June 24, 2009, Wednesday, early morning
Just woke up from a great night’s sleep. It get dark really early here, around 6 pm or so, and the kiddos have all been asking for bed right after dinner. A lot of game playing and grog drinking goes on in the evening, but once I lay down while the kids fall asleep, I have been out for the count. Jimmy has gone down to the main bure a couple of nights to hang out - last night was a really looooong grog session that started at 2 pm when the chief arrived for sevusevu, and was going on long past 11 pm when he came to bed. Grog is the drink made from kava root – it is soaked in water and then squeezed into the grog bowl and then is drank, with great ceremony. It is a huge part of the culture here – grog is drank during social gatherings, meetings, ceremonies, and pretty much anytime a bunch of Fijian men are gathered around! It is said to have a slight narcotic effect – like a relaxed and drowsy kind of drunk – but it is an anti-tolerant, meaning that the more you drink it over a period of time, the less tolerance you have to it. So being newbies to grog drinking, Jimmy and I haven’t noticed anything but a slight tingling in our mouths.
Monday was the first day since we arrived that the Fijians were here in the village. They are here throughout the week, but go back to their villages on weekends for church. Vorovoro and Mali are separate islands, but considered the same. Vorovoro is where our village is, where the members of the project and many of the Fijians who work with us live throughout the week. Mali is a neighboring island with 4 villages, and that is where the school and church is. We will go there on Friday to work at the school. The Fijians are incredibly friendly with a great sense of humor. The Fijian men are big, lean and muscular, you would expect them to have these deeeeep laughs, but instead they have these high pitched melodic laughs that you can hear all over the village. And it seems someone is always laughing! I love it.
On Monday, Jimmy took the boat into town to get a few things that we needed, like pillows and a pot for Bethany and I to use when it is raining too hard to go outside to pee. He was gone most of the day. The kids and I helped muck the pigs – gathering all the empty coconut shells into bags and hauling them down the hill, then taking them with a wheel barrow to the coconut shell pile. Then we gathered grasses for the pigs, and helped shovel out all the yuck from the pens and take it to the biodiesel tank. Did you know pigs could leap fences? These pigs can! Samson, the bigger pig, jumped right over the wall of his holding pen to get to his clean pen, rather than be led around through the door. This prompted the Poasa and Nemani, two of the Fijian men where were around, to build the fence a little higher so we weren’t having to chase them down around the island!
Yesterday was sevusevu – a very big and important day on the island. It happens each Tuesday – Tui Mali, the chief of Vorovoro and Mali, comes to the island to greet any new members who have arrived. The morning was spent cleaning up the Grand Bure and the village. And since our kids hadn’t had a proper bath since we arrived, I took the kids down the beach for a bath in the sea. The water is SO warm, almost like bath water. We had a culture class as well, to learn proper etiquette during sevusevu, and how to present our gift of kava to Tui Mali, and how to sit and receive grog during the ceremony. We also had a Meke class. Meke is the traditional Fijian dance. Most everyone had learned it the evening before while we were sleeping, so we were learning it for the first time. It is a dance where you sit on your bottom, so it was a little easier to learn since it was mostly just upper body movements, Everyone wears sulus or traditional Fijian dresses during sevusevu, so everyone was dressed beautifully and colorfully in their Fijian best. The grog drinking began around 2 pm and went on well into the early morning hours. During grog drinking, there is a lot of talking, laughing, and music as well. It is very, very festive and lots of fun. I didn’t take part – I turned in early with the kiddos- but Jimmy did and by the time he had had his 20th or so bilo (coconut shell used for drinking grog) of kava, they had promoted him to the honor of serving the grog. He didn’t feel any effects of it, but said the next day it made him feel energized. The Fijians laughed at this – usually it makes one feel lazy, they say!
Sunday, June 28, 2009, mid-morning
So the week whizzed by without me getting back to writing, so here I am doing a catch up before I take the boat into town tomorrow to do our internet stuff. Lots goes on during the week. We made good friends with Chuck, the sustainability manager, who comes to the island once or twice a week to do work on several projects around the island. He and Jimmy hit it right off and worked together all day. He is a very interesting man – he is a white man originally from Africa – Zambia, I think. His family lived there for generations, but his immediate family then moved to Australia when he was 16. He lived there for a while and married, and has lived the last several years in Fiji. He gave up his citizenship to become a Fijian, and he and his wife and their three adopted Fijian children live on a nearby island on their sustainable farm. It is in the early stages of development, so they live rather primitively but happily. They also homeschool their children, so we had lots in common from the get go. He has invited us to come stay on their farm sometime during our stay in Fiji, and we can’t wait to take him up on his offer.
