Vidawa, Koro ni Yalo

Lavena point as seen from Vidawa

Considering the pace of my day to day life in Vidawa, I find it hard to believe I’m trying to figure out a way to fit the events of the last month into a blog entry that won’t run on forever.  The small, strange, village that is Vidawa is beginning to feel more like home but in a village that even the locals call koro ni yalo, (ghost town) settling in is a relative term, since not even the residents seem very established here. 

At the beginning of the month (August) my ICCP, (Initial Community Contact Person), Ana Maria and her husband Ali Phil went to their son’s rugby game on the adjacent island of Vanua Levu.  Ana Maria said she’d be back after the weekend and in time for my site visit from Peace Corps staff on the coming Tuesday,  she hasn’t returned since.  I was surprised when she wasn’t back for the site visit from Peace Corps staff, since she was the one who had requested a volunteer in the village, but was even more surprised when she and her family remained absent for weeks to come.  They aren’t missing, they’re staying with family in a village on the other side of the island, and I sometimes bump into their daughter Alisse when I’m in Naqara.  I was surprised by Ana Maria and her family’s unexpected, unexplained, prolonged absence, they had been pillars of support and very helpful to me.  Up until recently I never inquired directly as to if they were ever coming back.

  I remember when my group of volunteers was in Nadave at the ICCP Conference during our final days of training before being sent to our permanent sites; it was the day we first met our contacts in the villages, we were all a bit nervous.  A few volunteers were instantly faced with ICCP dilemmas, one person had a clueless 16 year old girl show up as his ICCP.  She came in lieu of the actual ICCP for that village who had died several months prior.  The volunteer who faced this dilemma seemed a bit distressed, he said something funny like, “My ICCP is dead and they sent this 16 year old girl, who knows if these people even want me there.”  I was outwardly sympathetic but inwardly laughing, how couldn’t you, it was funny.  That was the most extreme case of ICCP mishaps but there were several others.  Who knew I would soon be faced with a disappearing ICCP and a village whose residents all seemed to have cameo roles and no permanent cast.  As I understand it the process a village must go through to request a volunteer is lengthy and time consuming but Fiji is Fiji and best laid plans are nothing when pitted against embedded local culture.

The village was particularly empty for my Peace Corps site visit.  There had been a funeral on the other side of the island for a former Vidawa resident, almost all the village had attended, and most had stayed through the following day.  The funeral was for Matea’s (the man who died last month) sister, she too suffered from bad health and diabetes.  The Peace Corps Fiji Country Director (head person) came as did a member of the Fijian staff who’s in charge of the business volunteer program.  The Country Director was eager to talk to people in the village, particularly my ICCP and the village Turaga ni Koro (elected village leader) Beni.  I explained that my ICCP was missing and that the rest of the village still hadn’t returned from a funeral.  There definitely seemed to be some concern expressed due the absence of residents in my village and the majority of the visit was spent discussing my well being, potential projects, and whether or not I felt I could be productive.

Vakasigalevu (lunch)

I don’t want to paint too gloomy of a picture, there does seem to be meaningful work available in both Vidawa and the surrounding villages.  Also, even though there aren’t a lot of people here on a regular basis, there are always some present and most are quick to have me over to drink some yaqona, take me to an adjacent village to play touch rugby, watch Filipino soaps operas or some other crap I would never touch in the States on DVD, or bring me an unsolicited meal.  At the last monthly village meeting, I announced that I would be interested in hearing about individual project ideas, rather than the village sized projects which had already been presented to me (the Rainforest Hike, financial management classes).  The group at the village meeting was small but seemed enthusiastic.  I posted a sheet of paper on the wall of the community hall with two columns, one for names the other project ideas.  A few were quick to write their names but no project idea saying they would come to my house to discuss their project, others seemed not to understand the concept I had explained.  Fijians can be a bit flakey (some not all) and I wondered how many people would actually show up to discuss their ideas.

