Talofa! 

Happy New Year!! I hope you are enjoying the cold weather… JEALOUS! It is so hot here we wear as few clothes and do as little as possible. Mataio has taken to resting on the floor of the bathroom because it is 2 degrees cooler. Thankfully, I am not that desperate yet! ;o)

We have recovered from the holidays… the chiefs decided we would celebrate on Christmas Day and New Years every day until January 8th. Seriously!! We escaped to Taveuni to visit another volunteer for a few days and then came back to conclude the holidays. A typical celebration day on Kioa goes like this … 6am Church, 8am Breakfast and speeches, 10am Fatele and speeches, 12pm Lunch and speeches, 2pm Traditional Game, 7pm Devotion, 7:30pm Dinner and speeches, 9pm Dance. Every day, all together, sitting on the concrete floor of the Community Hall. Whew.

I love the fatele (traditional dance) and te ano (traditional game) but can totally live without the feasting and speeches!! ;o) The traditional game involves the whole village and can last for hours and hours. They have two balls that are really just a big rock wrapped around with leaves … it is very heavy and hard and there seems to be lots of bruising. Each team has a alovaka (captain) and pukepuke (catcher). My favorite part is the heckling and then the losing team has to sing a song. Below are some photos …

I am back in Suva for LifeSkills (Youth Development) workshop. Vakafa, the youth leader for the church, came with me. I am very excited about this because we have lots of youth (mostly boys) that have dropped out of school and are back on the island. We try to keep them busy with projects but they still have lots of free time and unfortunately, we recently had a 18 year old rape his 9 year old cousin. Also a church in Canada gave us money to build a youth center and we will start on that in March/April. So I am looking forward to working with Vakafa and spending time with the Lima Malosi in the upcoming months.

It is hard to believe we only have about 16 months left and there is still so much to do!! We miss you terribly and love you dearly. ~ Keli & Mataio

PS – thank you for the Christmas cards!!!! YEAH!!!

Lessons Learned
I want to be a part of producing not consuming the energy of others
You cannot give what you do not have.
Sanctification isn't a spa treatment.
It is impossible to go anywhere unless you have a vision of what it will look like when you arrive.
Our worth should be measured in what we give away not what we keep.
I want to be a bulimic Christian that binges on Sunday and purges Mon-Sat.
Sand and sunscreen turn into superglue.
Laughter is never lost in translation.
I'm not good outside or inside, only in Him.
You know it's hot when you are just as wet sweating as bathing.
It seems those who have little give more.
Kerosene makes a decent nail polish remover.
Am I reactionary or revolutionary?
Am I spending or investing my time?
I know we have the power to hurt, can we use that power to heal?

Kelly Roy
gigglepic.com
vaportrail.typepad.com
mobile 011.679.937.5958

visit us online @ http://www.kioaisland.org/

 
 This is me giving you a hug!

  
 
 Christmas Day … I think Mataio was hoping the festivities would NEVER end. ;o)

  
 
 The village. 

  
 
 Almost done carving!

My Indiana Jones!

 We hiked to swim in the waterfalls.

 Te Ano!

 Mataio priming his paopao.

 
 Mataio said he would paint it red because that is my favorite color… But it looks like AGGIE MAROON TO ME!!!

 
 Almost ready! Stay tuned for Mataio's first voyage …

After a delay of several days due to holiday celebrations Papa and I, well really just Papa and whoever walked by while we were working on it, finished the canoe yesterday! I admit there was a part of me that thought it would never happen. But alas, I now have my very own paopao. I whole new world of possibilities now open. I can now learn how to fish, cruise to parts of the reef inaccessible by foot, and enjoy the beautiful sunrises hidden from our nook inside the bay.

The canoe hull was fully carved with the help of several elders. Papa finished up a few areas and then we lightly sanded the interior and exterior in preparation for the primer. As this was done a large log was smoldering over a lovo pit nearby. The wood was very moist and must be dried out before planing to shape. The wood is called mokosoi. After the priming was complete Papa shaped the outrigger supports from a red hardwood called lakokanakoula. Finding these two pieces of wood is very difficult as they both must have a branch bending at the same angle, be the same thickness, and length. After these were shaped the canoe carrying sticks were formed. I use the term stick as they are much smaller in diameter and serve no other purpose other than transportation to and from the water. The wood used here is the lakoumanogikana. It is also a hard wood but has a strong odor and is white.

When the primer dried Papa sent his son around the village looking for a drill and drill bit. This was needed to drill the holes we marked to tie down the outrigger supports and carrying sticks. To mark the hole locations Papa used a fishing line the length of the boat and sectioned it off in fourths. Then he proceeded to balance the poles in place, step back, eye their location from several angles, adjust their position, and then set, he was done! There wasn’t much scientific about it other than years of hand-eye engineering.

