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Episode 4 - Stratford-upon-Avon 'Paradise or Bust' Screening - 11th Feb Watch a clip from Episode 4 on Youtube! 
Event Info Name: Paradise or Bust Episode 4 – Stratford-upon-Avon Location: Ripple Cafe/Bar For more information visit Tribewanted.com! Next Week ...
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Debate: How do we know who supplies the greenest energy? 
Ecotricity explains their perspective on the ‘we’re all green’ marketing which seems to be sweeping across every advert for electricity these days. Vorovoro leap-frogged the industrial revolution and went straight from coconut trees to wind turbines. Not so simple for an island of over 60 million. The generation of conventional electricity is the single biggest polluter in the UK - responsible for over 30% of our carbon emissions. We need to change where electricity comes from. The only way to do this is to invest in and build new renewables. Fight climate change with your electricity bill But how much does each supplier in the UK actually spends building new sources of green electricity per customer? We publish this stat on www.whichgreen.com. We calculate the average spend per customer of all suppliers in the UK for 2007 – it was just £6.45. Ecotricity top the table for the fourth year running. In 2007 we spent a whopping £555.36 per customer – nearly 100 times the average. With just 28,000 customers we invested over £15.5 million in building new renewables in 2007 alone. Why aren’t the big guys at least matching our investment per customer when they have revenue from a much larger client base? Companies spending tens of millions on advertising their green credentials, often using images of wind mills, are spending next to nothing on building new sources of green energy.
Makes sense? Then so will this…
Ecotricity continue to lead the way as far as green electricity suppliers go. Their ethos is simple – the more customers they have, the more they can build … you can make a REAL difference to climate change just by paying your bill. It’s really easy to switch and only takes 5 minutes. They also match the standard price of your regional supplier with their New Energy tariff so you don’t pay a premium for choosing a genuinely green supplier. Switch now by calling free on 08000 326 100 or visit Ecotricity. Remember to quote ‘Tribe Wanted’ when you do. (Mainland UK only)
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We've just received two late applications for March 2008 Chief, so it's time to hit the voting booths again! Elaine Murray put herself forward last week, and then we received another application from James Kerridge at the 11th hour. Read their manifestos and make your voice heard: * Read Elaine's chief manifesto In other news, we're still awaiting applications for May Chief, so if your interested, get your application in as soon as possible. Please send any questions you might have about the role of Chief to adam@tribewanted.com For more information about being Chief, visit Tribewanted.com! |
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Up to this point in time, there's no hiding the fact that we have found it extremely difficult to formulate any kind of map of the current facilities and projects on Vorovoro. But with just one good photo (taken by tribe member, Mariah Boyle, in January 08), all that is hopefully about to change. Using Mariah's photo, I've tried to put together a map that will give those of you that haven't been to Vorovoro a much better idea of what the island looks like now, and for those of you that have already visited, this system of maps will let you see Vorovoro in a whole new light. Rudimentary? Absolutely! But you have to start somewhere, and I think this is a good place to start. Hopefully in using these images, we'll be able to keep everyone updated with any new additions to the island in the future Click the image to find the full map on Tribewanted.com
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Ben on BBC Radio 1 with Vernon Kay 
Last Saturday (9th Feb) Ben sat down with Radio 1's for a chat with Mr Vernon Kay, discussed all aspects of tribal life, and what life on Vorovoro is like! Ben and the Project came across really well and generated loads more interest with listeners texting in asking how they can join/help out on the island…. Listen to the chat below ... |
