Moce

“Moce” in Fijian means “good-bye.” Our three weeks here have come to a close, and so we’ve been saying the word many a time to our new friends in Buca Bay. The Fijian people are inherently warm and welcoming. Walk by anyone’s house and you get a friendly “BULA!” and a genuine wave and smile from the person sitting inside. Good-bye doesn’t come quite so easily, though, especially if you don’t plan to see the other person for a quite a while.

This week we took the time to visit each of the three villages for one last wrap-up meeting with the leadership and water committees. We presented the findings of our water quality tests, health surveys, and our understanding of the villages’ concerns about their water systems. Then we discussed some ideas of how we could potentially help improve their current systems (with treatment, pipe replacements, etc…) but unfortunately couldn’t promise a project until further consultation with the project team back home. We closed each meeting with a signing of our Memorandum of Understanding between EWB-SFP and the village, which is essentially an agreement to work together in the future to improve water quality and distribution for all people in the village.

And so, this officially ends our assessment trip. After three weeks, we feel that we’ve collected just an incredible amount of information, made important connections, and met some amazingly warm-hearted people. It’s sad to leave, but we hope to be back soon with shovel in hand.

Moce


PS: The photos shown here are a mish-mash of images from our last week and include: wrap-up meetings with the village leadership, a trip to Rainbow Reef (resort and white sand beach) for some quality snorkeling, a local volleyball tournament, some 3-day old kittens (courtesy of Deborah), cute kids, and a meke (a Fijian good-bye song and dance party) performed by the residents of Vunikura.

Blog Silence

Sorry about the 3 days of silence, but here’s what you’ve missed:

Saturday: We walked the Vunikura pipeline with Taranga Ni Koro William and Arone and spent the afternoon writing the Loa Summary Report.

Sunday: We visited the water source and slow sand filter for the Mission Clinic. In the afternoon we hitched a ride to the neighboring island of Kioa for an afternoon of relaxing on a deserted beach. This is a privately owned island by the Polynesian residents of Kioa – we needed permission to spend the afternoon there. Roger and Joe from Vunikura kindly dropped us off with 6 coconuts and a machete and told us they’d be back – we were glad they didn’t leave us there, “Survivor” style!

Monday: Close-out meeting with Loa. Unfortunately Malakai, the head of the water committee and our main contact in Loa, was suddenly called up to serve on the UN forces in Iraq and had to leave immediately. We still were able to have a serious talk with the Taranga Ni Koro – Tomu, and Simeli, another important figure in town. We are also lucky that Roger Lutz’ right-hand man, Amini is now available to be our translator. He is Fijian and is originally from Buca, but has lived in Sacramento for many years… In the afternoon we did more boring wrap-up stuff that you probably don’t particularly care about.

But! Here are some photos to keep you entertained until the next post, which honestly may be a bit more sporadic from now on than our usual daily blogs. Only 5 days left! L

Road Trip!

Savusavu is the second largest city on the second largest island in Fiji. A booming metropolis of about 2,000 people, Savusavu is THE Friday getaway for the residents of southern Vanua Levu, and we decided to see firsthand just how crazy this town could get. We actually had been to the town for a brief hour or so when we flew in a couple weeks back, but not for any extended amount of time. Funny how word gets around when people with transport are going to town. Within two hours of announcing our departure for the following day, we were asked for rides by four people. Luckily, one decided to stay back the day of. This morning we set off to pickup our quarry along the route: Daniel at the MNC house, then Meline at Loa (oh and could her friend have a ride too??), a hitchhiker about 20 km down the road, and finally Steve, a Peace Corps volunteer that we had gotten in contact with after hearing recently that he was nearby. By the time we rolled in to Savusavu at 10:00am, we had a truck load of all sorts.

Our purpose, actually, was mostly business. We heard that the regional Health Department had an office there, as did the District Officer, and these two agencies are likely good entities to be on one’s side if one is implementing a water project within their jurisdictional area. We were met at the Health Department by the three regional health inspectors, all who seemed relatively excited that we were doing work in the area. They provided us water testing results for a handful of communities around the island (similar to what we have been doing here) and standard design plans (circa 1964) for the septic systems they are currently providing the village of Buca. They gave us their blessing and escorted us to the District Officer from whom we would also need authorization. About 5 minutes into our pitch, he says his first words:

“So, do you have funding FOR us?”
“No,” we explain. “We’re a volunteer organization and any funds that we raise would go directly to implementing our project.”
“Do you want money FROM us?”
“No.”

We sensed that he did not understand our reason for interrupting his “busy” Friday afternoon, but after a few more “we’re volunteers”ses and “no money goes to you or from you”ses we felt he was on board.

We were supposed to talk to another state official, but apparently he was at a birthday party and could not be reached. The health inspector agreed to update him on our behalf.

