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Thailand: Social re-juvination, Kaos Pilots & the biggest prawns in the world 
From Ben, in South East Asia: It's not like Labasa. The island of Phuket has some serious infrastructure – a fleet of blacked-out limo-bus things wait outside arrivals, giant (I mean gargantuan) statues and billboards of his excellency, the King of Thailand, are everywhere you turn making brand beckham look like a c-lister, and manicured mid-highway gardens coast by you as you tuk tuk your way to the beach. I was fresh from of a ‘night out in Bangkok’, which basically meant lots of delicious phad thai, being revitalised after the long-journey by the best value for baht massage you could imagine, and going on a blues bar crawl around the winding streets and temples of this infamous city. An early night was not on the cards. Despite is breathtaking beauty, Phuket wouldn’t be my normal choice of destination. But I was here because of an invitation – to speak at the world’s first social enterprise summit! I-genius, an international network of social innovators had boldly set-up the get-together and with approaching 100 participants from most regions of the world, set in the stunning ‘tin-mine’ design influenced 5* Indigo Pearl, everything was poised for an enthralling few days. Find out more of Ben's thoughts on the i-genius world summit |
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Download: Vorovoro Island Info Pack! The team on Vorovoro have been working extremely hard over the last few months and we now have an information pack that we'd like to share with the rest of the online community. This info pack is full of information that is useful to visitors on Vorovoro, but if you've already planned your trip, you may like to take a sneak peak, and hopefully get a better understanding of what life on Vorovoro is all about. Click here to download the latest Island Info Pack
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Zaishu press begins for TW and Reform School! 
From Tribewanted Chief in April '08, Kaz Brecher: So, the zaishu project is great not only because of the product but also because of the people: Matt Butler and Helen Punton are just rockstars in sustainable design and production, and they have been real champions of Tribewanted being able to carry out our little piece of the campaign to raise awareness about how to live better while keeping things of beauty and collaboration in our lives. The COMING SOON announcement about our April zaishu project just went up: And it seems there has been some potential interest from magazines, too! None of this would happen without the hard work of Helen and Matt. And i just wanted to give them a vinaka vaka levu for their support |
We've just received an application for July '08 Chief (and the deadline has now passed), which means this is your last chance to get your applications in! This will go to vote as early as next week, so speak now or forever hold your peace Don't forget that we're still awaiting applications for May '08 and June '08 too, so if you're at all interested, please send your application/questions through to adam@tribewanted.com What's this Chief business all about? Click here to find out! |
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Chief shares his thoughts from Vorovoro 
From Tui Koli on Vorovoro:
Coming in live from the hammocks on this Pacific Sunday. Looking out over the ocean and rocking out to my favourite album: The Prodigy Experience. Back to ’92, it’s a one man beach rave. But if there was a tune to soundtrack this blog it would be ‘Cc-ch-changes’ by David Bowie. I’ve been here for several weeks now and everyone used to call me Jim or Timoci (sometimes cocky bast@rd). But not any more, oh no no no, it’s chief this and chief that. The Fijian boys sometimes revert to Jim and then apologise profusely. One might think that skulls are being crushed with coconuts for insubordination. It’s not true. Tying them to the boat and dragging them out over the coral is far more effective. I’ve noticed the boys never walk behind me. For example, if I’m eating at the alfresco dining area with my back to the path, they’ll divert and walk along the beach instead. It’s bamboo under the finger nails if they forget. To be honest, being called chief and getting treated like this feels weird ‘n’ surreal. Back in London, if someone calls you a chief it has a completely different meaning (rhymes with anchor) and is often followed by a scrap. London sucks. Fiji’s ace. Read more from our current Chief!