 Three people had signed my sheet of paper, one showed, it was Asaeli.  Asaeli lives in a small settlement at the top of the hill called Villa Maria.  Villa Maria is technically part of Vidawa and is composed of about five houses along the road at the top of the hill which Vidawa is located at the bottom of.  Asaeli is in his early to mid thirties, he’s clean cut, and lives in a small house composed of sheet metal with his wife and two young children.  He was interested in starting a small business to provide extra income to support his family.  Asaeli is currently making $50 a week selling dalo he grows on the small farm in his yard, this is he and his family’s only source of income.  Dalo is a foul root crop incessant in Fiji and they it eat constantly.  It is very bland and is easiest described as a raw potato.  It’s cooked a variety of different ways, fried is somewhat acceptable.

 Asaeli sat down on the ibe (a traditional Fijian mat, woven from local leaves and grasses) on the floor of my house and we began to talk about ideas.  He had a few different ideas, to expand his dalo farm, to start growing yaqona, to start a chicken farm, or to start raising pigs.  I’m no expert on any of these matters, I know a little though.  Dalo is one of the easiest crops to grow, reaching maturity in about 7 months from the time it is planted.  Yaqona is probably the most profitable, it is technically classified as a narcotic I believe, but it takes three years for a yaqona plant to mature to the point where its root can be ground into a powder and then diluted into a large bowl of water called a tanoa for drinking.  To be successful in yaqona you also need redundancy in your crops so once you harvest one crop you have others at or approaching maturity to take its place.  Pig and chicken farms are common, every village has pigs and chickens, and I really didn’t know enough about this to give an opinion.  The one thing I did recognize as a common denominator in all of Asaeli’s ideas was they were all the same things that everyone else is already doing and with the exception of those with large farms most are barely getting by in these trades. 

My house, there is a large window by the bed to those who were wondering

I shared my concerns regarding these factors with Asaeli and we continued to think quietly.  I think it was Asaeli who first said, “Do you think I could make money selling ibes or other Fijian crafts?”  The idea had merit, a lot of it.  Taveuni has a steady stream of tourists and surprisingly I see very little if any authentic Fijian crafts for sale, I don’t think the locals even realize such a market exists.  Furthermore, Asaeli’s house is on the side of the road (there is only one main road on Taveuni) and is on the way to Taveuni’s most popular tourist attractions Bouma Falls and The Lavena Coastal Walk (where the other Peace Corps Volunteer on the island is).  Local village women could make ibes (mats), iris (hand fans also woven from grass), salusalus (like a lei), etc. and then Asaeli could either buy them or sell them on consignment from a stand in his yard.  The idea was simple but exciting, I walked up the hill to Asaeli’s house to scope out the potential site, it was a perfect location and I wasn’t up there for more than 20 minutes and two minivans full of kaivalagi (white people) drove past, on their way to Bouma Falls or Lavena.  Asaeli’s potential project is one of the most exciting to me, the simplicity of it, and the possibly creating some jobs in the village.  I intend to babysit this one a bit and hope it comes to fruition.

Yaqona being served from a tanoa

 This isn’t the only project that has been presented to me however, and the more people I talk to in the village and the surrounding area the more things are brought to my attention.  Asaeli’s settlement, Villa Maria, doesn’t benefit from Vidawa’s water supply instead they are on a bucket system drawing water from an open, unclean well.  The previous Peace Corps Volunteer who stayed in Waitabu, the village just north of Vidawa, helped Villa Maria submit a grant request to the Fiji Water Foundation ( a division of Fiji Bottled Water) to help secure a better water supply.  I’ve spoken to Fiji Water and supposedly a decision will be made at a board meeting in early September, I’m crossing my fingers, the locals are praying and asking me about it constantly. 

 I’ve had a few good meetings with Beni (village Turaga ni Koro) which have given me a better understanding of Vidawa and what should be attempted to be accomplished while I’m here.  I was surprised to hear that Beni’s primary concern was water supply.  Vidawa has running water to all houses from a clean underground source.  The problem lies in future development it seems.  Apparently a few people from the neighboring village of Korovou are already in the process of building houses on and around the existing water supply.  The Ministry of Health has already declared the proximity of the houses to the water supply will contaminate the source and make the water unsuitable for drinking.  I haven’t delved deep into this issue as of yet but apparently there is no way to stop the building of these houses. 