After the morning activities we met with Jeff Stone, an American ex-pat and the current President of the Savusavu Rotary Club as well as the incoming president, Steve. Jeff and Steve were a wealth of information about how the process works for working on projects such as ours in Fiji. Jeff, a retired engineer with the Army Corps, has lived in Fiji since 1997 and has implemented a handful of water projects in the area in the name of the Rotary chapter, and provided us with close-out reports on those projects which detail design schematics and itemized construction costs. We feel that the local Rotary club will be a good technical partner and resource for us as we head into the design and construction phases of the project.

Before heading back to Natuvu, we shared a tasty beverage with Steve (the Peace Corps fellow we picked up on the way in) and Brett, another PC bloke, who are both working in villages close to ours on projects related to sanitation and health. They also added their two cents about working with local government agencies and shared with us some of their successes and frustrations working in rural Fiji. They may not be a technical resource for the project, but they can certainly help us understand some of the cultural issues we may face along the way.

At the end of the day, we were excited about the progress we were making in developing the connections and relationships necessary for a successful project.

Aside note: The road from Savusavu to Natuvu is predominantly unpaved and riddled with cobbles and deep potholes. Kudos to Deborah who, on the first trip two weeks ago, traversed the 70 km in 2 hours, 45 mins, and today drove the same distance in 1 hour, 45 mins! She is getting mighty comfortable behind the wheel.

No Rest for the Weary

Unfortunately we don’t have too many witty stories to tell today, as we spent a better part of the day hard at work! We have a little more than a week left here, and are trying to make sure all of our loose ends are tied up before we sadly leave this beautiful place.

This morning we again drove over to Buca, this time to collect water samples from the taps and perform our health/water usage survey. After doing similar surveys in Loa and Vunikura we have it down to a science and don’t even blink when we ask whether someone has a “running stomach.” We were accompanied by a small entourage of local children, including two kids from Scotland, who grew up with their father in Fiji. Between health assessment interviews we enjoyed an epic swordfight and a quick break for some delicious fresh coconut milk.

This was our first contact with Buca villagers other than the leadership, and we enjoyed making friends with the women and children. We were surprised by the relative “affluence” here – one family even had a washing machine (no running water in the house, but a washing machine!)

On our way back from Buca for lunch, we gave a ride to Asi, one of the cooks here. We are becoming quite the regular taxi service! Lunch today was an amazing yet strange combination of spaghetti with tomato sauce, boiled dalo (taro leaves) with coconut milk, taro root fries with ketchup, and watermelon. After lunch we had a group g-chat with our Engineers Without Borders team back home (hi team!!), and then got to work sifting more sand, running water quality samples, etc. It was a busy afternoon of paperwork! We are starting to pull together our final thoughts on each of the villages in preparation for our wrap-up meetings (and going away parties!) with each of the villages, scheduled for next week.

All in all we are happily settled into our routine here and are very fond of all our new friends - the secretaries/nurses that work in the clinic, the ladies that prepare our meals, the various gardeners and security men around the Mission campus, and of course the welcoming and warm residents of Loa, Vunikura, and Buca.

Fiji Talk

Ok, so no blog posting yesterday. Why? We woke up at 3:30am to catch a boat to Taveuni, the third largest island in Fiji. Why 3:30, you ask? Well, we’re still not quite sure, but we think it’s because the captain had not officially registered his 15+ passenger boat with the correct authorities just yet, and we needed the cover of darkness to sneak into the port undetected. Safely on the island, we spent a relaxing day enjoying the change of scenery. Deborah tagged along with a new Mission group to the island’s main attraction, a grand waterfall (see photo) while Justin took a walk in the opposite direction to find a beach to relax on. Whether sitting on a beach near a luxurious hotel, or hiking through wild rainforests to swim in spectacular waterfalls, we found Taveuni to be a beautiful and relaxing place. In the early afternoon we went back to Natuvu in time for another small Meke in honor of the departure of the latest Mission group.


Today, however, was a bit more eventful. Here’s a quick synopsis:
1) Morning: Drive to Loa to talk to Malakai (who, apparently is NOT the headman… why are we finding this out now??) about his community’s health issues. We were told to meet him “after breakfast”, which to us meant 8:30. He was nowhere to be found, but after 30 minutes we found him. He was at his farm, of course. Apparently breakfast is at 9pm. AFTER breakfast is at 10pm. Fijian time. Oops!
2) Afternoon: Truckin’ it to the only white-sand beach within a 20km radius of Natuvu: collected a sand sample to test for suitability for potential SSF
3) First trip to Tucavesi to visit the regional medical clinic and talk to the staff doctor to get our first straight answers about the health issues facing the Buca Bay region (whoa, was THAT enlightening!)
4) In Buca to talk to Headman Asaeli about his community’s health issues
5) Evening: Drive a group of 4 women holding 4 new-borns , 1 pregnant woman, and two other women in the truck from Buca to Vunikura (a 30 minute drive trying not to jostle the sleeping new-borns!)

