Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Aaagh! Nothing is ever easy in Fiji is it…. realised this after an eight hour delay in Savusavu yesterday, that is when we were flying direct from Labasa to Nadi in the first place. Still, you have to learn to love Fiji time here and spending time on Vorovoro definately helps you embrace that!

After six weeks it is strange to be out in the big wide world again, real beds with white sheets that Julia and I actually felt too grubby to use! Not to mention cold beer and air conditioning – bliss, although the hot shower wasn’t a patch on the waterfall.

Heading back out into the real world from Vorovoro, even just into the wider world of Fiji, makes me realise how easy it is to emerse yourself in the bubble like nature of island life, it feels like home very quickly and becomes the be all and end all of everything thats important in the short time you’re there. This in itself is of course fantastic escapism, and I’m a big fan, but its easy to be so caught up in that that its then difficult to relate the experience back to the real world.

On one hand I’m talking in terms of taking back what you’ve learnt on a practical level, transfering knowledge about recycling practices and water conservation and looking at how they can apply to your own life in your own part of the world. There is of course attention brought to this in areas on the island but it could suffer more development.

I’m also talking about the personal journeys tribe members go through during there time on the island. Vorovoro is a lot of things to a lot of people and I have seen have seen the changes and self awareness developing in a number of people during my time there, which I have been very touched by.

There are few opportunities in life for most people to have the time and space to explore yourself, learn what you’re good at, learn what makes you happy and learn how you react to other people when given the opportunity to get to know them in the way you can on Vorovoro, both other tribe members and locals alike. The culture and atmosphere of the people in Vorovoro is so simply possitive, happy and contented, its nothing like I’ve ever experienced anywhere in the world and I know thats the same for many people who come here. When given that time to hold up own ideals and lifestyles up in relief to this culture its bound to cause a lot of questions about your own life and happiness, and over the last six weeks I’ve seen that happen for a lot of people. First the slightly overwhelmed and lost look for the first few days, then the process of discovery and then the new resolve they leave with at the end of their stay. I won’t of course give examples but I feel very privilaged to have been part of these experiences and to have had to opportunity to observe what makes them happen. I’m not talking profound realisations that you want to get back to nature and run around dirty and barefoot for the rest of your life living off coconuts (I for one could never give up high heels and chocolate) but learning more about you, and what makes you happy on whatever scale. When I left yesterday Va said to me “do whatever makes you happy and you’ll always be contented in life.” maybe not always practical but not a bad moto to live by?

This is an emotional and slightly waffly blog I know, but its this new awareness and respect for human spirit and human nature that I am taking away from the island. Yes there’s practical stuff too, I can now make coconut oil from scratch and I know now that I’m a lot braver than I first thought when it comes to rats, but its what the island does for people emotionally that makes it a whole experience for me. These are my Vorovoro moments.

So like I said, back in the real world and how does this new found self awareness and appreciation of what makes us happy and who you are, relate back to our daily lives back at home? I don’t know, but I hope the bubble doesn’t just burst and we let everything we’ve learnt about ourselves fade back into an idealistic dream from a paradise island. I hope it can be made into a possitive thing and I hope that when I hear back from my friends after they’ve left Vorovoro that it continues to have an impact on their lives…. I’ll keep you posted.