Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Calling all the people, all the tribe collective… all the Easter massive getting ready to stuff their faces with giant chocolate eggs… welcome to Hammock Society FM, coming in live from Vorovoro. Yes yes. And today, I bring you another hottie-not-yet-married… Kesa.

Bula sia everyone.

For those readers who haven’t had the pleasure to met you, what do you do here?

I works in the kitchen, yeah, sometimes help Va and Francis (Head Chefs), sometimes I cook… make plenty things.

How many ants are there in the kitchen?

Oh my God! Millions!

Kesa, I’m a vegetarian! Are you putting ants in my porridge?

It’s OK, we clean the kitchen all the time, big clean twice a week… take everything out, clean, put back in. But the ants like sweet things, always looking for sugar.

Do they find any?

Only when you spill your tea, something like that hahahahahaha… everything is kept in plastic containers, keep it safe.

Which came first… the ants or the tribe?

Hahahaha… the ants. Ben and Mark came, explore the island and go back again… when they come back I was still here in the island… me, Raijeli, Francis and Poasa. So they said “we’re going to employ you”. It was my first job.

My first job was a paper-round, I loved having money to spend on football stickers and sweets. What do you spend your money on?

Half of my money I give to my mum… My father died so I must help my mother.

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

Two sisters and… six, six brothers. I’m the oldest, youngest is eight. One is working with me here… and three of them is schooling in the mainland, one is in Suva and three here in Mali.

Wow! Nine kids, that’s a lot of mouths to feed. Do you spend any of your money on yourself, on fun stuff… mobile phone or jewelry?

I think only $2. Family come first.

True say. I hear you laughing a lot in the kitchen so you must be enjoying working here?

I like learning new things, the cooking and meeting different kind of people, knowing different cultures and customs and stuff… like in the library here on Vorovoro, I really like the kid’s books that you people bring… the one with the big man with big ears…

The BFG by Roald Dahl?

Yes, the BFG make me laugh from the beginning hahahahahaha… very good one.

If you could go on holiday, anywhere in the world… where would you like to go?

I want to go to America. To a big city, I want to see the big city… I’ve only seen Labasa, Suva… I want to see a big city.

People seem to be attracted to the opposite of where they come from, where were you born?

I was born in Nakawaga in Mali. My mum and Francis are sisters, real sisters not cousin sisters. All my family from here in Mali, when I marry it must be from somewhere else… you can’t eat dalo with dalo leaves, it will be itchy hahahahahaha.

How will you find something to go with your dalo?

When I’m going to the mainland for weekends, wait for a boy to ask me hehehe.

What do you do at weekends?

Go to church. It’s a Christian church called the Revival Fellowship.

If a Muslim boy wanted to marry you, would you say yes?

He has to come to my church, yeah, it’s important to me.

What’s it like growing up in rural Fiji?

When I was small, our dad used to plant crops at home like vegetables, cassava, yam… we don’t go and buy in the market. But now we just plant cassava, the rest we buy in the market. When I grow up there was no television, no mobile phones… when I was twelve there was electricity before that we use lantern, kerosene.

Do many houses burn down because of these lamps getting knocked over blazing ‘em down?

I don’t think so but… sometimes I see children drink kerosene. You know because… parents are careless and put kerosene in coke bottles. One little kid in Nakawaga, she was drinking it… take her to the hospital, luckily they were quick.

And now most villages seem to have electricity, where does the power come from… I can’t see any cables?

We use the generator, put fuel in generator but fuel not cheap.

So either way, you’re burning fossil fuels to make light.

Yes, but now I know we can make power from the sun and wind. It’s a good idea, nothing to pay… just the first part, the materials. That’s something Tribewanted teaches me.

Something that I’ve learnt here is appreciating seasonal crops, because back in the UK you can buy anything at anytime of year… it’s out-of-synch with nature.

Like… now a good time for avocado… only last for two months.

Luckily, we have an avocado tree on the island. The first one was presented to Tui Mali the other week so now we can tuck into the rest.

Yes, Amy (Tribe Manager) teach me to use it in the salad with scrapped coconut and orange.

It’s a delicious combination. In the past, you’ve helped with the weekly tribe shopping in town… we can make bags from the coconut leaves on the island, nice green, organic bags…

I prefer plastic bag.

