We didn’t do Sevusevu yesterday as it was a Sunday. We went to the beach near the school and found a young lad called David who was very helpful. He told us he wasn’t at school because he was being home schooled! We found out later in the day because he had been naughty at school and kicked out. He looked very young for 16 but was very engaging with us and took us to the chief’s home so we could do our Sevusevu. The chief hobbled out on one leg with a beaming smile and performed the ceremony with David sitting in. Rowan asked the chief to interpret what he said while receiving the Cava and apparently it is a welcome to the village and good wishes to the country/village we come from. All very quaint and so friendly. It is a beautiful village with an incredible back drop. There are 5 clans in this village and 4 villages in the bay that all send their kids to the same school here in this village which has over 100 pupils with the majority boarding. We were befriended by an elder called Jonny (his Fijian name was too much for us), he invited us to come back in the afternoon as they have a charter boat that comes in every Monday afternoon who they put on a Cava, singing and dancing ceremony for. We had a little look around the very well kept village and went as far up as the houses go. They have a very smart little nursing clinic, with the nurses immaculately turned out.
David asked if he could visit the boat, so we took him back to PolePole with us and gave him a drink and a biscuit. He was thoroughly impressed, and wanted to look around everywhere, the fascinating thing was he was terrified of the trampoline and wouldn’t set foot on it even when Rowan demonstrated bouncing on it. I guess he cant swim very well. Rowan was delighted to have an audience for his new found toy, the working drone! Finally Rowan took him back to the beach and we said we would see him later at the ceremony.
Village on the left and school buildings on the right
The start of many drone photos I’m sure
Dramatic backdrop to the village
What a location for a school
You can see that getting to the beach requires careful navigation through the reef
The remains of the chief’s old house
David with Rowan on the main path in the village, definitely no vehicles here. Hats are disrespectful, so have to be removed for Sevusevu and sulus must be worn
The chief
An old style house with louvre windows!
Rowan in his sulu with David, wondering around the village
The village drum, calls everyone to attention, to church and various occasions. Some villages do a drum roll every morning at 6 am, so the kids know when to get to school
Close up of the drum
Shark’s teeth hanging on a door
Very picturesque village and so neat and tidy
David took a photo of this lovely shell he wanted me to have, I said I would just have a photo. The beach was littered with wonderful shells, I hope it remains that way
David coming to visit PolePole
Rowan had a snorkel before we went back into the village in the late afternoon and found the coral in really good shape, much better than at Kadavu. During the afternoon a small cruise ship arrived and plonked chairs and guests on the beach for the afternoon. David had told us that the village do not like it as they do not do Sevusevu and don’t contribute to the village much, so they are not invited to the ceremony!
The crew from the charter came in, they are on a 60 foot catamaran with 10 guests and room for two local staff. They were all elderly Americans on a weeks charter. It looked like it might be pretty cramped. We were taken around the village, visiting their only church, which is Methodist, and then the kids from the kindergarten put on a little show for us as a fund raiser which was very cute. The ladies had laid on a little craft market, so sad that the vast majority is Chinese tat and totally unappealing. I did find one lady had made some angel decorations out of the local grass and little cowrie shell heads, very crude but at least I managed to buy something.
Then we were invited into the village hall for the cava ceremony, lots of clapping and talking and everyone sharing from the same bowl. We have had it before, certainly not delicious, and with my strong antibiotics which I have to take on an empty stomach I opted out. The Americans lapped it all up. The singing and dancing afterwards was very impressive. It didn’t feel like they were being put on display like at the resorts, it felt pretty genuine and wonderful singing. We finally made it home just as it was getting dark.
Heading back into the village in the late afternoon, the light catching the mountain differently
Jonny next to Rowan with a disabled man who thoroughly enjoyed participating in the ceremony, plus French Patrick a solo sailor
This memorial commemorates the fact that in 1918 during the measles epidemic that wiped out half the total Fijian population, this village never lost a single person. Every Tuesday morning the drums call a member from every family in the village to give thanks to God for saving their village
Pawpaws and colourful buildings everywhere
The mountains bring welcome shade to the village
My purchases from the market. The stick is an instrument that is from their cannibal history, apparently for gouging out eyes or as one guy said for picking out the brains! This was a much better purchase than the Chinese tat
The kindergarten fund raising
Very cute dancing
This was the Sevusevu acceptance of the charter boat’s cava, the roots are wrapped in the newspaper bundles. I haven’t dared photograph our Sevusevu, but thought that this gives a good idea of what we have been listening to at our Sevusevu meetings
The cava ceremony, old wooden bowl with modern plastic on the side! Rowan said it was a much better tasting brew than the last lot we had. All wonderfully inclusive of the disabled man
Th cava being blessed or something along that line, I never managed to find out what the rope attached to the cava bowl with a shell at the end, was all about
Male dancers
The drummer was impressive
The guests included in the singing and dancing
Farewell song
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