Au Lomani Iko!

Au lomani Iko means I love you!  Much love from us to you and your families - we are doing well, loving life here in Fiji, but we are all missing the smiles, hugs, and good times with all those we left on the other side of the ocean.   AU LOMANI IKO!!!!  

Probably going to be a short post this time, with no new photos.  Short on time.  Gonna type till someone comes to let me know that it's time to board the boat.   

The big event of this past week was a Lovo, which is a great big festive Fijian celebration - the Lovo specifically refers to the main dish prepared for the feast, which is a pig cooked in the ground - a hole is dug in the ground, the pig is wrapped in leaves and cooked 1.5 hours in the hole - there is more to it the cooking and preparation process, but I missed it this time around.  There will be another, bigger Lovo next month to celebrate the 3 year anniversary of the project, so I will have pics and more details about it then.   This Lovo was to celebrate the homecoming of 4 Fijian team members who traveled to London for a month to do some promotional work there.  Unless they are important political figures or Rugby players, few Fijians ever travel out of the country, let alone across the world.  This was a big deal.  They are taking a week off to reconnect with their families, but then they will be around to share their stories - Fijian stories are the best.  I love to hear them tell about the world from their perspective.  Upon first seeing a double-decker bus cruising down the street in London, one of the guys asked with alarm, "Why is that house moving???"   Lots of stories and laughs to be had around the grog mat next week, I'm sure.  I just have to make sure I sit next to someone who can translate well for me, because I have figured out that while I can learn enough Fijian to communicate crudely, the language is WAAAAAYYYYY too complicated to learn fluently - folks who have been here decades still haven't mastered it.  

We've been asked to explain more about what the project is about and what we are doing here, so I will try to do that before I get pulled away.  The project is called TribeWanted - we found it when we were searching for international volunteer opportunities that accommodated families.  We had no luck finding any family friendly volunteer opportunities abroad, but this project appealed to us on several levels.  1) It is in Fiji, a country we fell in love with 2 years ago and have wanted to spend more time exploring the land and the culture, 2) The focus is sustainable eco-tourism - something that has not yet been done, 3) Cultural immersion - living, working, playing with the indigenous Fijians of the area, 4) Cultural conservation - a focus on learning and preserving the cultural traditions of the area, 5) Providing a sustainable income for the indigenous Fijians - a very valuable thing - Fiji is a very poor country with limited income sources, 6) Share environmental awareness - Fiji is undereducated in terms of the negative impact traditional tourism and general daily life and business practices has on the environment and eco-systems.   The history of the project is that two young men from England had the idea of creating a sustainable eco-village, utilizing the internet to create a world-wide "tribe" where tribe members would work together online to hash out ideas and vote on important decisions regarding the creation of the village, before arranging to visit the island to experience the island and put their share of work into the creation of the dream.  The lease of the land to TribeWanted would be 3 years, enough time to create the infrastructure and the physical structures of the village, and then the established eco-village would be left to the Fijians as a source of sustainable income, while the project re-located to another location to begin again.  The goal of the eco-village would be all the things I stated above that appealed to us, as well as establishing a new niche in the eco-tourism that would promote sustainable practices.   Their search for the perfect location to lease led them to Vorovoro, where two years previous Tevita, a spiritual man from the island, had a prophecy that "The world would come to Vorovoro."  When the men from England approached the leaders of the island with this idea, an agreement on a 3 year lease was quickly agreed upon, and the project began.  Construction on the composting toliets began first, with traditional Fijian housing and cooking structures next.   All the planning and sweat came from project members and the Fijians - each learning from the other.  The nature of the project brings together like-minded individuals from all over the world united in a common desire to help the project to succeed, thus creating a tight community atmosphere, something we have loved ever so much since we have arrived.   Over the last three years, solar and wind power has been established, a dam has been attempted (and unfortunately failed, but still hopeful to work with some revision), huge progress has been made in growing enough food to sustain the needs of the project, elaborate water collection and distribution systems have been put in place, biodiesel system has been put into place, pigs and chicken housing created and animals purchased, water de-salination device created (not successful -needs work!), the compost toliets have been built and succeed in providing excellent compost for the fruit trees, a reed bed filtration system completed, an ongoing environmental club established at the local school, and loads of environmental education has been shared with the island community and beyond into the larger community of Labasa.   The Fijians offer lots of opportunities to learn from them - we forage with them, line and spear fish with them, build with them, join in their celebrations and festivals, and of course spend lots of time on the grog mat with them, where we probably learn the most of all!  I feel like I am forgetting a lot - trying to type fast before I have to go.  A unique aspect of the project is the cultural immersion - learning the culture by living it along side the Fijians.  Also unique is the shared work - the project is a sum of its parts - international and indigenous - and much pride is shared.  As the project has come up on it's 3 year anniversary and lease expiry, the Fijians have offered an extended lease of 5 years, so the project will continue in it's current location.  That the Fijians want us to stay is a huge compliment - they are pleased with the project and it's impact and respect to their environment and culture.  There have been other Tribewanted communities started elsewhere in the world - Peru, I think.  We love the project for all the reasons we have stated, as well as the chance to include our children in the creation of something that we believe in - they are included in every part,  the meetings, work, planning, etc.  Some of what we do is general upkeep - usually community housekeeping duties - things that must be done in a communal living situation - cleaning, organizing, helping in kitchen, etc.   There is continual maintenance of the existing projects, work to be done on projects in progress, and continual planning of future projects.   A major issue for the island right now is water - water is a big issue for all of Fiji.  In the dry season, a lot of island run out of fresh water, and given the amount of people who pass through Vorovoro, water is a bigger issue there.  With extremely limited supply choices in Fiji, and a limited budget, this problem is very tricky to solve.  My personal hope is that now that the project is moving out of it's infancy and has established it's viability, it will become more attractive to investors.  As of now, we use salt water for as many uses as we can, catch as much rain water as we can and then use it sparingly, using it for multiple purposes if we can, such as the final rinse water for dish washing doubles to water the gardens.  Showers are a luxury - when there is rain water available we put a bit into a bucket fitted with a shower head - I have mastered the art of bathing, shaving, and shampooing and conditioning my hair with about 2 liters of water.  Never would have thought that was possible before now!  When the fresh water is gone, we bathe in the sea.  Not my favorite though - the hair tends to dreadlock!  And amazingly enough, I have come to looove doing laundry by hand.  Being on the beach at high tide probably has a little to do with that!

A big plus to the project is the international community - we have made close friends with people from all over the world, some of those friendships I know will last a lifetime.  The atmosphere of the project is playful, inspiring, and a committed and loving community.  It has been an amazing experience for the kiddos - one that I think will shape their view of the world forever.  For Jimmy and I, we needed a break from our "old" life to sink into some new ways of being, to do some personal work that we found was difficult to do within the structure and routines of our life back home - this has been an incredible springboard for us into the next chapter of our lives.  While this seemed crazy to us when we first decided to go with it, we are glad we listened to our hearts.  When we listen, our hearts never steer us wrong.  

Lucky for me, the new arrivals' plane was late, so I got to type waaaay more than I thought I would!  Hope this explains a little bit more about what we are doing here.   You can also check it out on the web - www.tribewanted.com.

Till next week!  Hoping then I can share more pictures.  Much love from our family to yours!  Moce!