Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Where to begin now my time on Vorovoro has come to an end? When I arrived on the magical isle tribe members were asking me is it what I expected. No amount of words or photos could have prepared me for the experience I was about to undertake. Vorovoro? Expect the unexpected.

I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to spend five weeks with the kindest, most honest people I have ever meet. One of my best memories is my first boat ride to Vorovoro. I was terribly jet lagged and wondering what on earth I had endured three plane rides for. As the island came into sight I was overcome with emotion (I can only blame this on meeting Andy at the Grand Eastern!), Tevita placed his hand on my shoulder and said “It’s ok, you’re home now.”. Initiate more emotion and an overwhelming sense that I had indeed arrived home.

And what a home it is! Aside form the physical beauty of the island, I never expected in a million years to find a second family waiting for me on the island. I found a mother in Va, father in Tevita, Brothers in Tale, Save and Sosi, Uncles in Leavi, Api and Jone, Sisters in Kesi And Jelli and the ultimate granfather in PuPu. Never before had I been so far from home but felt so comfortable and welcome. Each and every member of Team Fiji had a genuine interest in my life back home and welfare whilst I was on the island. I’d only been there a day and was already thinking ‘how can I ever leave this place?’.

Forgive me if this turns into a memory lane for me but hopefully the people I shared my time on the island with may find it of some interest. During my first week on the island myself, Ryan, Andy, Helen and Vanessa (along with several others) worked our fingers to the bone (literally in some cases) cutiing, bashing and weaving the bamboo for the new valet. I’m sure those of you who witnessed and experienced the process will not quickly forget the immense blisters and cuts and PuPu’s chants of “This one, this one and this one” as he oversaw the weaving process. PuPu had an amazing ability to know in an instant when one of us cut our hands or feet in my case!. He smelt blood like a shark does in the ocean. He’d take us by the hand and lead us to the ‘Farmacy’ where he’d pick some leaves, roll them between his fingers and drip the resulting juice into the cut. Bleeding would stop, no pain, sorted!. I managed to take a video of the weaving process so will hopefully get it uploaded soon.

Another lasting memory will be the night Ryan and I decided to stay up watching for shooting starts in the hammock. Picture the scene: gorgeous clear night, slight breeze off of the sea. Then we heard a slightly faint rumbling nosie. Two very overactive imaginations conivinced themselves a tsunami was coming!. Little did we know it was actually the plane flying to Hawaii that both of us failed to spot amongst the billions of starts. We even started to plan our escape route, how we’d wake people up, which peak we’d climb. Eventually we managed to calm down enough to realise it wasn’t a tsunami but decided to go to bed anyway. I don’t think either of us managed to get a decent nights sleep that night!

Where to begin with the meke?! After the amazing people I meet on the island, Practising and performing the meke was my favourite thing on Vorovoro, from Save’s lessons, to performing in front of a cheering Tui Mali, to the impromtu meke sessions in the boat to town with Giles, to disco meke with Alex and Tomasi during the two days we spent lolliping in the bure awaiting the rain to stop, to the boys performing the amazing ‘back dance’ for a kere kere by Olivia on her birthday, the meke will always hold an important place in my memories of the island.

I’m already trying to work out the logistics of setting up a Grogoholics Anonymous in the UK. My name is Lizzie and I’m a Grogoholic. I turned into a bit of a grog monster during my time on the island and the first few days of low tides soon became a distant memory as high tides became the norm. Being able to pound the kava with Tale was an amazing experience. It’s a shame I was foolish enough to trip over a log and hurt my hand three weeks into my experience otherwise I’d have the best arms this side of Fiji!!

I had two awesome weeks of sunshine when I first arrived and then the weather decided Vorovoro needed more rain to fill it’s tanks for the dry season. Memories of the rainy days include having a shower in the rain with Tomasi and Vicky beside the Valet,and the two days we all spent in the bure during which anything and everything passed for entertainment; Foot massage, twister, disco meke and lots of cake eating! Tomasi and I managed to perfect the ‘aeroplane move’ during those days to the delight of Leavi and Tevita. Along with the rain came more and more new arrivals until the island was eventually full/ I think the best welcome ever seen on the island was during a particulary heavy downpour. The path between the kitchen and fire area was laid with a spare piece of tarp and a mammoth slip slide was created (also captured on video). The new arrivals got stuck in and threw themselves down the slide, welcome to Vorovoro! Up went the cry of ‘Let’s go the waterfall!’. Twenty, ahem, adults went running wildly whilst making red indian nosises to the waterfall. It was running with such forse that even some of the guys struggled to stand underneath it. I believe that was Giles’ first trip to the waterfall!

I was lucky enough to have my birthday whilst I was on the island and it was the best night for me during my stay. Sosi, Ruth, Tomasi and myself stayed up on the 3rd of may to see my brithday in. At midnight we went onto the beach. I ran my hands across the top of the water and was rewarded by the Bioluminescence being active (That’s the glowing plankton to you and me!). What a start to my 26th year. For the majority of my birthday I was hearded away from the kitchen and various other areas of the village at every opportunity. Something was going on so I decided to take myself off to a hammock. I was told to dress up for the evening rather than put on my usual trackie bum and t-shirt combo. Everyone has arranged a surprise party for me including my favourite food and people had been given an invite telling them to wear a hat (island stylee) to the party!!. The wooden carving I was given which everyone signed is hopefully going to show up when I get my bag back from LA!! Thanks to everyone who put in so much effort to make my day a special one and special thanks to Ruth who made me the best birthday cake I’ve ever had. (it was in the shape of the mummy pig and her four babies!!!)

I could go on forever with memoires; the pigs, mothers day, the hawaian spear fisherman’s stories, ghost story night, sunsets, sunrises, pontoon fun, hammock time, chats with Tevita (the man IS a big deal!), breakfast table time with Maddy and Amy, four peaks, seeing sharks with Giles, Hug saturday’s, cooking porridge on Sunday’s but I would only be enteratining myself so forgive me for that indulgence with this blog.

It’s the poeple that make Vorovoro, not just the Fijians but the people who come to the island of ‘broken peices’ seeking something which they may not realise until they arrive or indeed when they leave. If you’re lucky enough Tevita will help you discover and find that which you seek (Thanks Te!). I have made some amazing friendships whilst on the island and I miss everyone incredibly already. Talking of friends Tomasi is a legend even if he did pour coconut and chilli milk on my hair! He’s running for June cheif so get your votes in! Tomasi has so much passion for the island, the Fijians, the culture and all that they stand for. He will make a great cheif. Also he’s an immense spear fisherman, grade A fish on your first trip wasn’t it Tomasi?

Right time to wrap up. For all those people that I meet but did not mention, thank you for making my experience what it was, I could never repay you.

Look forward to seeing you soon folks.

Isa Vorovoro