Tribewanted: Vorovoro

You may be wondering why this is entitled ‘a paradise lost’ – well because this is precisely how I would describe the tribe on Vorovoro Day after hours (and hours and hours…) with no caffeine, cigarette, beer, chocolate or Va’s amazing cake – completely and utterly LOST! How on earth can one live without their vices? It’s sooo hard; trees turn into lollipops; the se smells of beer and logs suspiciously resemble chocolate rolls! By 4pm, even Giles fell to his knees, rolled over onto his back and started to mutter like a crazy person – “Smarties! Smarties!” But anything worth doing is a challenge and in my opinion Vorovoro Day is certainly worth doing – quoting Maddy: “This day rocked!”

So many of us skip merrily through our lives eating, sleeping, washing, cooking (even going to the loo!) with little or no thought for where our toothpaste came from, or how our delicious Pasta Al Forne came to the table – possibly more importantly we don’t consider how this process will affect the world in which we all live.

This is what Vorovoro Day aims to achieve – by no means was it (or were we) perfect; I’ll even admit to sneaking a bit of chocolate (I won’t name the other naughty offenders – you know who you are!). However, what it does do is make you stop and think, and appreciate those things you normally take for granted. You really feel you deserve your meal when you’ve spent the previous day (ok, an hour…) picking the cabbage, capsicum and chili that made up your dinner.

To those of you coming to the island I hope that, if are lucky enough to experience the day, you embrace it and really do your best to live off the island for one day. Perhaps even take some of what you learnt home with you…could you grow some vegetables in your garden, or at the very least start to buy your fruit from a local supplier?

My hope is that this day evolves and as the tribe’s confidence grows, we are able to become truly sustainable – not just for one day but forever (well, maybe that’s ambitious – for at least a good proportion of the time!)

On a personal note, which I’m sure would be reiterated by the rest of the current tribe, a massive Vinaka to Team Fiji who amazed me with their resourcefulness and sheer brilliance – Vorovoro Day would not be possible without you.

A final note to the tribe – well done, we all deserve a pat on the back for our achievements on Vorovoro Day. Now go eat lots of cake………..

Written by Sarah Jordan (May 2008)

Typed by Vix Woods (sorry for any typos!)