Vorovoro, ya gotta go there to get it, but trust me, GO!!! GO NOW! EVERYONE!

---

Ok, no its not on vanua levu, its a TEENY weeny snmall island off the coast of the northern main isalnd in fiji called vorvoro, and i SWEAR TO GOD it is the most anmzing, chammengin, HOT and clammy place i have ever been, all at once... Havin only spent 2 weeks there i felt like i was truly leavin a part of me behind; have now fallen in love with livin in a hut, usin compost loos, diggin holes in sandy soil an listeinin to the wisdom of a 70yr fijian elder with arthtritis in both knees, one elbow an a staunch refusal to NOT carve holes out of a giany rock face EVERY DAY afetr climbin a SERIOUSLY steep hill to get to it... Pupu i love you for all all time! The entire way of life is something i have never even witnessed or thought of before, but now i have i will never be the same as i was before... I realise i sound like i'm gonna seell all my worldy possessions an run off to fiji - an hey, maybe i will someday - but truly, what an inspiration!

So, after gettin there via 3 planes an a pretty mental taxi ride accompanied by the lovely Kesa, I arrive in the town of Labasa on the mainland, meet a few tribees an set off on the boat to the island... The ride was well cool! Its a teeny weeny boat that at some points ya do wonder the actual likelihood of makin it thru the trip, butof course it does, wirth Api an Jone on the case, boatmasters extraordinaire! Ten minutes an there it is, the amaizng vorvoro: green mountains, luscious forests, rocky outcrops an long sandy beaches... now THIS is more like it! Result! First impressions are a qierd thing, an what with the sum goin down, the nakceredness of the flights an the general, not quite sure what is goin on here vibes, its hard to explain my first thoughts... When i saw the camp coming into view i grinned liike a grinny wee grinmachine an i have to say, i realised what i'd been missing with the whole westernised countries so far plan... THIS is proper outback living! The hammocks an firepit are the first t come into view, followed by the HUGE Grand Bure, and the little vales for everyone to sleep in. Its proper bamboo-weaved panel walls on the grand bure, and the vales are half-walled wi bamboo then have BIG holes for the windaes, an no doors... No place in real old-school fiji has doors at all, so they modelled it around that idea. Its amazin how welcoming no doors really is! Nice idea! These guys have it SO right!

As the light faded away i got shown my vale by the lovely marrama Sophie, dumped ny stuff an joined the group for dinner... At first iwas a bit unsure what to expect: is this gonna be a big bunch of really skinny blonde english girls in grass skirts like on shipwrecked? will there be talk of celebs an gossip by the fire? hhmmmmm, just not sure yet...!

Then i actually meet the group and realise i could not have been ANY MORE WRONG! Grabbing some dinner an gettin a quick intro to some folk i realise there's alsorts here! Sotuh Africa, Canada, England, Netherlands, France, Germany... This is gonna be ace! Met up with alan, the dude who'd emailed an said he was gonna be on the island with his wind turbine an had asked me to help, which of course got a big huge yes, followed by the "i am a total distater area cltuz tho..." disclaimer. He was lovely an well keen toinvolve me with the trubine project, yey! like feelin like i'm akin some sorta difference, even if it is wee! And so the first night meetin folk, hangin by the fire, chattin an just feelin groovy about it all, went... Good start!

It was howvere the next day when i could REALLY take in what the island was all about... Arrivin in the evenin i hadn;'t had the chance to meet many of team fiji - the folk we're here to learn from an help out... The REAL reason we all come here! So, after the morning meeting i got the chief's tour, including the camp an team fiji's camp, the compost toilets, the beaches, the pig an chicken pens, the workshop an the grand bure an all the toher vales. The place is pretty big! And the buildings an environement in general is just inspirational! Hammocks lookij nto the beach, dinner tables overlookin the gardens an the beach, a non-walled open air kitchen, complete with the ever-grinning Va(everyon'es fijian mama!). Awesome! Really, what a beautifulplace! Sophe explained about the meetins in the mrning, the " put in as much as you want to" approach, you get what ya give, an all that! and some of the more technical bits such as ceremonies and sevu sevu an how to conduct a grog session (oh my god, yes its fun but URRGH! it tastes like muddy water...!) LOADS to take in, but really the best way to figure it out bein to go ahead an do it all i was keen to just get stuck in an help however i could...