A lot of this week has been getting into the groove of things and finding out where our help is needed. Things we have pitched in with this week are food prep and kitchen help (Oliver is the official bell ringer), weaving coconut palms for roofing for Amy’s, the project manager, new house, slopping and mucking the pigs, building shelves, logging the food as it is brought onto the island, and more. We’ve made fast friends with all the Fijians, they are warm and welcoming. And they LOVE the kids, especially Oliver. Sala, one of the kitchen helpers, is the oldest of 9 children and took right to Oliver, and he to her. Anytime he is near you hear, “O-lee-vah!” as she or Francis, the head chef, call out to him to “come hee-yah!” Friday was Oliver’s favorite day – two of Francis’ grandchildren came to the island for the day. Mana is 5 and Junior is 3 – and the three of them were inseparable from the time they met. Despite not being able to communicate much (the Fijian children don’t learn English until they enter school) they got along just fine. Ollie ran back and forth with them from our village to the neighboring Fijian village where Francis lives, ate lunch with them, and sat with them at Francis’ feet while she cooked. We hardly saw him or hear from him all day! They left for the weekend, but are coming back today or tomorrow. We also joined in with a language lesson taught by Poasa, the village chief's brother. I'm picking up the language pretty quickly - the kids, not so much.
In the neighboring village, there is a complete skeleton of a baby sperm whale that washed up on Mali a year or two ago. Poasa brought the bones back to Vorovoro and is assembling it. It is amazing to see! I won’t have pictures this week, but will take some the next time I am there. I don’t take my camera around with me and therefore miss lots of photo opportunities, but I find focusing on lugging my camera around and taking pictures distracts me from being present to the experience, so I figure we are here long enough that I figure I can just take a few here and there.
Bethie and I hiked the Four Peaks Challenge this week – it is a hike led by Amy over the island to four of the highest peaks. It was a challenging hike, but worth it! The views are amazing. Again, I didn’t have my camera with me, but will take it next time. There was a lot of uphill hiking, downhill sliding, and rock scrambling, but Bethie did great and kept up with the group. I’m struggling with an injury to my Achilles from April that I don’t notice when I’m barefoot (which is most of the time), but it really hurt in my shoes and caused my ankle to give out a few times and I fell – going to try to strengthen my ankles before I hike again. Amy is very impressive – she is raising money for Survival International by doing the Vorovoro Iron Maiden Challenge – basically she is running (or hiking very fast, anyway! Can’t really run it.) the Four Peaks and then swimming around the entire island. She is out every day running the beach and swimming to finish up her training – the big day is this Thursday. Her record for running the Four Peaks is 34 minutes – that didn’t mean nearly as much to me until I actually experienced the Four Peaks – that time is amazing.
The evenings are filled either with grog drinking (there was an extra long session one night to celebrate the completion of Amy’s new roof) and singing/music making, or on grog-free nights, everyone plays games, makes music together, or sometimes watches a DVD on a laptop. The kids especially like game nights. There are a few games we’ve played that we can’t wait to share with friends at home – especially the chocolate game! A group of people sit in a circle around a plate of chocolate bars, a knife, and a fork, and a hat, mittens (or socks will substitute) and a scarf. Then everyone takes turns rolling a die – when you roll a six, you run into the middle of the circle, quickly put on the hat, socks on your hands, and scarf, and then take the knife and fork and cut off a bite of chocolate. The challenge is to do all these things before someone else rolls a six and then you have to take everything off and give them a turn. It is hilarious fun – I’ve not laughed so hard in such a long time. A few of the Fijian men played with us, which made it even more fun because of their antics. And because chocolate is not common in Fiji at ALL, it was the first taste of chocolate that I’d had since we left the US. Ahhhhh!
Lucas is in a hot chess competition with Seroma, our friend from California who is here serving a 4 month stint as a staff member. At least once a day you will find them bent in heavy concentration over a chess game. Seroma is ruthless - I think Lucas has finally met his match!
There is lots of music being made nearly all the time – there are a few musically talented members on the island right now, and the Fijians are incredibly gifted at music making – it is a huge part of their culture. They learn to harmonize in school. Their singing voices are beautiful, and oddly enough the men are often the falsetto. They sing on and on for hours, but no one ever tires of listening.
At the end of the workday, most days we all end up at the volleyball nets to get our butts whooped by the Fijians. They are amazing at volleyball (or at any sport, I’ll bet). It is a lot of fun – I’ve never met people who laugh so much and so freely as Fijians.
