Oti Na Cagi Laba + Tinaqu Sa Qade Mai

Oti Na Cagi Laba
The Aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Tomas


Although all of the houses in my village were okay after the Cyclone, our beachfront took a beating due to strong ocean surges and high winds that uprooted many of the beautiful coconut trees. This picture is representative of almost all the coastline I have seen since the cyclone in my area.


Because of its proximity to the high-water mark, the kindergarten ("kindy") building at our local primary school was destroyed by the ocean during the cyclone. It took almost a week of labor for the School Committee and parents to locate all the pieces of the former classroom and pile them on its still-standing, concrete foundation. I am urging the community not to rebuild in the same spot, yet because the foundation and part of one wall are still in tact, I am not confident that my arguments will be heard.

Here the men carry a small fishing boat that was washed up and wrecked against one of the classroom buildings.

The School Committee members (including me) who did not complete the search-and-rescue mission for the kindy roofing irons and walling boards spent about two weeks raking up sand, coral, and sandstone from the grassy fields at the school so that the brush cutters could be brought in and the children could continue to have a clear ground to play on during sports hour and recess.

In my village, all of the houses thankfully survived Tomas (and the people, too!), but all the plantations (both for food and sustenance) were effectively ruined. Here is a picture of the decorative hedge I planted in front of my compound. It's easy to see the effect that hurricane winds has on plants...

Tinaqu Sa Qade Mai
Mom comes for a visit... (3 parts)

Part 1:

4-Nights on the TUI TAI Adventure Sailing Cruise

Mom sits on the upper, meal and sunning, deck for breakfast and is serenaded by the Tui Tai Ship crew, dressed to the 9s in their kala vata ("matching uniforms").

The Tui Tai, looking a lot like a pirate ship, anchors off shore an uninhabited island off the coast of Qamea, Eastern Taveuni, while its passengers hike the crater of an inactive volcano, scale the rim of the peak, and then kayak out of the crater. Unreal!

Even though it was very beautiful, there was no forgetting that a huge cyclone had just passed through...

Mom in front of the part of the volcanoes' crater that is still submerged in the sea.

On the top of the crater.

Mom, relaxing on the Tui Tai's sun deck.

The inside lounge area includes comfy couches, a fully-stocked bar, and often fresh cookies...

The chefs baked my Mom a cake for her birthday on the boat. Happy Birthday, Mom!

PART 2

Mom comes to spend a week in my Village

Mom buying her isevusevu (kava root offering to the chief) so that she will be welcomed to stay in the village for the week.

Stocking up for the village at the grocery store, too.

Mareani and I chill out in front of my house.

The kittens are getting so big! It takes two arms to hold them now...

What would a first night in the village be without a massive "grog" session at the Chief's house? After Mom's isevusevu was dissected, it was ready to tuki (or pound up) so we could consume it.

Here I'm trying my hand at pounding the yaqona. Usually this is a job for boys only because that iron pole I'm holding is INSANELY heavy!

Pounded up and ready to serve...

Here, the boys are straining the pounded up yaqona (aka "kava") root through a special cloth and mixing it with water so we can all drink it.

Mom and the Chief spend some quality time bonding as they both "sit up" on the couch. (In Fijian culture it is customary to sit on the floor at all times as it is considered very disrespectful to be above someone else due to the tabu (sacred) nature of the head, neck, and shoulders area of the human body. The chief, of course, can do as he pleases. And he may invite visitors to do the same as well.

Marama, mom, and I stretch our legs as the night wears on. (Generally, we sit cross legged or with our legs tucked under us and to one side).

One of mom's presents to the Chief's family--the board game "Sorry"-- was a huge hit with the village kids.

Mareani, my best friend and also the leader of the village's Women's Group, and I write out recipes for my "iron chef" cooking program with the women.