Alisse (not Ana Maria's daughter) and her niece Gabby, happy Vidawa kids

 Another project Beni mentioned was a possible solar panel system for the village.  The village is currently considering a solar system from the Ministry of Energy that would cost $50 per household initially then cost $14 per household monthly for the next 9-10 years, I assume this is financing.  I haven’t looked into whether or not this pricing is competitive but the immediate red flag is this provides for lights only and does not provide for power to outlets or appliances, apparently each household would need an inverter to fully utilize solar power. 

 There are some other smaller projects that seemed doable with quality village fundraising.  The community hall / church has never been completed, it has no windows and the walls and floor are still unfinished concrete.  The road leading to the villager’s farms on the other side of the island is in such bad shape that cabs charge extra to travel on it, thus taking away from the already strained profitability of village farming operations.  Village fundraising is currently limited to the monthly fundraising meeting.  At the meeting everyone in attendance, last month there were a lot of no shows, contributes anywhere from 2-5 dollars depending on the size of their family.  These meetings usually raise anywhere from 30-40 dollars.  The money is usually spent on gasoline used for the weed whackers during village clean up week, which is the third week of every month. 

 Of course the biggest potential village money maker in my opinion is the Vidawa Rainforest Hike, I’ve done most the touristy stuff in the immediate area at this point and none of it has anything on the Vidawa Hike once a few tweaks are made.  I had a meeting with a village leader of Korovou regarding a water project they want to attempt and while I was there I asked him a few questions about his village’s highly successful tourist attraction Bouma Falls.  On the slowest days Bouma Falls usually has twenty visitors and all of them drive right by Vidawa to get there.  It seems the key to Bouma’s success is accessibility; it’s a quick and easy ten minute walk to a dramatic waterfall where you can swim.  The fact that the village is much more behind the project with staff that are assigned daily shifts rather than the current on call nature of the Vidawa Hike is also a factor.  There are currently rumors of shake ups in management of the Vidawa Hike, family hierarchy type stuff, and until all that is settled I’m not getting too involved in restructuring the hike.

The Vidawa Bure

 A quick and easy village fundraiser in my opinion would be the traditional Fijian Bure built by the road at the front of the village.  Ana Maria was telling me its original purpose, I forget what the purpose was, but at the moment it’s just an empty bure sitting by the road in a large patch of grass.  When I’m waiting for the bus I always see tourist vans slow down for a look when passing the bure and I suspect they’d probably like to get out, get a closer look, and have their picture taken in front of it.  It would be very easy to put a sign on the road saying Traditional Fijian Bure.  We could either find someone to lead a tour or even easier have a board with information about the bure and its historical significance, the board could also explain that funds collected from the bure are used to fund village projects and we could put up a secure donation box with suggested donation amounts.  I told this idea to Beni and he seemed very receptive.  I had a lot of momentum going in my talks with Beni, then he left with his wife to camp on the other side of the island where he would tend to his farm for a couple of weeks.  He borrowed some duct tape to patch up his tent and I haven’t seen him since.

My cook's kitchen

While I wait to see what village projects come to fruition I have started undertaking some personal improvement projects.  I cracked the Peace Corps Fiji issued cookbook, Dalo Happens, a cleverly titled publication referencing the foul root crop, and began to open my eyes to the world beyond the canned soups and rice I usually make for myself.  Of course cooking without the benefit of electricity is a challenge but there are a few time tested Peace Corps tricks to help.  For instance, butter and cheese will stay good for a few weeks if placed in a small basin of water and eggs in Fiji will stay good for several weeks without refrigeration.  I went to the store to stock up on supplies and cooking is a new hobby.  I also cleared some land by my house to start a fruit and vegetable garden, after all Taveuni is the Garden Island, and I think I’ll buy a spear gun when I’m in Suva.  By the time this is all over I hope to be largely self sufficient and able to live off the land and natural resources, much like my Fijian counterparts.

