Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Bula sia!

Time to report on week numero three as chief on Vorovoro, apologies it comes a week late to the online community – I’ve had this written for a week, somehow without a spare 5 minutes to upload – one word – Christmas!!

And so the story goes…

It’s been a pretty relaxed, sunny (yip, not so much rain!) week on Vorovoro in the last working week before Christmas. We’ve all been winding down…Fiji style, getting set for the festive period.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped Pupu and the boys from powering on with waterfall project, which is making steady progress. Tribe members have been taking lunch up to the site all week, to help motivate and support the workers (rumour has it, the boys work faster when females are present…coming from a male tribe member.) This week we’ve been lucky to have some extra helpers from Pupu’s village, who’ve assisted in collecting/transporting gravel/sand to the site, which is not an enviable task. It’s only a fifteen minute walk up to the site, but it’s a steep incline, rocky in parts and exposed to the sun in the heat of the day. So far they’ve managed to transport sand, gravel, steel rods and timber, to fill an area of approximately 15 – 20 cubic meters. And John, a return visitor to Vorovoro, has made an impressive calculation into the water catchment area – a grand (estimated) total of 265, 000 litres, which is fantastic news for the sustainability of the project.

Meanwhile, the gardeners have been busy tidying the village for Christmas visitors – what a difference! And Marau has been working on the vale roofs, in advance of stormier times ahead.

Project asides, the tribe had been invited along by the Mali district choir to attend a Christmas carol service and perform a couple of songs at Naka waga church. Well, had we known the high standard of the Mali district choir, I’m sure a few tribe members, (myself included) might have thought twice about performing. The Mali district choir are simply amazing, with the voices of angels and harmonies down to a tee, we were blown away. They were first to sing, and at that very moment, I think myself and the tribe were feeling equally nervous and daunted about the prospects of singing back to such a professional audience. We had selected two popular Fijian Christmas carols – Silent Night and Jingle Bells – and a bonus version of the ‘12 Days of Christmas Vorovoro’ (Lyrics went a little like this ‘On the first day of Christmas Vorovoro gave to me a prophecy about a new tribe…On the second day of Christmas Vorovoro gave to me 2’) courtesy of Sophie Talbot and Ruth.

It was time to sing, and me and Sophie started off the sopranos, perhaps a note too high to the rest of the choir, carry on regardless they say, right?! Our performance picked up by the third verse, by which point we were all in synch and had a guitar accompanying us…and thanks to John we have video footage, to re-live the our stunning ensemble!

The service itself was humbling, and we all had a great night, but I think we all came to the conclusion, that we shouldn’t leave our day jobs…I think next time we might stick to what we do best – the meke!

As the working week drew to an end, it was soon time to say ‘moce’ (goodbye) to team Fiji. To celebrate the holiday period, we had a half day and enjoyed a picnic lunch of Shepherd’s pie (good fun in the kitchen) with Team Fiji and the tribe, before Team Fiji headed off. We’re not going to see some of the Team Fiji for two weeks, as they enjoy a well earnt break with their families. Over the Christmas period, we’ll have a reduced team to join in the festivities, but many more family members are expected to be on island too…so it should be lots of fun. I can’t wait to see what random things prop up next week. There’s talk of a lovo, a boat race, a Christmas card/lollipop island run, coconut baubles and santa claus coming to visit Vorovoro.

Time to head off and start hand-crafting those Christmas presents…

Wishing you all a lovely Christmas!

Moce x