An extraordinary Christmas present

Around midnight on Christmas eve, the tanoa (grog bowl) was still at high tide, and there were still many a talanoa (story) being told and laughs being shared on the grog mat. I had just woken up from having dozed off while putting Bethany to bed and was getting ready to head back to the grog mat when I heard a strange sound coming from the jungle near the volleyball court. Ssshhhrrrttttt, sssshhhhrrrrttt – the sound was soft and came again and again, although not at regular intervals. The sound was exactly like the familiar soft swish of a Fijian sasa broom brushing the sand and dirt from a woven mat.

I crept close, but stopped short of crossing the creek. The sound kept coming, and was so much like the familiar sound of sweeping that I could think of nothing else it could be – although I knew that there was no way that someone was in the bush sweeping at midnight on Christmas Eve – I surely would have heard about that cultural oddity if that were the case!

My mind went logically through my mental catalogue of all the creatures on Vorovoro that could possibly be making this noise. Rat – no. Cat – no. Crab – no. Spider – um, definitely hope not! After the previous afternoon’s many talanoa (story) about the presence of the ancestors on Vorovoro, I was more than a little convinced that it was something that could not be logically explained making this sound. I said aloud, “Hello? Anybody there?” – (I know, I know – how original). No response. I crept closer, straining my eyes but could see nothing, but the sound kept coming again and again – ssshhhrrrtttt, ssshhhrrrrtttt. All I could picture was someone sweeping – did the ancestors come out at night to do some island clean up to express their gratitude for the previous day’s annual clean up of their burial sites?

Incredibly curious by now (and maybe just a little bit freaked out!), I walked down to the Grand Bure, where Jimmy, Bebe, Jone, Api, and Tomisi were holding down the grog mat. I popped my head in and did my best to sound casual: “Um, hey guys… um, there’s a strange, um, sound coming from the jungle, um, behind Bebe’s house. Um, it, um, kinda sounds like someone’s, um, well, like someone is sweeping.” A few strange looks came my way – I think they weren’t sure if I was being serious or not. Slowly, a few ideas of what it could be were offered – all of which I ruled out. At some point in midst of this lambchopped (thinking slowly because of the hours of grog drinking!) brainstorming session, I heard someone say the word “turtle” and instantly felt my heart quicken to double time – that was IT! I knew it!

I couldn’t get back to the jungle quick enough then. Jimmy came with me with a light and sure enough, there was a huge and magnificent mama turtle digging a hole with her back flippers, the sand flinging across the dried leaves and making a ssshhrrrrtttt sound as it landed.

She was massive – at least 2 1/2 feet across. She was working hard at digging, and didn’t notice us until we crept into her line of sight while trying to get a good video shot. Even though we were quite a distance away from her, she still seemed nervous, and our suspicious of this were confirmed when she abandoned that hole and started moving as though to go back to sea. We quickly took our leave at that point, hoping that she would decide to stay and finish after all.

We walked down the beach, basking in the excitement of this discovery and listening carefully for any other sounds that would indicate that there was more egg laying preparation going on. I was giddy – it was a secret hope of mine that I would have a chance to see a sea turtle while living in Fiji – but this was beyond anything I had hoped for. That it was happening on the eve of such an important day, a day that marked the start of several days of celebration and fellowship, felt like a very special gift.

When we walked back by, she had found another spot nearby and was digging a new hole. This time, we stayed at her back and out of her line of sight. The whole process took a couple hours to complete. First she dug a deep hole with her back flippers, spraying sand several feet to each side. When she was ready to lay the eggs, she positioned herself over the hole and her body rhythmically pulsed as she deposited egg after egg after egg. As she worked to lay the eggs, I thought about the tiny turtles who would emerge in a couple months, perhaps as many as a 100. I thought about the arduous work she was putting forth for the children she would never see, of which only a few would survive to adulthood. It took her about 20 minutes to deposit all the eggs, and then she began the long, laborious work of filling the hole and spreading the sand, leaves, and rock so that it would look as if she had never been there.