Crepes with fresh papaya

 Last week I heard Ana Maria’s son Pedro (15) and her daughter Alisse (21) would be in Waitabu, the neighboring village to the north, for a birthday party.  They met me at their parent’s long vacant house and we walked to the party, it was someone’s 21^st birthday, significant in Fiji because it marks the passage into adulthood.  The party was fun, there were speeches, fanfare, plenty of food, and I drank some yaqona.  I left the party around 10:30 with Alisse and her boyfriend and we walked back to Vidawa along the beach.  I had never directly asked why her family had been gone for so long, in a lot of ways I didn’t mind.  Before leaving they gave me access to their house and I usually go over there to do dishes since they have a sink, or I will sometimes buy diesel and fire up the generator.  Still, the question nagged, their disappearance was so out of character.  Alisse’s a sharp, fun girl, sometimes she and her friends will meet me for drinks at Tramonto, and I can usually talk to her very casually.  “So are your parents ever coming back?”  I asked.  Alisse answered in typical Fijian English when explaining something, “You see, it’s like this.  The mataqali are giving them a hard time about their land.  My dad’s mom is from Vidawa but not his father.  So there is some dispute as to whether or not the land their house is built is actually theirs.” 

 I’m not going to pretend to completely understand the mataqali or the practices within the traditional Fijian family system.  A mataqali (mot-an-goli) can most easily be described as an extended family.  Vidawa is small, so there is only one mataqali within the village, the Lekutu, this also means almost everyone in the village is related in one form or another.  Mataqali sometimes remind me of Italian crime families, not because they are criminals, but because of the hierarchy and structures found within a single family.  In most villages there are multiple mataqali and there are power rankings of each within the village.  I’ve come to admire many aspects of the mataqali system, in many ways this system is what enables Fijians to live comfortably (relatively speaking) with little to no money.  All mataqali possess large pieces of land, when younger members of the mataqali family reach an age of independence they are given a piece of land for their house and in a farming village like Vidawa, a plot of land to farm on.  Of course the downside to this is living next to either your immediate family or in-laws for life, but family is a large part of Fijian culture and they don’t seem to mind.  Fijian villages are essentially a man’s world so family ties to a male far exceed that of family ties to a female.  I didn’t get into any great detail with Alisse and basically left it to her explanation although she seemed upset by the events transpiring. 

 I like Ana Maria’s family, they have been very good to me, and I have no doubt that some of the people in the village I am now befriending are likely in some way playing a role in their discontentment.  This puts me in an awkward position but with as short of a time as I’ve been here, and as little as I know, I’m not going to get involved in any village politics.  I doubt the events that are transpiring came out of the nowhere.  I recently visited Ana Maria and her husband Ali Phil at her parent’s house on the other side of the island.  Upon seeing them I said “Iko a lako ia sega ni lesu mai.”  (You left but never came back)  They laughed and seemed impressed by the progression of my Fijian (still very limited).  Ana Maria and Ali Phil seemed in good spirits, as usual they treated me very well and apologized for being gone for so long.  They made no mention of what Alisse told me and I didn’t bring the subject up. 

Coffin wrapped in an ibe

 In other news my backyard, aka the village cemetery, got a new deposit, Mini’s aunt died.  Mini has one of the other generators in the village and his house is the best place to go in the evening if you want to watch Filipino soap operas.  Apparently Mini’s aunt was suddenly unable to speak and was taken to the hospital never to return.  I hear there is talk about possible witchcraft being practiced regarding the incident.  I’m trying to stay on top

This many people in Vidawa can only mean one thing

of this, I don’t want to labeled as a witch.  Everyone is still as friendly as ever though, so I’m not too worried.  I’m going to Suva twice in September, once for a three day conference, and then again at the end of September for EST (Early Service Training), which is where my entire group reconvenes for several weeks to discuss what we learned in the village and start putting together plans for project implementation.  Now more than ever variety is the spice of my life and I welcome a trip to anywhere, to do anything, if for no other reason than to break the monotony.  Better yet, I get to fly to Suva avoiding the lengthy boat ride I spoke of in an earlier post.  Seeing that I’ve just started page eleven of a double spaced Word document I’ve again failed at being concise but I guess if I keep blog entries monthly the length is justified.  I didn’t cover everything I wanted to say and there were a few other people from the village I wanted to introduce into the blog but it will have to wait.  The odd thing is in real time my life here seems very uneventful and time often stands still.  I spend a lot of time reading, going on walks, sitting on the beach, staring at walls, etc. but when looking back at a short period of time in hindsight I guess interesting things are happening after all.