Why? Plastic ain’t fantastic…

Because we don’t use this kind of thing anymore. People will laugh at me, make fun at me because that is what you use in the garden, not to take to market.

I sounds like a fashion thing.

Yes.

The last thing we want is to make you feel bad so now we use neither, instead we use cloth bags each time to cut down on the plastic.

Yes, it’s better. I like the Tribewanted one that says ‘one island, one tribe, one bag’.

The Labasa market is a buzzing hive of vendors and sellers, but when I look around I see more kava than food… it tells me that Fijians prefer to drink than eat.

Yeah hahahahaha…

Have you tried kava?

When I was 18, it was a party.

Did you drink from a tanoa or a washing-up bowl?

From the tanoa… it was good and… it was funny. I don’t drink it any more.

Why not?

Because in our church belief we don’t believe you take grog.

What about alcohol?

No.

What about meat?

Yes.

Fish?

Yes.

Can you meke?

No.

Huh, no meke! How come?

They say no.

May I ask… how do you feel about obeying something that is only 200 years old in Fiji and neglecting a significant part of Fijian culture like the traditional dance?

Uhmmmm… I don’t think about it.

Is the meke too sexy?

Hahahahahaha… no, like eeeerrr, I don’t know how to say… uhmmm… it doesn’t take us to heaven, that’s why.

What happens at your church?

We just sing and clap… singing and clapping… listen to preaching and just that. If some people are sick and those kinds of thing they can be healed. They ask God to heal them. Just pray. The preacher touch them and pray.

Can a woman be a preacher?

No, only man.

Easter is almost here, a big time in the Christian calendar… what will your church be doing?

There is a youth camp, I belong to the youth, of the same age… from 18 until you’re not married.

Excellent, so I’m still a youth at 32?

Yes… still youth… hahahahaha… we come and enjoy things… play sports… volleyball, rugby… different sort of games, different sort of activities. But I’m not going.

Oh… why not?

Because I’m working here.

I think it’s a good place for you to find a husband so we can get a someone to work your shifts… maka na laka (no worries)?

Maybe hehehehe…

Imagine you’re walking along the beach and you see a giant shell. It’s beautiful and you clean it on your sulu to make it shine even more, all of a sudden a genie comes out…

What’s a genie?

Like a ghost… so a ghost comes out of the shell and says to you “Bula sia Kesa, I am the ghost of the shell and I will grant you three wishes, anything you like”… what would you wish for?

Firstly, I wish… uhmmm… to marry a good-hearted man that can love my brothers and sisters and mother. And second… a gooooood house.

A bure?

No, a palace! Hahahahahahahaha…

Of course Princess Kesa.

And lastly… to live happily.

Amen to that. Would you like to be a mother one day?

Yes. I want three children, I don’t know about my husband hehehehehe…

Would you give birth at home or would you go to the hospital?

The hospital! Hahahahahaha… when I was in Vessi one day, there was a pregnant lady and we didn’t know she was pregnant. She was hiding it because she was single… and one day when we come back from picking coconuts and she said her stomach was paining. And lucky her grandmum was there but there were no boats to take her to the hospital… all gone fishing. So she gave birth there, her grandmum help.

Are many babies born to single mums?

It’s illegal in the village.

So what happened to this lady?

We can’t say anything cos the baby is there. The family was angry… yes… cos why didn’t she tell them she was pregnant? What if she killed the baby and killed her?...

What would happen in a village if a boy and girl moved into a house together before getting married?

Without any permission?...

Yeah…

They can get a hiding from the sisters, brothers, cousins.

Sh@t me! And the families in Fiji are big! Check out your family… that’s a big beating! How bad would the fella get beaten?

With fist and stick… they can kill the man!

Is that a crime, would the police come and get involved?

Before, it wouldn’t get reported… it stays in the village.

What happens in the village stays in the village huh?

Yes.

Well, thank you for sharing your stories with me. Any last messages for the readers?

If you have come before… come and enjoy twice. If you haven’t been… come and enjoy.

Nice… and remember readers… chill out, don’t work out! And if you’re living-in-sin in rural Fiji, you’re gonna get knock out!