By the time she finally decided it was good enough, she was clearly exhausted. She was taking long rests between bursts of sand swishing, and each stroke of her flipper was weaker and slower than the one before. When she finally turned herself toward the sea, she mustered up the last bit of energy she had left to pull her heavy body through the soft, yielding sand down to the harder packed sand of the beach. She aimed herself at the sea and used her massive flippers to propel herself forward, but the sand was soft and loose and gave way under her weight. She would try and rest, try and rest again, but only moved an inch or two at best with each attempt. Each effort she made buried her a little deeper in the sand.

Watching her struggle to return to the sea, I felt terrible, knowing that her work had left her more tired and weak than it normally would have, because she had had to do the work of digging two holes instead of just one. I felt responsible for this. After several minutes of watching her struggle, Tomosi and I decided to lend a hand. We positioned ourselves behind her and pushed as hard as we could. She was so massive – we couldn’t move her even a bit. But then she started to move her flippers, trying to gain traction on the loose sand, and so as we pushed hard from behind she started moving forward. She slowly moved toward where the sand was harder and packed tightly. As soon as she made it there, she scrambled faster than I would have ever thought possible for a sea turtle to move on land. Tomosi and I scrambled to our feet, pointed our torches in her direction, and were just able to glimpse her as she slipped into the sea.

There are a few events that happen in one’s life that are truly magical, and this was one of them for me. As long as I can remember I’ve been in awe of these beautiful creatures and their remarkable birth stories. Truly a wonderful way to welcome in Christmas day!

In two months time, we will watch the turtle nursery carefully for the baby turtles to emerge – I will camp out there if necessary to get video to share with you all!

Best wishes to everyone reading for a joyous New Year full of reasons to smile, laugh, and celebrate! Much love from our family to yours!

Jenny

Cyclones, Coconuts, and Funeral - busy week!

We had our first, but not last we’re told, experience with a cyclone this week. After days and days of endless rain, we were alerted Sunday to Cyclone Mick’s approach. So Sunday night we buttoned down the island as best we could – roofs checked to be fastened tightly, tarps nailed over the open air windows of the vales and bures, valuables put up and away, boats pulled onto shore. Jimmy swam out to pull the billibilli in, but the current was so strong it pulled him and the billibilli down the shore – Poasa pulled them back in, but the next day the storm eventually broke the billibilli into pieces and scattered it to sea. We all slept as best we could, until Jimmy woke in a panic around 5 am. He remembered that he had forgotten to lower the wind turbine – luckily he, Jone, and Tomosi were able to lower it in a jiffy and no harm was done.

The ferocious winds and rain continued all day – the sea was too dangerous to take the boat to get the Fijian workers from Malau, so everyone had the day off. We got word early in the day that we were expected to just get the residual storms from the cyclone – the other side of Fiji was getting the direct hit. The biggest danger to us was the coconuts falling from the tall trees, so we tried to stay inside as much as possible. We had a cozy day in the Grand Bure, chatting, reading, crafting, napping, and playing games. The kids were hoping for a “Cyclone Day” - akin to a Snow Day back home when we would call off schooling, but no such luck on that! We found a nice dry space to work instead. Later in the day, Jimmy and the kids went swimming in the crazy huge waves – I could tell that I was missing out on a really good time from all the shrieks of laughter that drifted into the Grand Bure, where I was snuggled up with my book. Next time, I’ll be out in those waves too!

The next day was a big village clean up – coconut palms, tree limbs and debris was everywhere. But many hands make light work, and it was all done and the village was tidy and ready for Tui Mali when he arrived in the afternoon for sevusevu.