On Friday, Bethie and I went on the school trip to Mali. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the week. Again, I did not have my camera, but will have pictures and video to share soon. All the children from the 3 villages on Mali come together at this one school – I believe there are 74 children. The children who come the farthest walk 1 hour 15 minutes each way. In addition to the school, there are several houses that border the large, green play space where the head master and the teachers live. When we arrived, they were just finishing up their lunch and were brushing their teeth to the beat of a drum. When they were finished, we spent time in the classroom for a bit, introducing ourselves and answering questions – the funniest one was, “Is there elephants in America?” – next week we are bring origami to share. Then the bell rang and then the real fun began – free time! The boys ran off to play rugby – wow, are they rough! Literally grabbing and throwing each other to the ground, all in fun. To watch them kick the ball so far and high in bare feet made my toes hurt. The girls ran off to play net ball – I tried to play for a while but did not understand, so was the source for many laughs and giggles from the girls. Bethie had a throng of smaller children following her around – if she ran, they ran. If she sat, they sat. If she turned a cartwheel, they tried to as well. It was funny to watch. She loved it, and wants to come each week. Only she and I came this week because there is a per person charge for the boat ride to get there, but everyone at the school begged us to bring the boys too next week, so the project director is working on a family discount for us so we can all come. The older girls had lots of questions for me. I really enjoyed talking with them. Their English is very good, so it was much easier than with the younger children. Their eyes grew HUGE when I explained to them that where I live, it is $8 FJD for one coconut or pineapple. That started a great conversation about what we import/export vs. what they import/export. They pay the same amount for apples or grapes, so they began to understand how it works. One thing I have noticed is that everyone I meet is in love with their country – they love Fiji. Although they are aware of how the rest of the world lives, they do not long for it. They love their villages, their simple ways of life. The children played their games with so much enthusiasm and joy, completely present in their joy. The sound of laughter and the sight of big, toothy smiles never ceases. I really like it here.
In our short week here, we’ve seen lots of interesting animals. The snorkeling here in front of the village is great – in the few times we’ve been we’ve seen lots of beautiful fish. Further down the beach we’ve seen black tipped reef sharks from the shore – not sure I’m ready to encounter sharks yet while snorkeling! Jimmy hit one with a spear, but it bounced off. If he killed it, we would have had a feast for dinner! We’ve seen several small sea snakes, and yesterday we saw something very rare – a HUGE, 6 ft. sea snake resting on the rocks. According to the Fijians, they are the deadliest snake – 5 minutes from being bitten till death. So needless to say, we all have a healthy fear of them and steer FAR away whenever we spot one. Luckily, they are also shy and not aggressive, so it is not likely that we would ever come upon one in the water. And there are various lizards and geckos EVERYWHERE – all the kids are pros at catching them now. Ollie caught a big frog earlier this week, before we found out they were poisonous and should not be touched. They are only dangerous if you put your fingers in your mouth or in your eyes after touching it, so we washed his hands and all was good. Lots of beautiful, exotic crabs here as well. Probably the most gorgeous thing I’ve seen so far. And of course the usual spiders and bugs, but we are used to them by now. There are a couple living in our bure that are carrying huge egg sacs with them, so we are going to shoo the out today – we would rather not be overrun with millions of tiny spiders. The bats are amazingly huge and graceful, and they feed on the papaya right outside our windows. They sound like squealing pigs when they fight. And last night, we snuck outside to take a photo of what we assumed was a bat in the papaya tree, only to find it was a rat up there munching away.
My legs and feet are covered with bites – not sure what has bitten me, because I’ve not seen mosquitoes, but they itch like crazy and none of the creams I’ve brought will lessen the itching at all!!! When the Fijians return tomorrow, I’m going to ask for a remedy. They are very wise about the use of the plants medicinally, and usually have a solution for anything. As I was watching the men work on Amy’s house the other day, one of the men got something painful in his eye, so he laid down while another squeezed the juice of a paupau (papaya) leaf into his eye. Before we left the US, Bethie has been breaking out with hives for several weeks. We thought it was due to allergies and treated her with Zyrtec, which made them go away, but they continued to come back off and on for weeks. Just as we were about to see a doctor about it, they stopped coming and we thought it was over. Well, when we arrived on Vorovoro, they came back in full force – covered her with these itchy welts. Luckily, we brought the Zyrtec, which is continuing to help with the breakouts, and there is a doctor in the mainland we can see easily. Pupu, one of the village elders, made her an oil to put on twice a day. He said when he gave it to us, “If you believe it will work, it will. If you don’t believe, it won’t.” So we are putting our faith into it, that it works, and so far so good! She has not needed Zyrtec at all since starting the oil. The next step was a trip into Labasa to see a doctor who would most likely prescribe steroids, and we really want to avoid that route if possible. So keep your fingers crossed that Pupu’s oil is our remedy!
So that’s was our week. We are really enjoying our time here, and are feeling very much at home. The kids have had a few moments of homesickness, and it hurts my heart to watch them cry for their friends back home. They rebound quickly though, and have had far more smiles than tears. Jimmy and I agree that this week, as they get more involved with the projects and activities going on, get their own jobs, they will feel more at home and less lonely. There are also supposed to be more Fijian children, closer to their ages, coming to visit, so some new playmates will be good too, I think. We are also going to take on the village treehouse as our project, finish it up and give it a coconut leaf roof. And Jone, the village tatooist, is giving Jimmy a Fijian tatoo, so watch next week for photos of that!
Much love from our family to yours. Sega na Lega! Till next week,
