A week in the life of....

from Peceli
Tribewanted is still going strong on Vorovoro. It is a very beautiful place and the young people seem to be having an excellent time there. There are some good photos following the story of one of the eco-tourist visitors on a link on the tribewanted site. These were taken by jbfwoodroof and are on flickr. One is posted here. Here is part of a week's diary.
The Hammock Society Interview with Semesa the Wavu
Community → James Kerridge's blog
By Jimbo, ,
Posted 7 days ago
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You’ve been sleeping up in Poasa’s village, what’s that been like?

At first I thought it would be weird to be so far away from the tribe, but the good thing was to have my own private space and there’s a shower down there. But then on the flip side Francis and Chelli like to sing at 5 o’clock in the morning! Lovely, lovely church music but it is 5 o’clock in the morning when its still dark and I need to sleep some more.

Fijians love to get up early.

The great thing is every morning I get to say god morning to everyone as I walk past and make my way up to the bounty bar, occasionally get called over for tea in Francis kitchen or with Team Fiji.

Let’s run through the typical week of the Wavu…

OK, Monday… kitchen clean-up, its also the day we normally go up to sunset peak in the evening, take the tribe trough all the villages, a quick tour pointing out where Pupu’s house is… Tevita’s house… then head down to the Poasa’s village and point out Tui Mali’s house, talk a little bit about that… the wind turbine, my house and the whale skeleton… explain a little bit about that and head up to sunset peak. I think I worked out I’ve seen the sunset 25 times since I’ve been here.

Have you ever seen a green flash as the sun finally disappears over the horizon?

I’ve heard of this illustrious green flash but I’ve yet to see it.

Watch carefully… very, very carefully…

On Tuesdays, it’s the busiest day on the island… we set-up the Tribewanted marketplace selling t-shirts, sulus, postcards, prints, Pupu’s coconut jewelry. Then we get the village ready for Sevusevu and Tui Mali’s arrival, lots of raking and burning leaves. After lunch we collect banana leaves for the costumes, make charcoal for the face paint, make sure the Grand Bure is ready, all the mats are organized, the grog is pounded, the water is ready, Tui Mali’s mat is there, his bilo is there… and then make sure the tribe is ready and waiting for Tui Mali. That’s the most hectic day I think but the afternoon is lots of relaxing, lots of kava, lots of cake, maybe some meke.

And we’ve done some pretty big meke performances in your time here…

We have! We meke’d for over a thousand people at All Saints Secondary School when I first arrived but I think mekeing for the biggest chief in Fiji…

Just the two of us…

Yes, just the two of us… I don’t think many people can say they’ve meke’d for the biggest chief in Fiji, that’s quite an honor. It was good fun as well.

It certainly was.

And on Wednesday, the last few weeks we’ve had sunset fishing. I went out probably five times in a row with Jone Robinson and everybody else on the boat caught a fish except me! Then after that I gave up, but the following week I went with Va out on the rocks and now Va is my good luck token because I caught my first fish after 99 days on Vorovoro. I was very pleased with that, I blame Jone Robinson for my bad luck.

You may have a point there.

On Thursdays… reef trip happens but you run that. Sometimes myself and Amy would run a sustainability forum. We also prepare for the school trip the following day, talk about what lessons we’re going to do for the kids. Its also a good day for another sunset peak.

We’re flying through the week…

Dream Foundation Fridays… my favorite day of the week, definitely… we get to go to the Mali District School, its exhausting but so much fun, so we might go and do some work in the local community, help with some raking and gardening, whatever’s needed and then head on to the school for 1 o’clock and split into the different classrooms. I go in and introduce the tribe members to the kids in each class and for half an hour we do arts and crafts, story telling, games and then we all move to one classroom where the kids sing some songs, do some meke… sometimes they drag tribe members up to do some meke. After that we have an hour of sports which is football, netball, rugby…

Do they play rough?

Normally the netball is more violent than the rugby. There’s been quite a few netball injuries. Its hectic but so much fun, the kids are quick, they don’t wear shoes and just fly past you.

Moving on to the weekend…

Saturday is normally my town day, so its nice to have a day away from the island, upload some blogs, upload some photos, say goodbye to the tribe members leaving and welcoming the new tribe members arriving. Lately we’ve been going to see the Mali Sharks play rugby which has been lots of fun, they won their last 3 matches. And Saturday night we chill out, light a fire, occasionally there’s a quiz, maybe some chocolate games.

And finally… the day of rest…

Naked Sunday, it hasn’t been very naked the last few weeks, no sunshine! We normally have our team meeting at some point and relax for the rest of the day, go for a swim, go for a walk, chill out in the hammocks, watch a movie…

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What’s been your happiest memory?

Happiest moments are definitely going to the school every week and hearing the kids sing, it’s a fun escape, chilling out with Team Fiji is always lots of fun. I think one of the funniest moments to happen… and probably ever in my life… happened last Wednesday when we brought over a water tank from the government.

It’s not a small tank either is it?

It’s a 10,000 litre water tank! It is the same size as the green one on top of the hill, over eight feet tall, I don’t know how wide but its huge and it just about fit in the boat. There was four of us… you, myself, Nemani and the boat captain collecting it from Malau. The sea was quite choppy that day, it was windy, we were driving slowly. Nemani decided to climb on top of the water tank and both of us were sitting down below. Nemani was laughing and it wasn’t as fun where we were so I climbed up the top and given that it was a bit windy, I was bit shaky up there and then I decided you should come up as well.

I didn’t need telling twice.

And I think you were half way up when the next thing I know is I’m flying through the air and in to the water. When I surfaced and looked around, you, me and Nemani and the water tank were all floating in the sea, I just couldn’t stop laughing… all I could see was this massive water tank floating away from the boat… what do we do?...

Very good question, I was just thinking what sort of punishment would Tui Mali give me if I managed to loose this water tank? I was worried that it would fill up with water and sink!

Luckily the tide was working with us, heading towards Vorovoro so we just let it drift past Nakawaga. Everyone was pointing and laughing at us, why are you doing that?..

We must of looked ridiculous.

It was such a funny episode, definitely a highlight.

Yeah man, it could of gone really wrong but I haven’t laughed like that in a long, long, time. And on that happy note, any last words from your good self?

Out wit, out play, out talo! I hope to be back one day, it’s been an amazing time, vinaka vaka levu to everything and all the tribe members...