Papa’s son came back with a hand drill Moses must have used on the arc. The only problem was there was no bit. So he sent him off again to another section of the village seeking the proper sized bit. Kids are the messengers and couriers for everything in the village. They do so with amazing efficiency as well. There is no back talk or arguing. They receive instruction and dart off like a predator drone seeking its target. I remember doing this as a kid as well, but definitely not without making a few sidetracks along the way or whining a bit hoping to get out of it.

The drill bit was successfully retrieved but unfortunately it was still too big. This was no problem for Papa however as he pondered the situation a few moments and then quickly headed inside his house, rummaged around, and popped out with a thick piece of wire from hurricane screening. He grabbed the trusty file and began chiseling a point. He then inserted the make shift bit into the drill and off he went making the holes. There are no trips to Home Depot on a small island in the South Pacific so improvisation is the key to any successful venture.

After the holes were complete Papa began tying the supports with fishing line. We used 100lbs test line and two full roles where used when it was all said and done. This process is very simple but somewhat tedious. After the first two supports were tied Papa’s father Lemuelu, otherwise known and Papa’s Papa, helped out. The last step was attaching the now shaped outrigger to the supports. To do this, six 5” long wooden spikes from the same hard wood used for the carrying poles were carved. Then a large hole was drilled at the end of the outrigger pole and fishing line was used to tie the outrigger to the support by wrapping the line through the hole and around the bottom of the outrigger. Next three spikes where hammered into the outrigger forming a tight triangle around the support holding it firmly down to the large outrigger. Fishing line was then used to attach the spikes to the support. The excess parts of the spikes where then sawed off flush with the pole.

By the time the paopao was finished quite a crowd had gathered. Vovo had been instrumental in the outrigger attachment and several youths walking by joined in mainly for comic relief and assisting the elders. When the last tie was made Vovo’s son quickly grabbed the paopao and sprinted to the beach. Evidently ceremony for launching a paopao isn’t a bid deal as they were not going to waste any time getting her wet. I thought for sure there wold at least be a speech involved. As the paopao was hoisted ot the sea at a brisk clip another youth grabbed an oar tossed it to Vovo’s son and off he went paddling the Kioan Rokete, my paopao’s name, speedily through the bay. I tried to capture the momentous occasion but it was too dark to get good pictures. Alas, the small, but very fast, paopao was complete. Now the task before me is to learn the difficult skill of navigating the craft so I can dive and fish from it.

Ano is the name of a traditional game the islander’s play every New Years. Ano is the name of the large ball they play with that is the size of a softball but is actually a stone wrapped with leaves. The game is played on a rugby pitch with two teams facing each other within large rectangular boxes running the length of the field. The two rectangles are slightly offset and the server for each team stand directly in front of the opposing teams rectangle. The entire village could probably play if they so desired as the number of players is really limitless. They form lines of 3 or four and can extend back beyond the front line as long as there is still grass left to stand on.

The rules of the game are very similar to volleyball. The servers throw the ano up and whack it with their palm high in the air within the boundary of the opposing team’s rectangle. The opposition players then slap at the ball bouncing it back to the front of their box to the sopopopolo, the catcher who then pitches the retrieved ball to the server who is called the tinopa. This process follows until one team drops their ball or it is hit out of bounds. If both teams fail to successfully bounce the ball back to the front of the rectangle play starts over and each tinopa serves again at the same time. However, if one team drops the ball the other team can keep serving until the opposing team drops the ball again.

The second serve is hit much more forcefully and downward directly into the opposition’s front line of players. These are very boisterous youth who spend most of the time heckling and yelling chants mocking the opposing server. The line drives are batted upwards by the front line back towards the tinopa. This continues until the front line drops the ball. If this happens a point is scored. Once 10 points are scored a set is one. A set is called a taia. After 10 taia are scored a fatele is obtained. The first team to 10 fatele’s wins. This often takes several days of playing four to five hours a day to achieve. (note: the above rules where deduced after several hours of observations and interviews of elders under the influence of yogona. So apologies in advance to all you Ano experts out there!)

The game’s atmosphere is very festive. The front line youth are the most vocal but the back line islanders provide plenty of audible support by banging on breakfast cracker buckets and biscuit tins. After a fatele is won the winning team conducts a mini fatele in the middle of the field. Sometimes the elders give speeches, of course, and after the fatele play then resumes.

This year the sunrise side of the island won the game on day three of play. The opposing team, sunset, was thrown into the ocean and forced to provide a tea for the victors. This seemed an appropriate end to a wonderfully unique and festive game.

The chiefs of the island decide the length of New Year’s celebrations. I’m not sure what factors they use in this analysis or what motivates this critical decision, but for this year the consensus was six days of celebrations. The New Year is very important throughout Fiji and in some ways more lauded than Christmas; which is somewhat strange since it is mostly fundamental Methodists.

The islander’s step it up when it comes to New Years and to properly portray their dedication to marking this occasion one needs to look no farther than the falekaupule. This building is the central core to all that happens here and whenever there is an important event you can bet some part of it will be conducted within its four walls. Each day of celebration involves a two-hour church service starting at 6 am. This is followed by breakfast in the hall and then lunch around noon. A fatele is typically done after lunch. To wrap up the day dinner is served in the hall with a palagi style dance concluding the day’s activities. Repeat this process for six days with a few minor modifications of events here and there and that is how the villagers celebrate New Years.