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Tribal voice from the island - 07.02.2008 From Giles on Vorovoro: (Carried over from last week) 1. Culture section needed on website to give people better warning of what to expect. V2 is much more of a cultural experience than we maybe communicate. 2. Site index, is there one? 3. A ‘wanted’ list of desired items for island to be updated in this forum every week 4. Snorkel equip not great, feel that charging for the reef trip with bad equip is a bit unfair. Need better equip. 5. Costs for activities should be better communicated. Should be mentioned on site before people have even signed up. 6. School trip should be absorbed in overall cost as is a big part of the experience. 7. No gas sunday to have own blog, ecourage intertribe to offer good ideas for meals based on cooking on a fire 8. Blogs from island to have own section on homepage so they don’t fly out of the ‘top 5’ on the site. 9. Kitchen, paint inside white, move door opposite oven as in rainy season rain just flies in. 10. Bure fire prevention, 6 buckets full of sand to be on standby at all times 11. Weekly meet with fijian to discuss any ideas on site, and how best to go about them. (Prob monday morning) 12. Put up a photo collage of tribe members, but undecided on where would be best. 13. Put island address on website 14. More fiji culture/language lessons during week 15. More useful activities ready if it rains View the discussion and add your thoughts at Tribewanted.com! |
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Chief Christy's blogs from Vorovoro 
From Chief Christy on Vorovoro: End of Week One I am starting to get settled in now and organizing what I feel what most needs attention. My primary objective this month is to do work on anything that is suffering from wind, rain, and general decay due to this climate. Some bamboo screens will be replaced next week, we are going to cut bamboo from PuPu (grandfather) Epeli’s land and bring it to the island where it has to be split for further use. If it is not split right away, it will just rot.Things need facelifts all the time here, bures start falling apart almost as soon as they are built, and not because they have been built poorly, quite the contraryc they are strong structures; none the less, thatch has to be added every year and siding replaced. Matts have to be aired constantly, thatch on the floors replaced. Nice as these things are to look at, they are labor intensive, alittle like all those beautiful rock walls in Italy and Greece that took families of 12 to keep them in good repair…. Keep in mind that being here during the RAINY season is like being on another Vorovoro. Life revolves around what you can and cannot do in the pouring rain, which may happen off and on all day, showers of 10 minutes, or it could be a two hour down pour. Everything stays permanently damp and as soon as the sun comes out, you get your bedding and clothes out in the sun. Learning to live on Vorovoro is learning what it means to actually live in a tropical climate, it is a good learning experience, as much as finding out that there is fruit hanging on the trees that we should be eating like breadfruit and avocados. Finally on the Island I am finally back on the island after some delay in arriving. Traveling in Fiji you have to take in to account small things, like cyclones. Cyclones stop the planes from flying and the ferries from leaving the dock. So, being on the small island about 50 miles east of the town of Savusavu, Vanua Levu, just before coming here, and just as the cyclone hit, meant…I was stuck until the ferry decided to run. I got here, just by chance on Saturday, three days after I had planned to arrive. The ferry finally left at 3AM, and I and a couple of other non islanders “kaipalangi” were able to depart (I was the only “guest” on the island, everyone else is from there or building a home there). I met some really nice Indian-Fijian people while waiting for the ferry to dock (the docking takes about an hour, the ferry is a prewar Greek ferry, even older than the ones we travel on in the Greek Islands, and probably running on one engine! These gentle people quietly waited for disembarkation, (unlike the Greeks) and exchanged conversation with me. When they found out that I had to get to Labasa and Vorovoro, they started talking to other people that were headed this way. To further problems getting to Labasa, the road had been closed to public transportation as a slide had carried the road away on both sides (a bridge is needed) and only private cars were going through, even though a “road closed” sign was posted for the section of bad road, a ever narrowing strip about 100 feet long. A very decent fellow who was coming to a town above Labasa to remodel a building offered to give me a lift that far, and then arranged with the driver to take me on to Labasa. He squeezed his large frame in between myself and another person who needed a lift and we rode the 2 hours sharing his big bottle of coke! The helpfulness and kindness of these people is something that I find nowhere else, and I have traveled extensively, normally spending time in 4-5 countries a year. Read the full article and share your thoughts at Tribewanted.com! |
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Everyone speaks english there, right? 
