Tribewanted: Vorovoro

<font face="Arial"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#333333"> MERRY CHRISTMAS TRIBE!!!



First, let me just let you know who we had to celebrate the holidays with! We had some arrivals this week. We had an American couple (Toni and Chris) come early this week, and then on Wednesday, an Englishman named Marco came! I had to leave a few days before the new year because of last minute flight changes, so I left Thursday morning (one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was leave Vorovoro!!). I was told we were getting a couple other arrivals after I left as well, so now the numbers are growing on the island, which will be fun to bring the new year in with new faces!



Christmas was a lot of fun. Like I mentioned last week, we had a Christmas program planned for the Mail villages, so we spent Friday night and Saturday bringing “Father Christmas” (aka Stuart dressed as Santa Clause) to Nakawaga and LigaLevu. We took a Christmas tree and decorations, and let the children decorate the trees, handed out candy (LOTS of it), sang and danced, and all around just had a good time relaxing and laughing with the locals. Tuesday we went to Matai Labasa (a village within the Mail district but on the mainland none of us had been to before) even though it was after Christmas. The weather had prevented us from visiting there the week before so we went as soon as we could. There were 3 boys there who had performed a dance for us, and it was priceless! We decided to wait to give Vesi the program until after Christmas because a man had died the week before, and we wanted to give appropriate time for mourning, so we waited until Thrusday. I was gone for that presentation, but I know the tribe did an excellent job. Overall, the best part about the programs was just being able to spend time with the villages. They are so gracious and beautiful and we couldn’t have spent our time better anywhere else!



Christmas day was interesting for most of us, since we are usually in the Northern Hemisphere at this time of year, aside from Murrary. We all found it rather entertaining that on Christmas morning, we were playing around in the sea! We ate all our meals with Tui Mali and the Family in their village, and what a feast it was. Christmas breakfast was cake and tea—and we all ate a LOT of cake. (Probably the only time of year you can get away with eating nothing but frosted cake for breakfast, so I didn’t hear anyone complaining.) We actually got to share some gifts with the family as well, since we had planned a Secret Santa/ White Elephant gift exchange. We had a $3 limit, or the option of making the gift, and it is amazing the things that you can buy for under $3. It was fun to just have a gift to open, and see the excitement from everyone who was there. We had a fire that night while everyone digested the amazing food we had eaten all day long! It was definitely a Christmas to remember.



The excitement does not end there, either! Tuesday, we had a pretty exciting day when Chris and Toni informed us that they had gone for a walk earlier and (much to Toni’s surprise) came back an engaged couple! Their smiles and their excitement was so abundant, it rubbed off on the rest of us! That is the very first (of possibly many) proposals on the island, and it was wonderful to get to share that experience with them. So, on Wednesday, we had a proper party with the Family partly as a celebration for Toni and Chris and partly to say goodbye to me on my last night. It was (again) nothing but good food and a lot of laughter.



Don’t worry, though. We did get work done as well this week. The guys started work on the Jetty again Wednesday, and they also fixed the hand pump. (A job that desperately needed to be done.) Murray and I had been the only ones on the island during a rain storm and had tried pumping the water up the to the water storage container, but the cemented pump didn’t want to stay in the sand, and started coming out of the ground, and the pipe came out of the pump, and water started spraying everywhere!!! Murray and I did our best to jury-rig it back together until we could get it dry enough to glue, but it meant we couldn’t pump all the water for a couple days. But, no worries now, because they put it back in the ground in a way that should not happen again, and so everything can run smoothly for the rest of the rainy season. We also finished work on the middle chamber of the toilets, so I think all 3 chambers are up and running! I got to shovel the compost of the other two chambers with Kimbo’s help, and I decided you don’t actually become the OFFICAL chief, until you shovel the tribes compost. (Thanks Kimbo, for teaching me how.) Stuart keeps working on the water collection tarp up by the storage container, so we are saving even more water than before. And of course, the little jobs (like sign post and mat weaving) are always being done, so we kept busy this holiday season.



I am home now, so this will be my last blog, but I am so grateful to everyone who supported me and gave me this opportunity to let this tribe change my life in such a beautiful way. I am still working on my legacy (which is to help get the Dream Foundation up and running) so the work doesn’t stop, but its time to had the title of Chief over to Stuart, who will do a brilliant job for this tribe. The job of Chief really is one (as Kimbo said) of blood, sweat, and tears, but absolutely the most amazning experiences Ive ever had in my life.



Vinaka Vaka Levu for everything.



I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and has an amazing New Year!



Riah </font></font>