It was a really good first day to have fully on the island: there were a few americans around an it was thanksgvin that day so as the fijians always cooked for the tribve, the tribe were cookin for the fijians instead... Spent the day gettin to know the tribees, esp my "mover an shakers" buddies Irina an Jemma, preppin dinner an then serving it up, finishin off with a HUGE and long grog session in the grnad bure.

Now, just to expand on the whole grog thing: its basically the plant cav's root, that is bashed in, made into a powder and the ceremonially mixed with water. There's a lot fo technical stuyff around how ya sit an what you do/say during the session, an altho the big chief Tui Male wasn't there, Sophie bein our cheif is still the boss, so she clalls the shots for it... gets first drink an all that. Or so i though! However, in true me stylee, i managed to inadvertently end up being the one who calls the shots... this would be on my FIRST FULL NIGHT HERE! Essentially, the chief sits top mat, her right hand man/wman next to her. RHM shouts "Talo!" t drink an start the ceremony whereine the "bilo" (halved cocnut shell the liquid is passed in) is passes around by the desugnated servers sitting around the ceremonial bowl... RHM also shouts"Dondo!" meaning stretch once the drinkin has gobne around everyone... This does not sound like a big deal... and that is probably normally true, but DO NOT FORGET that this time, it has to be ME who does it... Essentially sophe an i had been bletherin away an gettin on well, so i was sittin near her an chattin, then she actually INVITED me over a little, mer now knowing any different moving further up the mat... And nopw she decides to taell me i have just made muyslef the caller of the whole deal! OH HOLLEEEE things! What?! I don't wanna do that, I don't even know how to do that styuff yet! Basically the whole eveing was full of me clappin 3 tinmes, then shoutin talo an dondo, but THANK all that is thankeable for them both! only thanks to the wonder that is Pupu, and Tevita, both keepin me right an whosperin either word at the right time... Honestly! First night in an here we go already!

So the next few days we got down to gettin down to gettin stuff done... basically we're on fijitime here, which means there's a lot of TALK of doin stuff, an normally some action involvin some sort of decision, and then mornin tea, then more talks, lunch, slight action once more, but not too much - heat of the day anall that! - and then dinner, oh an after dinner!? Nah, that's grog/hangin at the fire/chillin with the guitar time... I LOVE IT!

We do have a meke performance this weekend for the toher island's local village - OH MY GOD!I DON"T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! WEEKEND?! ARE YOU KIDDING?! being the thoughts goin thru my head, so i mention this slight concern, and everyone loooks at me klike i'm an alien! Ok, i know, its no bother - sanga na lenga man! The meke is the traditional dance for this part of fiji: sit down meke, the generic one that we'll be doin - thank god! feet and arms an i'd really be in trouble!) ; spear mejke for the guys wantin to start a fight, an fan meke for the lassies wantin to get a little suttin suttin being the main three...

So, after our first meke class with the lovely (an pretty dang fine-lookin it has to be said!) Save, I'm UTTERLY confused an not even sure where my left an right are anymore... but i kinda like this stuff! We are no longer doin the fan AND the sit down meke - just the sit down, this decision of course comes after Save has seen me trying to work my arms and legs at the same time an wave a fan around whilst nearly takin out Anita's eye and the entire bamboo panel of the back walll... Didn't wanna say i told them so... Still, job done: sit down meke i can SURELY get to grips with...

As it turns out, I'm RUBBISH at it all, however in the typical vorvoroan way, the highly amused fijian ladies who have come in for a laugh are practically wettin themselves - but its not a laugh at, its a laugh with... Then i figure this is just like the whole experience, its as much about tryin it an showin you care as it is to get it right... the senga na lenga way: no worries! So i realise, this is TOTAL fun! An the more they laught, the more they LOVE you for all the mistakes an the individuality you bring to it... This place is good fro the soul! Now, don't get me wrong, i cannot in any way shape or from claim that i can actually DO it as of yet, but its pretty groovy learning an laughin! Al and i are the newbies at the meke, so we randomly find ourselves sneakin off to practise the meke an try to get better surreptitiously so we can impress everyone... except i have the memeory of a gnat an of course cannot recall ANY of the moves, so when we first go wrong we both just end up kinda lookin at each other in a HIGHLY amusing arms still mid-move stylee... Dang! I'm gonna get this thing!