Somewhere in there we came to the frustrating realization that it’s REALLY hard to have a straight conversation with a Fijian. Here’s a typical exchange:

Us: We have some questions about your village’s water use.
Headman: Ok.
Us: Can you tell us who is responsible for the water system?
Headman: Yes.
Us: Yes, what?
Headman: Yes, I can tell you.
Us: Oh, ok. So, who is responsible for the water system?
Headman: There is a committee.
Us: Who is on the committee?
Headman: Me, my brother, my cousin, my uncle, and the Headman.
Us: Aren’t you the headman?
Headman: No. I am the Spokesman.
Us: Oh, this whole time we thought you were the Headman.
Spokesman: No, that is my brother.
Us: Your brother who is on the water committee?
Spokesman: My brother is not on the water committee.
Us: Isn’t the Headman on the water committee?
Spokesman: No. He isn’t on the water committee.
Us: Who, your brother, or the Headman?
Spokesman: My brother is the Headman.
Us: And is he on the water committee?
Spokesman: Ok.
Us: ????? (Looking at each other to see if the other understands… the other one doesn’t)

So the only way around this, we have discovered, is to ask the same questions to the same people, phrased slightly different, over and over again, until there is some semblance of consistency between answers. After 13 days in the region a small ray of understanding of how it all works here, is starting to shine on us. Hopefully the next week will bring some final clarity!

Blowing the Conch Shell

Mondays in Loa are “village day” where all the men are required to stay home from their farms and help with tasks around the village such as mowing all the lawns and repairing the water system. (It’s also the only day of the week you are allowed to wear hats in the village). We had been instructed to arrive in Loa at 7:45 in order to speak at the end of the Monday morning village meeting, but upon arrival we were ushered into Q’s house to wait – the meeting hadn’t started yet! We then heard the first blowing of the conch shell, signaling that the meeting would start sometime soon. But instead of heading to the meeting, Q’s mother and wife began serving us a breakfast of deep fried cassava and fish (for Justin). We were also handed a fan to swat at the flies while we ate. The meal was served on a tablecloth on the floor of the family room, and the women sat in the kitchen, waiting for the men (and Deborah) to finish their meal.

When the second sound of the conch was heard about half an hour later, we headed towards the “town hall”. The meeting wouldn’t actually start until the third sound of the conch, which ended up being closer to 9:30… ah, Fijian time! The meeting was run by Tom, who we assumed to be the deputy headman, along with Malakai, the headman. Tom introduced us to the 20-odd members of the village who had showed up for the meeting, and Justin gave his well-practiced spiel about Engineers Without Borders and how we would like to help them improve their water system. We also presented them with token gifts of soap and school supplies for the children.

The villagers thanked us repeatedly for helping their villages and told us that we are now considered part of their family. The meeting then continued on for a good hour in Fijian. Q translated a few of the relevant bits to us later – a lecture on water conservation and the need to turn off the taps when not in use, and a decision that they would throw a party for us before we leave. Deborah is hoping the party will include Bacalolo – the delicious cassava and coconut milk desert that we had at the last lovo!

After the meeting Q’s brother Jim toured us around the village to perform our health assessment survey – which included questions on both water usage and health. We met with five families, asking them the same questions but coming up with different answers every time. In general, the results of the survey showed that their main concern with water is shutdowns during the rainy season. (It is difficult to get a straight answer out of Fijians, as they are so anxious to please you that they will answer yes to almost anything you ask. Questions must be phrased carefully so as not to lead to an automatic yes.)

Eleven days into our trip, we feel like we are making good progress in getting to know our three villages and have befriended many lovely people. Now when we roll into town, our friends seem genuinely excited to see us and invite us into their homes for a cup of tea and a chat.

Finding Nemo

In case you were wondering about our radio silence yesterday, we unexpectedly took (most of) the day off. We had an appointment to walk the Vunikura distribution line, but woke up to pouring rain. The Mission campus was very quiet due to their Seventh Day Adventist sabbath, and we spent the morning quietly catching up on paperwork. At mid-day we took a quick trip to Loa to collect tap samples to check turbidity during a rainstorm. After lunch we luxuriously lounged around the Mission. When the sun came out in the afternoon, we took the opportunity to kayak across the bay. On the other side of the bay we happened upon a school of huge purple jellyfish, and quickly hightailed it back home as fast as our paddles could take us. Other than that, it was a quiet and relaxing day.

