Becoming Part Of A Fijian Village

Bula! What an epic week here on the stunning island of Viti Levu here in Fiji.

Our week began with our second day of service learning at Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park. Led by park rangers Vili and Justin, we hiked out to the beach. In an effort to help battle the changes posed by climate change, we constructed some driftwood teepees. Their purpose was to trap the blowing sand and allow dune plant species to grow. Mel got a big workout by carrying a huge log down the beach all by herself. Thankfully we got out of the heat for our next project, creating "tree huggers" around the trees in the dry land forest adjacent to the sand dunes. These scarecrow-looking figures at the base of the tree are made from sticks and leaves. They are an Indian tradition representing the people who would chain themselves to trees in order to save them from de-forestation. We had a competition to see who would make the best one. Kim and Chris' would have won if it hadn't been for Sarah's keen eye for detail, helping her group take the victory.

The rest of our week was spent in the the gorgeous village of Culanuku. This is the first real culture shock of our trip, so we arrived excited and a little nervous. We sat on the floor of the large meeting house, wearing our sulu (sarongs) that the Fijians adopted from the British in the 1800s. The village was all there eagerly awaiting the nights events. They had put together some salusalu (lei) to adorn us with. Our hosts welcomed us in Fijian, the elders spoke, and we addressed the village. To finish the formalities, we had a kava ceremony. Kava is a drink made from the powdered roots of the dried kava plant. Once each of us drank a coconut cup of kava, this officially meant we had been welcomed to the village. The earthy drink left the tounge feeling tingly, and is supposed to have a mild relaxing effect on our minds & bodies. The formalities were over and the music started. It had been many years since the village had hosted international visitors, so they were eager to dance with us into the wee hours of the morning.

Our meals were taken in the meeting hall, and we had an amazing smorgasbord of local dishes, containing many locally grown fruits and root crops along with some of the village's favorite dishes. There were no benches, seats or tables in the meeting hall so we would sit cross legged in front of our dining cloth. Some of us (cough* Chris and Kim) could feel our age. 

The whole village was excited to have us stay. The village kids especially, they were so friendly and would flock around us always. There were great hosts and loved showing us everything they got up to. After feeding the pigs, we got taken on a hike to the village tapioca plantation. We were shown how to pull out the roots, know as casava, which would be used in our future meals. Ruby had the knack of pulling out the entire root without snapping them. After our hike we had a rest down on the beach and the kids climbed ridiculously high into the coconut trees to harvest the choicest ones, which we opened. The coconut water was so refreshing, as was the fresh sugar cane which we got to snack on.

After lunch and a bit of a rest during the hottest part of the day, we went down to the beach and learned how to play touch rugby on the sand. Milan was a natural and scored a great try in the corner to give her team an edge. After getting hot and sweaty we got into the ocean and played volleyball and chicken wars until the sun was setting and we took a barrage of photos.

Sunday is a dedicated day of rest in Fiji, which usually consists of going to church, eating, playing games and doing crafts. We went to the village over the hill and attended a service at Lomary Catholic Church. It was a lovely service, especially the church choir who sang beautifully. The children were excited to show us their high school and elementary school on our walk back to the village.

Our restful afternoon consisted of learning a few crafts such as weaving fans and creating candied coconut desserts. We also practiced our song and dance that we wanted to perform for the village on the last night. It wasn't much of a surprise as most of the village came to watch us practice. Our evening was quite restful, playing a Fijian "dice" game which was similar to pool. Gigi and Iris had their hair restyled by the kids and looked amazing. 

On Monday we took a couple of boats out to the reef where we went snorkeling. The water was gorgeous and we saw some stunning varieties of coral. Bennett, Sarah and Jake were particularly interested in spear fishing, so a couple of the local guys took them to the outer reef and taught them how to shoot the spear gun. After lunch and another nap, we walked out to another part of the beach and spend a couple of hours playing in the water. The kids showed us how to swing on coconut leaves out into the water.

Monday was our last night in the village, so we had a closing ceremony where the school kids performed a few song and dances for us. We followed them with our own entertainment, singing "Build Me Up Buttercup" and dancing to the "Cha Cha Slide". Gracie and Babs took center stage afterwards with their version of "Go my own way" from High School Musical. Alyssa used her experience as a dance teacher to show kids a number of classic dance moves as we began a little dance party that lasted quite some time. Being our student leader for the week, Babs took the role of giving a thank you speech to the village, which she nailed. We said some sad goodbyes to all of the kids as they would be in school when we left the next day. We then wrapped up our evening with another kava ceremony.

After packing our belongings on Tuesday morning and having breakfast we were set to say a quick goodbye and head out. But guess what, all of the kids had ditched school to hang out with us a bit longer. The villagers had had created another set of salusalu for us to wear. They also gifted us many school rugby shirts, sulu, necklaces and many other parting gifts. We all shared our individual thank you to the villagers. The village came together and sang us their song which brought us to tears. We said goodbye to all of them and boarded our bus. They ran alongside the bus on our way out. It was a very emotional morning and many tears were flowing. A big thank you to our local guide Henry for organizing this village stay for us, and teaching us about the customs and culture we experienced. We will never forget it!

Our last 2 days has been spent resting up in Pacific Harbour and taking a lovely river tour up the Navua River, where we got to swim under a massive waterfall and tube back down the rapids. We are enjoying the rest now as our next week has an even longer village stay at Nasautoka village, so we are mentally preparing for more dance parties, hundreds of friendly children and some amazing Fijian hospitality.

Vinaka (thank you) for reading about our hectic week!

We can't wait to see what the next one has in store.