This week was a first on Vorovoro – we made 3 liters of coconut oil from Vorovoro coconuts. Kini, our kitchen chef, lead us in this adventure. I videotaped each step of the process and Lucas and Jimmy are going to put it together this weekend into a video that we will upload on the TW website. First we had to gather the coconuts - the ones that have begun to sprout are the best for oil, I found out. So the kids and I foraged through the jungle with a wheel barrow, gathering loads and loads of coconuts. Then comes the husking – Jimmy did that. He got about 25 done before a blister became to painful to do anymore. Then scraping – I did a bit, Ollie and Bethany did a bit, and then Nemani did A LOT! It is hard work, and requires a certain technique that we are still working to master. The Fijians can scrape 5 coconuts in the time I can scrape one half! Then it’s time to squeeze out the coconut milk. A tiny bit of water is added to the grated coconut, then it is placed by the handful into cloth (we used a clean, doubled up mosquito net) and squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed. Strong man hands are best for this job! Next, a coconut husk is put into the fire and burned, then placed into the coconut milk – this acts as a preservative. The coconut milk is then covered and left over night so the cream can rise to the top. In the morning, we scraped the coconut cream into a pot and boiled it until it became oil. It’s feels and smells delicious! We will use it for baking, frying, and to make a herbal bug repellent – Pupu combines various plants and herbs from the island with the oil and we put it on our skin to keep the mozzies and sand flies away. It is a lot of work with so few people working on it, but will be a great thing to do when the tribe is large and there are many people to help with the husking, scraping and squeezing. With sooooo many coconuts on Vorovoro, more than we could ever eat, it makes such good sense to make our own oil!

Jimmy traveled to Savusavu this week – a six hour round trip by bus– to retrieve some boxes that were sent to us for Christmas. For some reason they held them at the port of entry there and would not forward them on to Labasa, but it gave Jimmy a good reason to take the day off and travel a bit. The next time I am hoping that we can come with him and have an overnight – I hear the Savusavu is one of the most beautiful places on Vanua Levu.

Yesterday, Jimmy and I attended our first Fijian funeral. An old man from Nakawaqa died – Nakawaqa is one of the three villages on Mali, which is the island closest to Vorovoro. At low tide you can wade across. Vorovoro is considered a part of Mali – Tui Mali (the chief) is chief over all three villages on Mali, Vorovoro, and another village on the mainland, where many of the people from the island villages go to live when they need to live on the mainland for work or to send their children to secondary school. The funeral was a beautiful and moving experience. When someone from a village dies, the other villages come together to do all the preparation. They all bring food and woven mats (the mats are given at any important event in Fiji – the women spend their time throughout the year making the mats, and then when there is an important event, they are given as gifts), and do the labor of digging the grave, collecting the rocks for on top of the grave, and carrying the body to the gravesite. The women and men each have their separate roles. It is the women’s job to prepare and serve the food, as well as gather in the house of the deceased and sing and weep. The funeral process is several days – on the night before the actual funeral the women stay up all night singing and weeping. The men drink grog. For days and days. The night before the funeral, Jimmy went with Tui Mali to Nakawaqa to present the dalo (a root vegetable) from Vorovoro, and witnessed the tradition of each of the villages presenting a tabua (whale’s tooth) to Tui Mali accompanied by lots of Fijian chanting and ceremony that we hadn’t seen before. The purpose of that hasn’t been explained to us yet – so much of what we experience here we have to figure out as we go – just watch and observe, try our best to follow along and not do or say anything taboo, and eventually someone explains what is going on. There are some things that happen that don’t translate easily or clearly, and we are just left with a vague idea of what happened. After lots of grog and dinner (where Jimmy ate sea turtle intestines!), J came back to VV to sleep before heading back in the morning.

The next morning Jimmy and I rode over Nakawa qa with Tui Mali for the funeral. After a bit of grog, we were told it was time for breakfast – a huge breakfast – fish, fish, and more fish, bread, dalo, and tea. The breakfast was traditionally for the important men in the village and those men helping with the burial, but because I am a special guest I was invited too. It feels so strange to be the only woman at a looooong table of men, but I am told it would feel even more strange to sit and weep with the women. Then it was time to rest – we found a spot on a mat inside Tui Mali’s house (he has a house in each village) and rested and chatted until it was nearly time for the funeral to start.