This morning we started off our day with more relaxation! We asked Dr. A and Nani about snorkeling, and they arranged to have their employee Moses take us out beyond the bay to a good coral reef nearby (where we were told there would be no jellyfish!) And it was amazing! We saw blue, pink, and yellow coral of all shapes and sizes. In between the beautiful coral were schools and schools of little tropical fish scurrying around – florescent blue, black and white, and of course the famous clown fish. After we had our fill of fish, Justin got back in the boat while Deborah swam a bit more… until she saw one of those huge purple jellyfish, at which point she hopped back into the boat so fast, she impressed the group with her new-found arm strength.

When our local friends heard we were going to Buca in the afternoon, everyone and their wife wanted a ride. We piled as many as we could into our truck – including Siwa (formerly spelled Seewah in our blog) and his brother (and our new friend) Masaki and made the bumpy ride to the other side of the bay. Once there, we met the Tironi Ni Koro (Headman) Asaeli, his son Pene, and along with Siwa began our hike up to the Buca source. And oh boy what a hike it was! It took about an hour of trekking through deep, thick mud to reach the source. We were slipping and sliding and squishing and squooshing all the way to the top. Luckily there were no falls and our guides helped us across the river crossings and up the last slippery climb. It was quite the jungle trek!

Once there, we were happy to find a well-kept catch basin at the spring source. The only problem with the system seems to be a need for a smaller screen for catchment and perhaps a larger trash rack for the rainy season. After measuring, photographing and sampling, we trekked back down to the tank, observing the by-passed slow sand filter (SSF) and storage tank. As mentioned in a previous blog, Asaeli plans to move this tank closer to the village to be used for drinking water only. We plan to discuss this with Roger’s son Nik and his wife Laura who installed the SSF and live in Napa, California.

The hike also gave us an opportunity to chat with Asaeli, ask him more questions about his village and their water system, and get to know him better in general. He seems like a very attentive headman, who tries hard to help his village and has a good understanding of the technical aspects of their water system.

On the way back we stopped so Justin could play a quick pickup volleyball game with the local young men (20 and 30 year olds), and Justin was invited to join them the next night as well. There’s a big tournament coming up next week and all the local villages are vying to have Justin on their team. Meanwhile, Deborah made friends with the other spectators – including the young mothers and their cute children.

Tired from our long hike, we made our way back to the Mission for dinner and water quality testing of Buca’s source, tank, and SSF samples. (Even though the SSF is bypassed, they fill it every month when they clean the tank and therefore there was water for us to sample).

A Sad Day in Vunikura

Today was a very sad day for Vunikura. First, the missionary youth group that has been volunteering with their children over the last two weeks, headed back to California this morning. Their departure brought many, many heartfelt tears from the sensitive and loving women and children of the nearby villages, especially our new friend and guide Ana.

Next, was the funeral of Eleanora, the daughter of headman (Tironi Ni Koro) Titimo. We headed to Vunikura well before the funeral started and were welcomed into Ana’s “family room” to wait while the family prepared. Ana’s niece entertained us by drawing out Ana’s family tree (see attached photograph for the size of the family; this is just from one grandparent!), and soon a variety of village children gathered around to play with us. Justin luckily had a couple games up his sleeve to entertain both the little ones and their young mothers.

The funeral was a somber affair with everyone in their Sunday best (sulus and flowered shirts). We squirmed through the two hour catholic mass and ceremony, sitting crosslegged on the floor and listening to the Fijian prayers. We then made the short hike to the cemetery for the grave-side ceremony. All-in-all it was a very typical funeral, and we were glad to be there to show support for our new friends.

We left Vunikura before the meal was served, as we knew the Mission would have our lunch waiting for us. With the youth group gone, it is only Dr. Anibal, Nurse Nani, and us staying here and the mission is eerily (and happily) quiet. This won’t last long as there are upwards of 30 guests coming in the next two weeks!

In the evening we attended a pizza dinner at the home of Dr. A and Nani. It is a beautiful home on the hillside above the mission; a very original design of a circular tent-like structure. We enjoyed getting to know the couple over a delicious dinner. They are very friendly, open and generous people - before working here in the Fiji they spent two years in Madagascar and 10 years in Paraguay; they are originally from Argentina.

Sample results: We have completed the sample results for the Loa source and tank and Mission tap – which suggest the presence of total coliforms and E. Coli.

We have been spending a good deal of time thinking about our results, and discussing our observations in the various villages. For Vunikura, even though our sample results are positive, the health records at the mission and conversations with the villagers do not indicate that they have been getting sick from the bacteria in the water. There have been two cases of typhoid in the village, but they were on the outskirts of the village, and it is suspected that appropriate hygiene was not being followed. We believe that EWB can help them by improving their catchment system at the source, replacing sections of the distribution system, and improving their septic system.