From Giles on Vorovoro: So one of the most interesting things I find about living in Fiji is the idea of language and communication. The more I have traveled the more I have been lucky enough to see that there is not one universal communication method that we all adopt, but instead each culture has it’s own unique way that has evolved through it’s own lifestyle and the land that it inhabits. Northern Fiji is of course no different. Upon arriving here one of the first impressions that almost everyone (myself included) makes is that we all speaking the same language. I’m from England and speak English; the language of governance in Fiji is English and most people speak it. So we both use the same language to communicate, this place should be easy! And that’s where it starts to get confusing. On countless occasions you’ll have a conversation with someone, organize or agree on something and then when it comes to the crunch, it doesn’t happen or there is mass confusion about what is meant to be happening. But this doesn’t seem to make any sense, as you both English, then why can there be confusion? |
From tribe member, Mikko Jarvenpaa, on Vorovoro: The rains over the last two days seem to have washed my mind off the island paradise of Vorovoro, and today the retreating tide finally took me with it. Our intrepid boat captain Johnny just dropped me off at Labasa after a trip navigating the low-tide mangrove channels back to the mainland. With the rain beating on our faces the boat made quick nudges mowing through the brown water to avoid the driftwood visible only within meters of the boat, unloading us in the Saturday noon hustle and bustle of the Fijian port town. The last two weeks, to summarize, have been blissful. Vorovoro is the paradise island it promises to be, with pleasant surprises and simple living to keep one content for the couple of weeks most people choose to spare. A wave of publicity about the island and the Tribewanted project has rolled on in the last two weeks, primarily thanks to BBC’s airing of the Paradise or Bust documentary series. We watched the first episode on the island and tried to imagine how we would have felt had we seen it back in the UK or US or wherever before coming to Vorovoro. But the island would still prove to be better than any idea you could get over the TV, the website and people’s recommendations. The nicely BBC-ized one hour bit we watched felt, at least to me, like the grinding sound of a distant world too busy with its own turning. On paper, Tribewanted looks like a holiday timeshare for backpackers. There’s an element of ownership involved, projects you can vote on online, plan, propose and discuss. Then, on the island, you can play chief and get your hands dirty with all kinds of more or less measningful activities. Or just lay in the hammock like I did. Well, I did write dozens of pages of poetry (or “poetry”, rather) in a mad gush of inspiration that lasted for days. The rains must have helped. And as I digress, the point here is that you can make pretty much whatever you want of your time on the island, and it can be just another eco-retreat or no-frills resort (or would that be a new travel niche?) if you wish it to be so. Read the full article and share your thoughts at Tribewanted.com! |
Wisdom behind the Meke It was until I was a rookie foundation student at University that I started understanding some of the reasons why things are such with the people of Mali. As part of my English unit, I have to cite a piece of oral literature about my people and explain in detail its meaning, symbolism..etc. I went to my elders in Ligaulevu to put into paper a chant that we kids used to randomly sing as yavu(foundation, prologue before the real meke begins to keep the adrenaline running for the participants and likewise the viewing public. My Nau who is still alive today: old lady with recognizable white hair(members of the tribe who have visited Ligaulevu, should remember her)then explained in detail the logic behind the meke, its importance and those special members of the tribe whose duty is to compose. Until the London Missionary society’s attempts at “vowelling”up Bauan dialect- which is now the standard written fijian from 1835 onwards, all fijian dialects(some three hundred of them) were unwritten. Thus it remained for Mali.Mali is still unwritten today.Lyrics of mekes and chants filled this void in recording stories of the past and also about the future. Powerful stuff, I know- with explanation beyond me. God does work in mysterious ways. Here exists a rather simple, nature loving people but also intrinsically armed with gifts of telling time and recording them such that their lives are forewarned, formed and continually reformed. Read the full article and share your thoughts on Tribewanted.com!
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Watch the video: Christmas Day 2007 Chris Marino does Secret Santa in style, Tribe sing carols, and we lunch in Tui Mali’s house before finishing a perfect day with a swim in the sea. |
Last week Ben also visited Epsom College to give an illustrated talk on the project. Ben spoke to the students about the unique community tourism experiment he is undertaking, which involves the setting up of a “virtual” tribe online, members of which fly out to Vorovoro Island, Fiji, and stay for a few weeks at a time, working on a variety of community building and sustainable living projects. He also signed copies of his book on the subject, Tribe Wanted - My Adventure on Paradise or Bust, which charts the ups and downs of the global online network of travellers and the indigenous Fijian community as they attempt to build a new life on the 200 acre island in the South Pacific. Excited students quizzed Ben about his travels and he was interested to hear about their own plans for gap year projects abroad and this year's World Challenge Expedition, which will be journeying to Uganda in July. |
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There is some important discussion going on in the forums this week, so pop on over and add your voice to these threads:
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