When it was time for the funeral, the men carried the casket with a tapa cloth draped over it through the village and into the church. Everyone then followed it into the church, where a the funeral service took place. The church services I’ve been to in Fiji are a lot like the ones in the States, except everyone sits on the floor, the service is spoke in Fijian (of course), and they are much, much longer. Sometimes a service will last several hours. This one lasted maybe an hour and a half – both pastors spoke, Tui Mali spoke, and there were intervals of beautiful singing. When the service was over, we headed up to the gravesite – a rocky, slippery hike up the mountainside that even the old women did with ease. The place the old man was laid to rest is breathtaking – high on a hill, overlooking the sea with a view of Vanua Levu and Vorovoro. I can’t imagine a more beautiful place to spend enternity. They covered the casket with mats that the women had brought up earlier, and the casket was lowered into the grave. Everyone gathered around the grave and there was more singing. At the conclusion of the service, the old man’s family was weeping loudly at his grave – it was so emotional to watch. They clearly loved him very, very much. His wife is very sick and old and could not leave the house, but after the graveside service, I am told the women gather in the house and sing happy, joyful songs, to celebrate the life of the deceased and raise the spirits of his family. I didn’t get to witness this part though, because Jimmy and I had to eat lunch (more fish, turtle, cassava, dalo, pineapple, watermelon, tabua, juice – I was SO stuffed!) and then scoot back to Vorovoro to do payroll before the workers headed back to their villages.
Each week brings new experiences and challenges in our life here – we welcome them. This week was one of my favorite so far – a week of much excitement, new experiences, and laughter, as well as reflective time for J and I to remember special people close to our hearts that we have put to rest, just like the old man in Nakawaqa.

This week is Christmas preparation – we are ready to get the island decorated and do a Secret Santa exchange. Tui Mali and his family are joining us on the island on Christmas Day – looking forward to that. There is sure to be lots of grog, song, and laughter!

Merry Christmas to all from us! Blessings of peace and health to you and your families!

I'm a lucky girl!

Well, I know I’m a lucky girl for many reasons, but the reason I am writing about today is my Fijian birthday celebration – what a special day I had! A beautiful place, surrounded by beautiful people, a cake that was both gorgeous and delicious, songs sung in my honor, a breathtaking Frangi Pani salusalu made just for me, and gifts of mango fruit (and a new skirt!!) from my children, and all the grog I could drink – I just don’t know how a birthday could possibly get any better. And when I checked my email and Facebook, there were so many birthday wishes waiting for me! It was a day I will carry in my heart forever, I know.

Yes, I am most certainly a lucky, lucky girl!


On another note, I am really, really missing my camera these days. It's really like a piece of me is missing! It is looking good that it will be replaced through insurance, but will likely take a while. Ugh. In the meantime, we do have a little point and shoot camera that we have been using - I have some photos I am eager to share, but just need to get some time where there is a fast enough connection to upload them. Hoping to do that this week! We also have some great video to share - but need to download some software to make it compatible with our Mac before we can upload them. All in due time!

The kiddos have a busy social life these days - B & O had an overnight with some Fijian friends last weekend, and B & L are staying overnight tonight at Alexandra and Makenzie's house tonight, an Aussie family who owns the local sawmill in Labasa. They're house is a more Western set up than any we've seen here in Fiji - complete with an inground pool with a trampoline next to it (think diving board!), television with satellite, microwave, refrigerator. Bethie and Lucas have a lot of fun with the girls - I have to admit the pool with the trampoline looks like a lot of fun - I think I need to try that out!

Ollie has been as busy as ever with his Fijian life - the boy is CONSTANTLY collecting bait and cajoling a Fijian into taking him fishing. And whatever he catches, he asks that it is fried whole (the Fijian way!) and he eats it - head, tail, eyes and all.

It's been a busy, productive week on the island. The kitchen has got a fresh coat of paint, Jone (Jimmy's tattoo artist) came back to Vorovoro and is putting his talents to work by improving the look of things around the island with his artistic skills - I can't wait to post some pics of his work. Lots of cleaning up around the island, some new planting done around the new office in Tanoa Park, and the old breakfast table was repaired. I even scrubbed the compost toilet stalls, top to bottom. They *almost* sparkle now!

We also had a visit on Thursday from Chuck, Susie and their kiddos, along with visiting friends of theirs and their 4 children. It was so nice to see them again, and all the extra kids on the island is always fun.

