Tribewanted: Vorovoro

My name is Irina, 29 years old and I’m January Chief. As mentioned in my Chief’s manifesto, I’m German, was born in Kazakhstan, now live in England (Midlands to be exactly). I was working for Daimler in Coventry in Sales Department before coming to Vorovoro where my adventure and new live started.

I took 2 months off of work – sabbatical. I was bored with the office job and needed sometime for myself, but most important to get out of the circle I was in. I started internet research and looked for some community project all around the world (I didn’t want just go somewhere and lay back). After few days/nights on the internet I found Tribewanted. com. Looking at the website more closely , reading about the project, I got interested about the whole idea behind it. But still haven’t had a clear idea what the project was exactly about. But I thought well why not? So I booked my time on the island – 8 weeks. And here I am.

I started getting involved in small day to day project, e.g. building new bench under the mango tree just behind the new vale, helping out in the kitchen and not to forget grog sessions at night time. More time I spent on the island than more interested and fascinated I got about the project. You can say I fall in love with Vorovoro, Tribewanted and all the people on the island.

After being on the Island for almost 2 months I started playing with the idea to run for January Chief. It wasn’t easy for me to make the right decision especially because I had to be back to work in England on the 5th of January. After few days digesting the idea of running for January Chief and what impacts my decision will be on my future, I decided yes I do it and see what happens next. But than what about my job at Daimler? At the end I decided for what makes me happy and it is being here on Vorovoro and helping out with the project.

There are few projects I want achieve/bring forward as Chief. One thing I realised here how difficult it is to collect and store fresh water during dry season. So I want concentrate as much as possible on the waterfall project and use the Chief’s legacy to finish this project before the heavy rain season (we are actually in the middle of it).

Than there are couple maintaining projects to keep village and Island in good condition. After the construction works are finalised – more or less – the facilities need final decoration to make sure it last longer. But also be prepared for the rain season.

I want to thank Tribewanted Island staff, Team Fiji for their help and support during my time and I’m looking forward to work with everyone together in the next couple of weeks.

My 1st Blog as Chief will follow shortly. Looking forward to report what has been achieved during the week and all the exiting news from the Island.

Vinaka Vaka Levu
Marama Irina