Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Reaching out across the waves to all the tribe readers, all the New Year resolution makers… if you’re on a diet, stop it, eat the cake… if you’re going to the gym… chill out, don’t workout! This is Hammock Society FM coming in live from the Vorovoro hammocks… and who better to kick start the New Year than the Head of Team Fiji, our Community Manager and trusted friend of Tui Mali… Tevita.

Bula sia everybody.

You’ve been here since the beginning, even before the beginning…

Yeah, we have a big village now. I have the vision of this comminity but not like the one I come and see now. It shows, even me, I feel proud… start with nothing and now a big village. You know… It’s a shock over here… because this village was created by the peoples of the world. They help build up this community in heart, in spirit and in soul.

Do you think it’s strange that people pay to come here on holiday and work instead of lounging around a swimming pool… sipping on a cocktail?

It doesn’t happen anywhere else. Even I work in the tourist industry in Nadi, in the hotels for nearly 14 years, but Vorovoro is different from all. We spend time together, hold hands, this is our home. In the village where we are brought up now in the whole of Fiji, they don’t blow the horn but that is part of the tradition to call the chief… we have that in Vorovoro.

We’re trying to put the Viti back in to Fiji.

It make me proud that you people come from all the world to learn our traditions and way of life. You know, this thing we build is very special, very big now. People from all over Fiji ask how we do this? They see the programme on TV, they see you meke, even they don’t know the meke… that’s their own thing and you show it to them. Big chiefs now want to see the tribe meke, see it with their own eyes.

The tribe elects their own chief each month but you are also a chief of many villages…

Yes, I’m a chief in Viti Levu, from the other side.

Should you be over there?

I think the God sent me over here, to come and create all this kind of thing. Not only the traditional Fijian thing… what is good for me is to learn from the eco life, the sustainability life… big lesson for me. Everything we have over here, I got the solar here, I got the wind turbine there…

And your new bure! Me and you are next door neighbours, I can hear you snore.

When Tribewanted build a bure for me… it touch my heart. I have my own bure here on Vorovoro. I am very happy. That’s a big thing in Fijian life, if you build a house for somebody… you know… that person until he dies want to make everything good. I’m looking forward to the third year and to take everything up.

Me too. This last week has been pretty awesome. Tui Mali returned from Australia…

It’s like we lost something big when he’s not around, but when he back I got tears in my eyes when the tribe present sevusevu to him. We want to mix the grog in the traditional ceremony, we do it to him. That’s the proper Fijian way.

Was he aware of the recent bad weather and floods here in Fiji?

He saw it on the news, on the newspaper, when he come to Vorovoro he say to me “You have strong winds and rain here? Nadi, I see everything damaged but this place looks new, you fix it fast, you have machines here?” I say no, just me, Team Fiji and the tribe hold hands and work fast… we do it together like that, never mind we big or small numbers, we work side-by-side… tidy the beach, collect the rubbish, rake here… some more rake there.

The high tides dumped loads of debris on to the whole beach and the Hammock Society HQ but now it’s looking spotless.

Oh vinaka.

How do you know Tui Mali?

Oh, we meet a long time ago, in a chiefly meeting in the western side. When he came and invite me to his island. When I came over I say Tui Mali why you want to keep this place empty like this? Why you leave this island and go to the mainland? And he told me “Tevita, because my wife is a teacher and I have work about the Chief Council in the Macuata Province, the cost of fuel is up and I can’t pay my fuel to go early in the morning to drop my wife in Malau.” Oh Tui Mali, you got a good place here in Vorovoro, God give you everything, I do the landscaping… I tell Tui Mali… you wait, the world will come to Vorovoro.

Ko vuravura ena qa yaco mai Vorovoro.

Your Fijian come up now Jim!

Little by little, I have been here a year now. It was my anniverasy the other day… 23 January. I think I drunk twice my body weight in grog!

Ooooooo, that was a good night. Good year together. First you a tribe member, then chief, then gapper… now project director… it shows us you have Vorovoro in your heart.

I love this place. It’s toughened my feet too, my feet were used to being locked up in socks and trainers but they are free in Fiji. I walk around town in bare feet, pop in to the bank, might get some funny looks, I don’t mind. My big toe nail has fallen off… I call that ‘My Fiji Toe’.

Oh lei.

It’s been an amazing journey, every time I think it’s a dream there’s the mosquito bites to remind me it’s real. When I first arrived, I made the Vorovoro map with the Prodigy Experience pumping out of my ipod speakers, you came along and started moving to the beats… maaaaaan, you got the moves…

I remember… fast beats like the lali drum. I can move to that, to all kinds of sounds.

And it was you who taught me the meke… from the meke master himself.

It shows that we come together. There’s a special movement in the meke. First you learn how to count, then you learn the moves. The meke is not just a dance, no, it tell us something, like a story, the movement is very important. We got two new mekes to learn this year, more traditional things to happen. I enjoy singing the meke, the songs… you know…. I want to show the tribe and Team Fiji that I give everything from my heart – that’s why I sing the loudest, meke the best…

Our female tribe members can testify to that, you make their heart beat faster.

Oh lei. I want everyone to learn the real thing, the old traditional thing, I want to show by example that Vorovoro is a school for everybody.

You say ‘old traditional’ but you’re only a young man yourself. Where did you learn it from?

Back in my place, in Ra, it is the oldest village in Fiji. That is where everything start from. I’m 33 years old in February but 100 years old inside, it’s already in me. Something come to my mind, in my eyes it’s already there, it’s like that. I didn’t have any book, didn’t hear from anybody, just in my mind and my heart.

You’ve touched many people’s hearts here and now they can download the Vorovoro Sessions from iTunes and let the memories come flooding back as they hear your voice and Team Fiji boom out of the stereo… maybe bust out some meke moves on the London underground!

Oh, vinaka.

And I’ve recently entered your name into a competition that recognises the work and impact of local guides, if any tribe members want to comment on your good self check out http://www.leaplocal.org/locals/view/269. Help spread the word of this story that we’re building. Any last words for the readers out there?

OK, for the world… I am your Community Manager for you to use me like a bridge, feel free to ask me anything, I’m here for everybody. If you plan to come, you are already part of this family. For those that leave Vorovro and go, only the body leaves… our soul and our heart will be together.

Nice words Te. Bring on 2009! Go Hammocks!