For the "Iron Chef" project, my goal was to teach the women in my village how to cook with alternative protein products that they are no accustomed to buying in town. However, because 36% of Fiji's population is Indo-Fijian (and most of those are Hindu), there is an abundance of vegetarian foods available in almost all of the markets.

So, for this program, the women divided themselves into six groups, picked a recipe (such as curry chickpeas with wholemeal roti tortillas, tuna burgers, lentil chili, pasta with fake-meat marinara sauce, etc), and had two hours to cook it with the ingredients I bought ahead of time in town using some of the money from the Women's Group's yearly budget.

The Chili group learns how to use lentils, moong beans, and chick peas to make a filling soup with wheat-crackers on top.

Here I'm sitting down with the Chick Pea Curry group to discuss how to take the beans that I had soaked over night and cook them before adding them into the curry.

After two hours, the ladies start to bring their food over to a house with a huge veranda where we decided to have our judging and our feast.

A beautiful spread for the "guest of honor", my mom, who was also the judge of this cooking contest.

Other ladies who ate with the "guest of honor".

After each group was judged and all received prizes, Mom got us together for a group picture.

Just after the cyclone, this is what my back yard looked like. This is the "before" picture for what is now my garden.

After I cleaned the compound, cut the tree, and laid the plot...

After about two months of work cutting down a dead coconut tree and some plantain trees, making a plot from the trunks, hand-carrying bucket after bucket of black soil up hills from the beach and across the village to fill this plot, tilling the practically rock-hard, red-clay ground, walking 1 hour to the neighboring settlement to ask for bamboo and hiring a huge lori (large open-backed truck) to help bring it back to the village for a dog/children fence, and finally digging vertical grooves for rain (since the garden is on a hill), I am finally ready to plant!

Actually, the last step before sowing the seeds was adding a fence of sasa (coconut tree leaves) so that chickens and kittens can't get in.

My friend Mesi came to have a look as I plant about 30 corn seeds in planter bags to be transferred outside the bamboo fence once the shoots are strong enough.

The garden in my side yard is made up of bele (a slimy, spinach-like leaf that you see on the left), baigani (Eggplant), and various herbs such as Cobona (Lemongrass), Rokete (hot chili peppers), and soon-to-be Timole (basil), and Danya (Cilantro).

Two of the village kids, Viwa (3-year-old girl on the left) and Akoila (3-year-old boy on the right) help me carry all the pre-school kids and their parents' tooth brushes back to my house from the central tap where we brush our teeth together every day.

Here I am helping Akoila reach all those tough-to-reach places.

Check out those pearly whites. This project is DEFINITELY paying off.

Now the kids light up the camera.

PART 3

Mom and I go to Pacific Harbor, Viti Levu Island, for some serious R&R

After surviving a week in the village with no electricity, solid walls to keep bugs and animals out, hot water, ways to cook meals except completely from scratch, and, most importantly, no fans or air conditioning (due to lack of electricity), Mom deserved a serious break.

Here she is sipping her welcome drink in the gorgeous lobby of the Pearl Hotel, Pacific Harbor, Viti Levu Island.

The view from our super-posh hotel room.

All of this weaving is done from coconut leaves (unlike the mats which are made from voivoi reeds dried in the sun).

During a weaving class, I taught the instructor my village's method to tali iri (weave fans) which was slightly different from her own.

Mom also made a basket.

My half finished iri (fan).

Getting in touch with our inner Zen by the pool/beach area.

A cool, after-storm, rainbow.

Our mother-daughter kala vata (matching sulu jiaba outfits) that I had made before Mom arrived made perfect fancy dinner attire for our first night at the hotel.

Mom rides the bus to the capital city of Suva with me so I can attend a Peace Corps conference during her last two days in the country. Unfortunately, our one shot at taking a picture on the bus (we were attracting a lot of attention to ourselves that would be bad when we reached the sometimes-dangerous capital) was ruined by my finger covering the flash. Oops!

Me outside the Peace Corps Headquarters office in Suva, Fiji.