Tribewanted: Vorovoro

When I arrived the beginning of February, I found new buildings and new features in the Tribe Village that I had not been aware of.

Even though I am regularly on line, I have missed the reporting of the building of new buildings, all of which are now on the interactive map, so everyone should now be informed of what is here. A good part of the space available to us on Vorovoro is now occupied. Once the new sleeping vale is constructed that may be the extent of our expansion.

At this time The Ecotricity bure is being evaluated for remodeling, we can’t risk the solar powered equipment to get wet. On Monday work should start, weather permitting. The basic structure will stay the same, but a weather proof roof and siding are the most important features.

A lot of work has gone in to creating the Ecotricity facility and it is being put to good use charging all of our devices, phones, ipods, computers and of course lighting, minimal but so useful…..so this is upper most in my priority list –the men have said they can do this in less than week, as long as we get all the materials in today, and it looks like that is happening. By talking to PuPu Eppeli we have found a way to get the marine ply at a good price even though the mill was apparently closed.

Other projects this week include construction of new beds in the Family Bure, which will stay the family bure but also house up to 5 at any time that a family does not need it. I am told that this has been discussed in the forum, but I have not had the time to follow the thread. We will be finishing the painting of the kitchen inside and preserving the wood on the outside, which will also make it look a little better. All wood here, if you want it to last more than a year, must be varnished or treated with an oil solution such as diesel. Much sign painting is going on, and everyone here is involved in some sort of personal project for fun or for a useful purpose. The vegetable garden was cleaned up and our Brazilian tribe member dedicated quite a lot of time to cleaning up Tanoa Park, he could not bear to see a football pitch in disarray! The nets will be replaced with fishing net and a new ball purchased this week for a match sometime in the coming week.

There are always subtle changes going on and many times it is very difficult to identify the root of any “problem” that arrises; among the men who come to work, the kitchen or our interaction. Working with a culture so foreign to our way of thinking takes constant work if it is to function and continue.

We are finding that by talking things out a lot, there are ways to get things done as hard as it is to make quick progress on a small isolated island!

I am meeting regularly with Tavita, and trying to keep the communication lines more open by one to one talks with him discussing anything that seems like it has been an ongoing “sore spot” or any new ones.

Working with a culture that reasons in a completely different way than we do means doing a lot of talking to find out how we can avoid misunderstandings, and they happen every day. If we avoid talking for fear of offending someone, then we don’t make any progress. By explaining our doubts, troubles or problems with the person who is most respected here and all the workers look up to, then he can choose the best way to confront anything that comes up, this person is Tevita, and he is the direct line to Tui Mali, all of the workers are working under him even though they have their own titles now. The Fijians do work with a system of people overseeing people, and they choose someone who can be respected and treats them as equals. Tavita says that he keeps order by working “among and alongside” the other men, not by commanding from above. In keeping the Tribe village running, there are often things that happen which cause us to not comprehend, and we may look at them as being problems. The only way for things to not get blown out of proportion is to keep the talks going daily, and I see this as one of the most important functions of the Chief. I want to and am moving forward with the projects which I take great satisfaction in seeing unfold, but possibly the most important thing that I can help to happen this month is to clear up any areas of communications that have become muddy. That is not to say that this is conclusive, it will always be an ongoing process.

The Mali tribe regards the Chief with utmost respect. Their way is to always defer to the Chief, the Chief must then seek a solution, talk it over with the people concerned and bring it back to the tribe or concerned members, it is an ancient system that still works.

Until now, we may not have really understood the importance of the chief role in connecting our two communities that live and work side by side. Maybe we have not recognized the importance that the Mali people place on our community or the work that goes on here. Some times I think that the young men are overwhelmed by the rapid changes taking place here. In 15 months, a new community of foreign people has sprung up on their land, bringing relationships and influences that they never expected. I am surprised at how well we are existing side by side. Just look at how differently (in a bad way) the Fijian people are treated at any big expensive resort here and you will understand the difference in the way the Tribe is developing along side of the Mali people.

As much as we may be being criticized in the public eye due to the last controversial episode of Paradise or Bust, the current reality here has moved on and we are hardly concerned with issues that have been resolved by applying some guidelines to arriving tribe members, especially those that have no background on the Tribewanted project. These things are finally becoming part of the orientation. We are creating a new type of model interactive community here that has overcome the problems that were a bit exasperated and a bit too focused on in the last episode. The instances where alcohol or bad behaviour have been isolated and not any sort of ongoing problem, in fact, the difficulty in controlling these things lie in the fact that it is rare, and you often don’t provide for those instances just because it does not often occur.

Time has not stopped since the filming of Paradise or Bust, and I think the last filming was in June of 2007. We have been discussing and working to avoid the problems presented there. If you speak with the elders here, they will tell you that there is no problem so big that it cannot be overcome. Harmony and peaceful existence are things that have to be worked at constantly though, it never stops.

Regarding health and diet.

You all might not be aware of the water filter that was put in thanks to Duncan and Giles. Even though the rain water is fine, just in case there are people that may be more sensitive there is the water filter. No one has been having any stomach upsets lately. A couple of people have had what we think is heat rash, and it was itchy and somewhat uncomfortable for a couple of days, red spots turning to red blotches. We have all been exposed to the same things, so it is hard to say why only two people ended up with this rash. They went in to Lambasa to the doctor and were given antihistamines and a cream to dry up any weeping sores, but it did not turn to that. In a completely new environment, one that is also very humid and pretty warm a good part of the time, it is easy to end up with a rash. Both are very fair skinned. The local people say “it comes on the wind” and there may be more to this than what we know, I have heard these expressions as well where I live in Greece and when the wind changes, many people get sick, so there is something to it!

Our diet is improving as long as we keep encouraging the ladies to feed us local Fijian foods. If we don’t praise them, they won’t try “new” foods on us, they are very sensitive and don’t want to see that the food they cook is not appreciated, these are delicate cultural issues not easily understood-but I think that any cook wants to be appreciated! They have had the impression that we want certain types of foods from our anglo-saxon cultures and that has led to quite a lot of confusion. It takes time to now get them to understand that we are happy to try what sort of foods that they eat with a great deal of emphasis on eating what is growing here, even if it is limited right now to Papaya, Breadfruit, Cassava, some greens and fish from the sea. Bananas are still green so they are being purchased from Labasa. So far, I have not tired of it and I doubt that I will. Any one staying for a week or two surely won’t!

The boat to town is leaving and I am staying on the island today to work on the kitchen mainly so I must conclude here and get this on a memory stick traveling to Labasa!