means many ceremonies of blessings and offerings; trying to match our needs and expectations to the Fijian lifestyle and enjoy the ride, the interaction, the life that the Fijians bring to everything they do.

Fijians are artists of life, and tomorrow has much less importance to them than it does to us, so the actually do live today as if everyday could be their last, there is fun in everything they do; you will never find them wearing a frown and I have been told as chief, I am not allowed to get mad (so I cuss in Italian when need be, and under my breath…!) but with perseverance, things are accomplished.

One thing that may not come out the website as being a huge part of the Vorovoro reality, is that we are interacting all the time with the Mali people, part of being here is working and learning from them; they bring us back to contact with the earth and with the natural way of life. Of course, anyone can go chill and read, wander, beachcomb, sunbathe -whatever, but the opportunity to interact is ever present. If you want to see how Va or Francis prepare the meals, just ask, you will be included. Do you want to help building or repairing? Just ask the guys and they will be happy to include you. They love their activities as much as they do being playful. They preserve a childlike joy of living that most people have long forgotten at 20.

It is amazing to see how many remedies that all of our Mali people have for anything that afflicts us. The islanders are a very aware people who have survived for centuries with their hands and minds and to this day, hardly any technology and I will put myself out there and say that I think that their quality of life rivals ours, even with the extreme limitations of isolation, of lack of money and technology.

Two nights ago we had a great evening around the grog bowl under a starry sky, and softest of tropical breezes blowing, cricket song in the back ground, enjoying a community tanoa and continued song from all the Fijians present with just about all the men & women working on the island and all of us. They were up after I retired at midnight, but in the morning there they were for an early start, Va in the kitchen working on breakfast at 6! The day was productive for the work team, creating more plant lined walking paths which will save our grassy area during the dry season. We were off to the school yesterday. It turned into a looooong day as there was a school board meeting. We were supposed to join in the farewell party for the head teacher, but by the time they finished (four hours late) it was time for us to get back to Vorovoro. Everyone was patient and we spent most of our time with the kids whose teacher has been ill and so the classroom was occupying themselves amazingly well with what ever they wanted to work on. We asked for songs and got a couple of great harmonies, they all join in. Old MacDonald’s farm went on for about 10 minutes!

I have to head out to the bustling streets of Labasa now to find some new pots and pans for our kitchen. Our Sunday project this week revolves around the kitchen which is going to get a great facelift; a coat of white paint, and new covering for the work surfaces, all of which are quite worn at present. It is hard to believe that after only 15 months these things need attention, but, we are in the tropics.

Stay tuned for next week’s blog…..........