And then, after a NUMBER of after dinner practises an tryin the patience of the saint like save, it just kinda gets easier... still not quite sure how my "bad remembering brain" managed to take it all in, but it did! Still makin a few mistakes an gettin the BIGGEST grins in the world from my fijian mama when i do (so now i kinda do em on purpose! hee hee!) Its pretty damn fun this meke stuff! Ooh, i could get righ into it...

In fact, i do, and i have. Like proper have... No longer do i stand in queues in airports bored out my brains an gettin impatient, i do a cheeky wee sit down meke in my head (and occasionally actually with my hands in small movements, in fact every time i end up doin some sorta move, ya cannae think meke an not do meke, it ain't right!). Its like some sort of fijian brain training or distraction technique, an it is just good for your soul! Like, really, no matter whwere ta are, what yer doin or wating aroudn for or tryin to sort out, one shot at the sit down mekes an the music fills your easr and your heart, an its all just better somehow! Properly just better. (This is up until the security people come over and ask where your "carer" is...) some people just don't understand!

So, the practisin done an the day is here: Lingu Levu day! woohoo! Off in the boats an away we go across the water to the neighbouring islands... one more meke run thru on the boat with the wonderful tevita an his wee kid (THE most gorgeous being in the whole world!) bein boat captains an laughin their asses off at us with our 123, 123, 12334566... an so ons. (yep, even the 3 year old despairs of our efforts, reassuring!) still, we get there all grins an laughs an its time. I'm ready! lets do this!

Then i remember this is fiji - we willbe in no rush to be doin anythin... so, after a SERIOUSLY strong cava session around the grog mat we all start minglini with the liocals and i chat with some of the local girls who go to the school (which is shut for the holidays - bollocks! really wanted to visit!). The people here are amazing, they are so friendly and so open about evryhting: they have little and theygive away all of it to the vistors here, it makes ya wanna just pick them up an hug them an never ever leave... I've never been anywhere like this! On a number of occasions i'm nearly in tears, and as the girls an boys run around with my shiny pink camera - somehpw amazed that i let them take it without coming afetr them an they fill my memory card with pics of their homes, families and churches, it dawns on me just how unbeleivably lucky i am to be here seeing this and takin part i it all. I feel very lucky today, I never want to leave this place! I look thru the pictures an realise they really are quite good, too! I tell the girls this an they smaile lookin embarassed an then they run off! What the...

OK, MEKE TIME! Oh pants! I forgot that bit... i get up set to go be an idiot for these lovely peple an then the WHOLE SCHOOL of local kids comes out in a big line, from 3 yr old toddlers the 17yr old girls taller than i am; adorned with leave around wrists and middles and grinning more than i thought it was possible for people to! Again the lucky feelin creeps in an i look away for a sec to compose myself only to meet eyes with the chief, which DOES NOT help... Man, this place is magical!

The music starts and they are all AMAZING at their mekes, and of course, their mekes are a SQUAGILLION times harder and longer than the one we're goin to do... and it is about a gazillion degrees today. Oh man, this is hardcore fiji! They all look lovely covered in leaves an smiles an jiggin away but a slight concern as to how good it is to look worse than a 3 yr old tryin to do a dance that is easier than theirs actually is, wheher yer from here or not is creepin up on me... Still, who cares, we're gonna try!

Then, we do: its our go! So, they file off in a line an we file off round the croner to a big building, oh goo, they're gonna just cook an eat us instead of majin us meke, that's a much bloody better idea! But no, they're gonna COVER us with as many leaves as is humanly possib;e to get onto a person. i mean, SERIOUSLY! First up, I'm already so hot i may collapse, second up we gotta dio this in direct sun, third up i can't exactly see anything with this amount of, don't get me wriong lovingly prepared and placed around us, foliage...! But what can ya do? Ever been faced with a grinning 6 yr old fijian child trying to cover every skin coloured part of you with leaves? It ain't easy to say no to, i'll tekll ya that much! So, with leaves around our wrists, wiast, necks ,an pretty much any other place exposed, we all waddle out in a line, lookin like a bunch of lost cartoon charaters, but still kinda nervous and still kinda just glad to even be here... Bring it on!

I'm already excited an nervous an just kinda freaked out when jim tells me that i'm shoutin mejke for number 2! oh good, just what i need to have to shout before i make a total eejit of maself, cherrs jimbob! *(altho secretly i'm chuffed at the invitartion, never really had too many problems shouting, lets face it...!)

