Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Well my term as Chief started with a bang, or a “BONK, BONK” at least. The commissioning ceremony for the village “Lalli” was a wonderful ceremony to have coincide with our Chief’s handover ceremony. Early in the day Tui Bitu and I accompanied the senior men of the village to collect the Lalli ( a huge hollowed out tree trunk which is beated like a drum ). The Lalli had been carved by Pupu Appelli over several weeks and took all of us to lift it into the boat. As we sailed back Tui Mali’s brother Poissa beat a strong steady beat on the Lalli as Tui Bitu and Davida held a tarp across his back to steady him against the rocking of the boat. The photo’s of the ceremony itself do not convey the emotion felt by the Fijians at this occasion which many had never seen and even the older men had not seen for many years. We were all fully involved and even poor Jamie Russell, who arrived just fifteen minutes before the Lalli itself, was told to strip to the waist, get painted up and then run into the water to meet the boat. Jamie, Bjorn and Api then had to swim away from the boat as two pursuers dived in after them.
The celebrations after the ceremony of Monday 1st were subdued due to the sad passing of a good friend of the Peter. The very little project work was completed due to other commitments and Thursday and Friday were devoted to the funeral itself.
It may seem a strange thing to say that a funeral was a wonderful experience to be a part of but bidding farewell to our departed friends is something that comes to us all and the farewell that Peter received from the Mali people and the Tribe did him a great honour. Representatives from all the surrounding villages came to pay tribute, through Tui Mali, to Peter. As Tui Mali’s special guest’s Kimbo and I had the unique experience of sitting at his side on the Kava mat on the evening before the funeral as the villages came with they’re contributions to the funeral feast. There were funeral mats, pigs, bags of flour, rice and sugar, racks of glistening fish and of course bushels of Kava. Kimbo and I stayed for eight hours on the Kava mat, until the last village had arrived at eleven at night, and then Poissa drove us home in the dark.
The funeral day started quite early as we took the boat over to Nakarangua but even this event was prone to Fiji time so it was the afternoon before the service took place. We had a few bilo’s of Kava and then some delicious food in Tui Mali’s house (“My home is your home”). Due to the two churches in the village we waited until the first service was finished before following the coffin up to the Methodist church. The choral music from the choir and the villages was so beautiful it moved many to tears. We then walked with the coffin to the burial site overlooking the bay and Vorovoro. It was strange for me as Chief because Tui Mali insisted I walk up front with him but from the Tribe side I felt it would have been more appropriate if Kimbo had taken my place as he lives here year round and knew Peter personally. After the minister had said his piece it came time to cover the coffin. We were all amazed as the choir continued singing as the young men of the village took turns filling in the grave finally using their bare hands to finish the job and building a little cairn of rocks on top. Where we might have let anonnymous gravediggers do the job after we had walked away in our good clothes, the Fijians took the job on themselves despite the rain and mud. As I said to Tui Mali after we had walked back down the slippery hill in our bare feet, he and his people had a beautiful way of saying goodbye to their friends.

As if my first week was not busy enough on the following Monday we had Fiji Day! We had been organising this with Tui Mali the previous week as a way of lifting peoples spirits after the sadness of Friday but it ballooned into a much bigger occasion when the Northern Islands Tourist Board asked if they could pay a visit too. We got a bit of a shock when they said there would be forty people! So now we were trying to organise a day of food and entertainment for more than sixty people. Davida took care of organising the catering and Kimbo and Anna did a great job of whipping us into shape to dance a traditional Meke for the guests. Any concerns we had were unneccessary as everything went off without a hitch. We hadn’t realised that it is tradtional to try to distract the Meke dancers as they perform so there were howls of laughter as our rehearsed routine fell apart under the onslaught of sweets, flowers and kisses but we enjoyed a little revenge when the Fijians took a turn performing. All in all it was a very enjoyable day for everyone and with about thirty children of all ages among the NITB group the village really was a vibrant living place which I suppose is the projects ultimate goal.
Last night to allow ourselves a little traditional fun our style, the ladies decided we would have a “School Disco”. Suitable photos will be posted asap but the school uniforms were great. Unfortunately, as Chief, I had to play Headmaster to make sure there was no underage drinking or improper behaviour at which I failed spectacularly.
Today we bid Moce (mo-thay) to Bjorn, Rose, Tim and Jakub who I am confidant enjoyed their stay. We have more tribies to bring back with us so village life on Vorovoro continues…..