We jumped up refreshed after a good
nights sleep and arranged with Scott-Free to go ashore after breakfast
to offer sevusevu to the senior chief of the island and also of the primary
village of Moana-i-Cake, Fulaga. We left the dinghies on the small beach and
began the twenty minute walk to the village along the well
kept path. Bear and Steve both looked the part
in their sulas and shirts, Bear is seen clutching his bunch of yoqona or kava to
hand over at the appropriate time. On we
went.
Geography: it
covers an area of 18.5 square kilometres. It has a maximum elevation of 79
metres. The limestone belongs to the Koroqara Limestone (Tokalau Limestone
Group) and is probably Late Miocene in age. In form it is a basin which has been
breached in the north, flooding the interior, which has many islets and rocks.
The island thus has this unique, beautiful lagoon that adequately supplies the
inhabitants with different varieties of fish and sea shells. There are three
terrace levels, two with maximum elevations 55 m and 40 m, the third being
lower. There is an elevated notch 2 m above mean sea
level.
Demographics:
There are three villages, Muanaicake, Muanaira and Naividamu. Total population
was almost 600 in the middle 20th century but is now less than 400, due to
migration to the mainland for secondary school education for children, and
employment for parents.
In
Tradition: The people are
traditional carvers, skilled in the making of outrigger canoes and 'tanoa' (or
'kumete' in their dialect) which are wooden bowls carved out of local hardwood
and used in formal and informal Yaqona Ceremonies and social gatherings across
Fiji.
Along the way we stopped by a baby frangipani tree with a single
bloom.
A wonderful burl on a tree, a stilted palm
and a baby poinsettia. Honeyeaters and kingfishers
along with swifts and finches kept the walk interesting. We saw small clouds of
black butterflies with white dots but all attempts by Bear with his expert
whispering failed to get them to sit and pose as a
group.
We saw a beach and took a small detour,
it would be a scene from Robinson Crusoe had there not been all the seaweed and
coconut leaves but we posed. Maj and skipper, aka
Chris and Steve posed too. I went over to talk to
this chap on the beach as it was an unusual sight, then remembered my current
mistrust of bideys since my last encounter bit
me.........and I bear the scar........forever.
On we went, more
coconut trees along this stretch of the path. Then our first house to our
left – we later found out was where single men live a ‘dormitory lifestyle’.
Next was the health centre complete with fun sign and
next door the phone box. We chatted to a couple of
villagers and told them we would like to offer sevusevu and were soon scooped up
by a machete wielding Sokei. He had been en route to do some tree felling but
was happy to become our unofficial guide.
We entered the village proper, I
randomly took this picture of a typical house, not
knowing this would be our family home once we had been ‘adopted’. This is the
way here, as soon as the chief gave us his blessing to be part of his world –
protection, and permission for anchoring, fishing, swimming and visiting, we
would be allotted a family.
Sokei nipped into his house to quickly
put a sarong over his shorts, we were bade to leave our shoes outside and then
we were presented to Chief Daniel, a sprightly and
friendly eighty nine year old. He said “Bula, Vinaka” and he gestured to sit on
the mat facing him. To his right was Moses, an elder responsible for the guest
book and taking FJ$50 from each visiting boat – this goes toward the village
funds. Sokei took our bundles of kava and in Fijian welcomed us, asked the chief
our permissions and Chief Daniel responded. We then asked Sokei if there were
any restrictions we should observe and the only taboos were a couple of places
we should not fish but the main thing is to respect the environment. I couldn’t
help my mind wandering as I listened, feet tucked to the side, hand getting pins
and needles that Chief’s dad – probably, and the chief’s grandpa – definitely,
would have been preparing to eat us.......... We have since spoken to various
islanders about this very topic, it is in their past, just as we have dodgy
doings in our history but it does make for interesting reading and there are
many graphic stories on the web. No kava was offered to us, I for one was not
unhappy and thought ‘got away with that’.
Ceremony and photo shoot over,
Sokei took us on a tour of the village
beginning with this fish
smoker.
The Church dominates the
centre of the village and we would learn that if an medical emergency occurred
with enough time for treatment, a helicopter from the mainland can land here.
Clearly, there are accidents where there is no time and Sarah the nurse just has
to do her best.
Next stop was at one of three wood
working areas. Despite basic tools the men we
watched had all ten fingers and the finished kava bowls, turtles with lids and
all manner of other items were smooth, polished and rather fine. Woodcarving is
the islanders main source of income. The chap on the right, Billy, we would be formally introduced to as the
chiefs-sisters-daughters-husband, and therefore part of our adoptive
family.
Another example of a village
house, there are fifty seven altogether. Sokei stopped by the Memorial to past Councillors who serve three years and are
selected from the many islands nearby. A one carefully
owned house showing that many islanders have upped and left to live
elsewhere. If they return at a later date they will repair and carry on. We
would learn that there are no vehicles on the island and water is collected by
each house via guttering on two sides of the steep roof able to sustain storms.
Some houses have plastic water butts but most have concrete ones. In the middle
of the village there was a huge concrete collecting tank for those that run
short. Each house has two medium sized solar panels provided by the Government
that cost them six pounds a month, a battery and an inverter to turn the 12v
power into 240v to power lighting. No one has a fridge or a freezer, the school
has a television and a few have mobile telephones. Those with internet ability
have to get on the ferry that takes four days to get to Suva to collect their
emails........... We saw some chickens running around but when we asked about
eggs, the cunning ladies like to hide where they lay. Everyone knows who owns
who, but we were pleased not to have to identify them as many looked identical
to our untrained eye.
The cargo boat come
once a month with supplies, the island grows cassava and coconuts but the main
diet is fish. At this point Sokei took us to our family and Maj and Steve to
theirs. Our house, the green one above was headed up by grandma, the chiefs
sister. two daughters live in Suva, two nearby, Nettie [another daughter] lives
here with Billy and their two children. Nettie’s nephew Aquilla, was our
translator as none of the family speaks English. This was a bit of a
disadvantage but we managed. Grandma poured lemon tea and served us first with a
delicious roti and followed it up with pancakes. What was left was packaged up
for us to take home. Tomorrow, Saturday is a day of hard work to get everything
done for many church services and a day of rest on Sunday. We were invited to
ten o’clock mass and lunch with the family afterward.
Sunday. The singing in
church was lovely but a very persistent man on the triangle made it a bit heavy
going, apparently this is the norm for the Lau Group. At home, after mass, we
sat on the floor, were given knife and fork and told to help ourselves to korma,
salted roast pork, fish, tortillas and cassava. The family ate with their hands
and used a bowl of water to wash their fingers between handling of the different
dishes. Billy left as soon as he had finished eating to rest. The ladies left to
wash up and rest, so we bade our thanks through Aquilla and went back to Beez.
Maj and I will come back at ten in the morning for weaving lessons from grandma
and the boys to learn woodcarving.
By the time we got
back to Baby Beez the tide had gone out but a kind person had walked
both the ladies out into ‘floating range’. We went
for a spuddle and then home to Beez - parked under the yellow
arrow.
.
ALL IN ALL ANOTHER WORLD - SIMPLE, HOMELY AND
HAPPY
A VERY FRIENDLY
PLACE