So, we go out into the bakin heat na sit in front of a sea of beaming expectant happy faces and the music starts... here we go! Number one, now that one's okay, by 3 i'll not be too hotm, but onwe i can handle... this is what i'm thinking as everyone elses starts an i just keep clapping! Oh pish, i missed the beginning! I manage to catchup by keepin a sneaky eye on jim bob top my right an i'm figurin, hey this is all groovy! when i get a GIANY handful of talcum powder right in the face! EH!? I was JUST about hangin in an recoverin when about 6 bighhappy fijian women come runnin over to us an starting wi jim (right next to me!) cover us all in powder and sprays and laugh an tickle us and just generally make it all seem a bit mreo mental than it al;ready was... WELL, as ya can no doubt imagine, my already dubious grasp on the order of th moves had WELL AN TRULY left me by the time the powderin was over an the "death star, death stra, chop chop, stab!" jim was chanting to keep himslef right threw me even more - so, i just kinda looked around... cuaght the eyes of the girls form school an they held up 4 fingers, ok doin number 4 again! Nice one girls! Got back on track an managed pretty well for a while, then i just started to PROPER love it! seriously, this stuff is ace! No one even cares if ya get it wrong! I've never (only vaguely as the talcum powder was now abstructing my view...)seen so many smilin faces an hyper kids an happy people! That's it, i wanna be fijian!... So we meke'ed on an then, wow, it was done already! I felt a bit bummed an we were just about to stand up when somone in the village shouted "meke!" again... an now we have to do it all over agin! YEEEEY! THIS time i got it ALL right, amazing! , an now i TOTALLY understand, its not the perfect moves, its the smiles an the laughter they want out of you here, nothing more (nae wonder they love me then! 😉)

We all go back an sit down, powder covered, hopt as, smily an kinda nackered an enjoy some more grog an chat an smily time before having a HUGE meal of localy vergetables and fresh-caught fish and newly erm, "prepared" chicken. Yum! I ate loads, mainly because i LOVE the ffod here, but it also doesn't help to sit next to one of the vorovoro town elders Poasa when ya eat, he keeps insisting ya have more an tp say no is an offense, seriously i though he was gonna make me eat the tablecloth at one point! Amazing, all this food an the HOURS it must have taken to make... and its all just for us to share with them one of their special days. Truly a one off experience!

We sat with the villagers for a bit longer an i told the girls i'd return someday an come see them in school, maybe ecven help out, so they walked up to our boats an shouted our neames as we paddled back out to vorvoro - man, the pure happiness an genuine care in these people is like nothing on earth! i was nearly in tears just leaving there! and i am SO coming back to help out in the school sometime next year! DEFO!

So, with the big meke seesion over its back to the gettin ready to get ready to talk about gettin things ready to do something this wekk... actually, it really is. This week we sort the wind turbine for team fiji's village to give them wind-powered electricity, woohhoooo! AND i get to be part of that WWOOOOOHHOOOOOOO! (At this point in time i will reassure you that i had already told alan, the project leader, that neither could i count nor be trusted with heavy machinery or anythin particularly technical or requiring a staedy hand, so don't worry) I got put in chrage of the hole diggers! GO THE HOLE DIGGERSSS!

The first job i got tho was tryin to help alan square 15.6; NOW this sounds wuite straightforward, an you'd think what wi him bein an ENGINEER he may be able to do these thing, and that he would understand as i cannot actually recall the times table past 6 i am HIGHLY HIGHLY unlikely to be able to do that sorta crap! But no, we sit, an we try... an we sit some more... an some more... then i suggest we go thru the meke, an he fuinally buggers off tio find someone who can do their math! So, i wrap my legs in my sulu an cover my shoulder swith my oh so fetching UTTERLY MANKY nevuis bungy jump t-shirt that is now a little on the funky side: hey, how clean can it get when ya wash it in the sea... plus, it is kinda humid here, an i'm doin stuff, man! Its just a work shirt now, ok? So, off i go stinky shirt an (FAR TOO HOT!) sulu'ed up to the max into the team fiji camp to dig me some holes...

