Sorry it’s been so long since my last post, but I’ve had a whirlwind couple of weeks!
Last weekend all of the Peace Corps Trainees in my training class got to visit currently serving volunteers at their sites for a long weekend. I was sent to a site in the Ra region (of Northern Viti Levu). A volunteer named Natalie has been living in a small, offshore village there for a little over a year now. Her site is accessible only by boat (the roads were washed out by years of rainy seasons), and the boat usually only runs once a week on the village’s “market day” when many of the villagers come into the nearest town, Rakiraki, to buy some food and supplies.
Natalie lives in a Bure, which is a traditional-style Fijian home. It is constructed by the village using all natural materials that can be found in the area. The walls are basically woven and the roof is thatched with palm fronds. The floor is my favorite part. It’s a coral sand floor with palm fronds covered by Pandena Mats (which are these intricate mats woven by Fijian women that take weeks of labor to complete). In fact, the floor is so springy and soft that Natalie says she often sleeps directly on it when the weather is particularly hot. Her Bure doesn’t have electricity, which usually isn’t a problem due to the openness of the structure. Unfortunately she doesn’t have a refrigerator and so can almost never get anything like cheese, yogurt or ice cream (she cooks on a portable, kerosene stovetop), but at least there’s a generator that runs for three hours every night so she has a small window of artificial light and a chance to recharge things like her phone, her ipod, and her batteries.
Over the weekend, the three of us visitors and Natalie had some adventures that really convinced me that I want a site just like hers – and I told that to the Peace Corps placement staff yesterday when I had my final placement interview. On Sunday instead of church (which ended up causing a bit of a stir in her village because we skipped it), the four of us trekked like 2 hours through the forest/jungle and along the mangrove-trodden coast to get to a little beach and snorkeling site right in front of the area’s primary school. The children from the four surrounding villages board at the school there because it’s so difficult to get to, and every day a different mother is responsible for going and cooking for all the children. Anyway, it was amazing just to be able to jump in the water, swim 15 minutes over the deep blue, and find a relatively healthy reef… It was a little weird to snorkel in T-shirts, knee-length shorts, and the water-shoes we needed to walk out to the drop off, though…
On Monday we went with some of Natalie’s Fijian friends into the woods right by the village, climbed some “raspberry” trees (more like cherries if you ask me), collected berries, and made from jam (“Jamu,” pronounced ‘ch-ah-moo’) from scratch! It was so easy to make, too. Natalie says she does it all year long and makes jam from basically whatever fruit is in season. We got so excited about the Jamu that we collected way too many berries. In the end, we had to go Kerekere some jars from other village-members, including the chief’s wife. When we were finished making it, we gorged on Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches that were absolutely divine! Somehow, whenever I’m away from home, all I need is some good old PBJ to keep me happy!
Anyway, after all that excitement it was nice to come "home" to my host family this last week. We also just started our health promoting project in the host village which is very exciting. I wish I had more time to talk about it but I have to run!
This weekend (on Saturday afternoon), we will find out our 2-year site locations and job descriptions, so you can all expect a post from me shortly thereafter. Also, I'll do my best to get some more pictures on the blog. Please bear with me--this internet is so slow!
Thanks for all the moral support everyone. I miss you all!
Moce Vakalailai
Melissa
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