The rainy season has officially arrived - haven't seen the sun in days now, and it rains constantly. Makes me feel very, very sleepy - I love to sleep to the sound of the rain on my tin roof! It's such good weather for snuggling up with a book and a nap! The downside is that everything, and everyone, is always wet. Drying clothes is nearly impossible - we just settle for slightly dampish. But the upside is unlimited showers - woohoo!

Planning to do some ornament making and Christmas preparation this week - it doesn't yet feel like Christmas at all here, unless you go into a shop in Labasa, where you are likely to see lots of tinsel and hear Christmas music blasting. There was even one of those HUGE inflated snowmen on the sidewalk today.

Hope everyone back home is happy and well! As always thanks for the notes and emails - keep 'em coming please! You have no idea how much we love hearing from you!

Love,

Jenny

Happy Monday!

I know it is still Sunday for most reading this, but here in Fiji it is Monday morning, the start of a new and exciting week for us. When the boat left the island at 6:20 am this morning to pick up Jone and Nemani for work this week, Lucas and I hitched a ride and then caught the bus into to town. So much less expensive than catching a taxi, though with our white skin, we attract a lot of looks and interest - not too many palagi ride the local buses. So here we are in town bright and early - I just downed a coffee so I am beginning to feel ready to tackle the list of errands I have before me!

It's going to be the busiest week on the island since we arrived - we've got several tribe members coming and going, and have a full agenda of projects to accomplish. The project was gifted with a generous donation this month, so we are utilizing it to offer up work to a few extra Fijian team members and get the village whipped into good shape. Lots of painting, building, and cleaning gonna happen on VV this week! It will be nice to have a busy island again!

The bat hunting is slow going - gonna take a while cull the numbers significantly, me thinks. The bat meat was, um, interesting. I've committed to being open to trying anything while I am living in Fiji, and I'm glad I did, but I can't say that it is high on my list of favorites! A bit gamey, to say the least!

Bethie and Ollie went to stay in Vuo (a village on the mainland) this weekend. Mana (Ollie's best buddy) was graduating from Kindergarten and his family were really eager for the kids to come - it is a pretty big celebration. Mana's grandma lives on Vorovoro with us, so they went in on Friday with here and attended the celebration, then went back to Mana's house and watched movies (the kids we so excited because they own a TV and DVD player!). They met up with Jimmy on Saturday and came back on the boat with him. They always have so much fun when they stay in the villages - they are treated like royalty and there are so many kids to play with. Mana and his family are coming to stay with their family on Vorovoro for the holiday season - it will be wonderful to have them around, and we are all very, very excited!

Time to get to work now! Happy birthdays to Anna, Basil, and Owen this past week! Love you all!

Jenny

Bats, bats, bats

We are at war on the island with bats – enormous, screeching, squealing, mango stealing fruit bats. They flock by the dozens in the mango tree outside our window each night, gorge themselves on the fruit and keep us awake all night with screeching and squealing so loud that it makes me miss the dog back home that barks all night outside my bedroom window – it seems like a lullaby in comparison! Not only that, but they cause the hard, unripe mangoes to rain onto our tin roof – it sounds like softballs raining from the sky!

With no natural predators on the island, the bats are way overpopulated – they strip the papaya, banana, and mango trees of their fruit each night. So we have opened bat season on the island to cull them down to more reasonable numbers. Jimmy and Nemani were up till 2 am last night hunting – Jimmy with a slingshot, and Nemani with a sharpened stick that he throws with the skill of an Olympic javelin athlete. The fruits of their night’s work, two bats, were simmering in a pot the kitchen when I left the island this morning. Yep, they are edible, and I hear quite tasty. After boiling, they are stripped of the meat on their hind end – that’s the meatiest part. So it is bat butt curry tonight - I sure hope they taste better than they smell, that’s for sure! I will let you know. And here’s to hoping that tonight’s hunting is far more successful, because at only 2 bats a night, we will be hunting for a looooong time before reducing the numbers enough to save some mangoes for us to eat.

Jimmy and the kids are with Tui Mali (the island chief) at the prize giving ceremony at the Mali school today – I believe that is the equivalent of awards day. It is the last week of school before their big break – 8 weeks. Looking forward to having more children around the island!

Have a great week! Moce mada!