An it is great fun! Manage to dig a fair few, an actually its jkinda fun, too! At first i was worried that Samosa an Poasa the town elders may not approve of girls doin physical labour, but as alan pointed out, cos i'm a girl they think we'rte spyin on them an so they actually do stuff when i'm around instead of just sittin talkin about it - just my presebnce there gets the thing movin at 3 times the speed it did before, apprently...(stuill not sold on that one mind you, al...!) So, dug a few holes, AND filled em with pebbles, whilst enertaining the kids who's main joy in life is hangin out of the frangipani tree - a tree that will forver be fiji to me now - and stickin flowers in the girls' hair whilst tying it in knots, awwwww, thanks guys! (wasn't bad enough that my hair's started dreddin itself the amoutnt of crap that's in it... not it really is TIED in KNOTS!)

But seriously, over the course of the week we get LOADS done an actually manage to bring the boys form linga levu over an show them some stuff so that they can help wioth the (hopefully!) next one's construction - now THAT was ace fun! I got to be a techhie teacher for a day! Move over Mr Pearson, you'd be so proud! Not that i actually understood what alan told me an i then put into teacher speak an told the boys, but they did it, an they did it right... maybe i'm not quite over the techin thing just yet, then... It was SO cool to see them all sittin weaving the maetal cable together an attachin the strengtheners an douin it for themselves... Likin the passin on the knowledge vibe again! Lovely! AND they did a FAB job!

So much so that for my last full day we got to do a rum thru raising of the poles...! YEEEEY! This is perhaps a good time to explain the unfortunate coincidence of an australian tv crew makin a documnetary decideng on today as the "on location" day; i.e. for the most part there was a camera all over the place, and altho they were cool guys, i was NOT impressed at the prospect of my now capable of independet standin it is so manky t-shirted red-faced vision of beauty being on tv! and, OF COURSE! it was when we were haulin shit around for the wind turbine that they wanted to film us... its good tv. Aye matey, up until ya lose all yer viewers! So, it was an awesome awesom thing to see our efforts actually mean something here on theisland, an i just got on with it an ignored the cameras, until we needed an extra pair of hands to a yelled at the preseneter to grab a cable! Nice one, em... that was the start of the embarassin bit...

Turns out in their astute observations over the day they noticed i was a little enthsiastic about the wind turbine project... so they chose to interview me for the show. YEP, what am i wearing??? You guessed it, the LOVELY truly most mankiest EVER t shirt ya could find, a sulu that smells like somethin has died in it, an a red face from the humidity plus hauling... and NOW they wanna interview me! (ALSO, it had to be a country i'm GOING TO, rahter than one i don't have any experience of so don;'t have to care, didn't it?!)

They'd also figuredi was quite emotional about my last day, an quite enthusiastic about the project as a whole, so after the wind turbine interview, they joked i may have a slightly more prominent riole than they'd figured, makes good tv after all...! OH MO GOD! They were there for the goodbye ceremonies at sevu sevu, including when we did our meke an i got right into the fun side rahter than the remeberin the moves side an leavi the gardender laughed so hard he nearly collapsed... an they were there when i had to SERIOUSLY fight back the tears when sayin goodbye to tui male a steve presnted a sevu sevu saying thanks... it was a HARD HARD day! Its crazy how close to people you get here! really! No matter what happens physically this place livesin your heart! Its amazing!

Oh, and if this does tempt you, WHICH IT SHOULD, then do the garden tour leavi does, too... we went thru all the gardens an i helped him water some of them a few times, he told us hopw to grow some fijian styuff, an took us to see the dog sstona, a big stone that looks like a dog, an a cave wi baby swallows livin in it! It was a brilliant day, I miss Leavi! He is one of the guitarysingery group who end up at grog sessions to the bitter end and he has the biggest mosrt sincere grin you've ever seen... too too cool!

So, the last grog seesion with everyone: pupu, the legendary elder! Poasa, Leavi, the tribe, Tale, tevita, save... all sobngs an smiles an ocassional "don't wanna go!" thoughts... but generally good times. Good way to end on the memory of it!

Went off first thing the next day, an as hard as it was to go thru the isalei (leavin song an cenermony) it was lessened by the knowledge that i WILL be back here! I said good bye to everyone an was SO okay, up until pupui came over an just looked at me an he said it himself "you'll be back." OH MY GOD! I have to go RIGHT NOW! so of course it was tears an snotters time, but as the man said i'll be back an I will, next year during my work visa in oz time, I'm comin back to the school and to help in some projects for a few months, not just weeks, its not enough! no time is ever enough here!

---