… a map of the Vorovoro village complex. My profession of choice is Graphic Design, with over nine years experience but its all mac stuff. No hand drawing or modelling etc. So to create a map from materials took me back to my art college days. I found a piece of ply wood 8ft (wide) x 4ft (deep) and painted it deep green. Ants kept crawling all over it and getting stuck. They were painted over. Yellow was used to represent the path and beach, sand was sprinkled over the yellow for a textural effect. The sea was painted guess what colour? Yep, blue. A trip to the shoreline provided the shells to decorate the beach ‘n’ sea. Voila. The landscape was now complete for the next stage: building construction. |
From tribe member, Tim Howe, on Vorovoro: Unfortunately for me I wasn’t to know how just one week on Vorovoro would be painfully and frustratingly to short. There’s no travel agent to tell you of the addictive nature of the island, and even if there was I doubt articulating the feeling i have now would be an easy, if at all possible task. There is also precious few people to tell you and inevitably convince you to go. Not because they would be unwilling to extol the virtues of the place, but because the number of these priviliged people is so beautifully low that you would struggle to find somebody who has been…but once you did, im sure you could see it in there general approach to life and the look in their eye that they had. Never before has a place, people, feelings and events lodged themselves so deep within me. Somebody who wouldn’t usually do anything on a whim, who found himself booking a week on an island he had not heard about after just one conversation (thank you vanessa!), had not even known had been on tv and knew very little about anything, has found himself so transfixed with the place that the journey back to England was spent frantically plotting the possibilities of a hasty return. |
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Now! That's what i call a way of life 
From Giles on Vorovoro: As this project continues, so does the collective deepening of cultural understanding between the Vulagi and the Taukei as we work together to make Vorovoro a reality. For me this is an endlessly fascinating experience as while we are working with a culture which, on the surface, shares our language, but has such a different view and understanding on the world and how to live in it. What has really struck recently is the idea of ‘now’ in relation to the world I come from and world I am now living in. Back in the UK the concept of now brings very different connotations than it does here. One of the first things that always amazes me when I get home is how quick everything attempts to happen. Internet is rocket fast, food arrives within 5 minutes, everything is deadline orientated, people insist on efficiency, everything is streamlined to be done as fast as possible. People are seen as a resource to help facilitate quick results. The knock on effect of this is that people expect things to happen straight away. Everyone runs about in a crazed frenzy demanding efficiency and bemoaning when they have to wait. We want everything now, because society is always telling us it’s possible. And when ‘now’ isn’t possible that is when the trouble and stress begins. We are meant to want and desire more, and constantly told this is an acceptable way of looking at the world. So then when coming over to Fiji we will naturally bring that ‘now’ ethic with us. We are taught and influenced where we’re from that that is how a successful society lives. Bring that ethic here, however, and you’re in for a shock. Over here the idea of ‘now’ is quite literally a million miles away. |
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Na Meke ni Yaqona Vakaturaga (The Cultural Kava Performance) 
From 'Captain Culture' on Vorovoro, Save: ‘Meke’ is the Fijian word for performance but also used to describe dancing and singing routines that tell stories. The Na Meke ni Yaqona Vakaturaga or ‘kava meke’ is a very special, unique and peaceful performance and is acted out in front of the chief or invited guests at very special occasions when kava is given as a gift. (Kava- a local plant root from which we make our grog, a kind of local brew.) It originated in Viti Levu in Western Fiji and it has been passed to various tribes across the Fijian islands. In each district, the kava meke is performed slightly differently and this is part of every tribe’s identity. When tribe members visit Vorovoro, they will experience a similar version to this Meke. The kava ceremony will be performed to our chief Tui Mali so it is a very prestigious event and we encourage Tribe Wanted members to know about the ‘kava ceremony’ rules as a sign of respect to the chief. These are explained on arrival at Vorovoro but don’t worry! It is all very simple and will make a lot more sense when you join the kava ceremony on the island. |
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Tribal voice from the island 21.3.08 From Giles on Vorovoro: 1. Biogas made by Duncan. 2. Sustainability could till be pushed more. Difficult without a dedicated manager. Encourage more companies to send us info about being sustainable. If tribe members can bring any good books or films and leave them that might be relevant. 3. Try and encourage people coming to take boat over plane as part of eco push. (but is it actually more eco friendly to take a big heavy inefficient boat and a 3 hour smelly bus journey?) 4. Try and get more of Va’s recipes’s online! (as part of her blogs) 5. How to promote TW better across Fiji or this part of the world? a. Create leaving packs for members with stuff to help promote (but what?) 6. Website is very text heavy. So much copy, can seem a bit overwhelming when first logging on. Homepage seems more designed for actual members than people looking to sign up. Could the site have a cover? Then you could click through to the content side or to the join part. Also some opinion that it’s even a bit confusing that you can even come to Vorovoro. 7. Using more affiliate websites and click thrus to market the island, is this poss? Happy Easter one and all from the island!
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