We have been through several events in the falekaupule and they are all pretty much the same. The only changes are when a visiting dignitary is hosted or a wedding celebration held. I always leave completely exhausted from the many lengthy speeches given while sitting cross legged on concrete and decided this time to log the order of events as a way to pass the time and see just how many speeches there actually where. So here it goes:

Tuesday Lunch:
• MC opens the event – 1 minute
• Lunch – 18 minutes
• MC intros chief Tui – 1 minute
• Tui’s speech – 4 minutes
• Petueli’s speech – 3 minutes
• Visiting Pastor’s speech – 4 minutes
• Pastor’s speech – 2 minutes
• Lasati’s speech – 8 minutes
• MC’s concludes speeches and announces fatele – 1 minute
• Prep for fatele – 5 minutes
• Fateles:
• Five fatele’s for Sunrise side – 25 minutes
• Four fatele’s for Sunset side – 20 minutes
• Lasati’s speech – 3 minutes
• MC’s speech – 1 minute
• Elder’s speech – 1 minute
• Loto’s speech – 2 minutes
• Elder’s speech – 5 minutes
• Elder’s speech – 2 minutes
• Elder’s speech – 6 minutes
• Samalu’s speech – 7 minutes
• Chief Avatele’s speech – 6 minutes
• Pastor’s prayer – 2 minutes
• Lasati’s closing remarks – 1 minute

Summary: 2 hours and 12 speeches

Wednesday Lunch:
• MC opens the event – 11:57 pm – 1 minute
• Lunch ends – 12:17 pm – 20 minutes
• MC intros chief Tui – 12:18 pm – 1 minute
• Tui’s speech – 12:23 pm – 5 minutes
• My speech – 12:28 pm – 5 minutes
• Pastor’s speech – 12:33 pm – 5 minutes
• Visiting Pastor’s speech – 12:36 pm – 3 minutes
• Visiting Elder’s speech – 12:43 pm – 7 minutes
• Lasati’s speech – 12:51 pm – 8 minutes
• MC concludes event – 12:52 pm – 1 minute

Summary: 1 hour and 6 speeches

Our knees, back, and guts are not equipped to handle 18 of these celebrations so we decided to set some boundaries and just attend the lunch service each day. I still ended up with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and a sore back but thankfully contracted no serious illnesses. The pulagi system just isn’t built for such partying.

Christmas and New Years have come and gone but we’re still celebrating in the village! Christmas came and went and although the bamboo guns where somewhat annoying we made it through a little shaken but otherwise in good spirits. We where warned, though, that New Years would be ten times the event Christmas was with not only the bamboo bombs, but all night caroling by food demanding youths, large food fights, and a culminating mass hurling of bodies into the ocean. We’ve never been big on New Years celebrations so we decided it best to lay low this year and make our way to ===, Gloria’s village on the southern side of Taveuni.

We had been to === once before and were excited to get back to the friendly and laid back pace of this small Fijian outpost settled at the end of the eastern bus route. The people here are amazingly friendly. All the kids love people and excitedly say Bula! no matter how many times you’ve passed them that day. The men and women flash genuine smiles showing their deep and simple joy towards life. Last time Gloria was back in the states visiting her sick father, who had since passed away.

We spent most of the time huddled on her tiny living room floor yarning away enjoying Gloria’s awesome cooking. This was about all we could do as the weather was non-cooperative with showers 95% of the time. === is still gorgeous rain or shine, though. The last day the showers finally abated a bit and we went out on the coastal walk with Simone as our guide. Simone is a bright smiling 40 something Fijian with an adventurous attitude towards life. He has been a guide on the trail for over 10 years and is very knowledgeable on the vegetation and terrain of this part of Fiji. He also has a wonderful sense of humor and kept us laughing multiple points through out the trek.

Last time we made the 6km walk the current up to the falls was two swift to swim. This time the water was perfect and we were able to swim to the large pool collecting water from two offsetting falls. One fall comes in low and the other much higher. Simone demonstrated his expertise by quickly navigating the turbulent current of the pool, scampering up the slimy rock wall adjacent to the fall, and launching his body off the highest fall. Check out the video for his heroics. Several other volunteers have done the same, but I haven’t quite mustered up the courage to make the plunge. Plus some visitors have been severely injured from the fall ,and I guess such risks become more realistic with age. Ten years ago I would have done a gainer off it.

After he played slip and slide on the smaller fall, we left the pool and swam back to the trail. On the way out we heard him making a bird call. In the distance we heard a bird respond and he quickly pointed out that was a barking pigeon. The way he said it though sounded like barking Fijian. It was quite funny as we have seen a few of those as well.

(note: if you haven’t guessed already from my constant use of villager and island, Peace Corps Policy is to not name volunteer villages for security purposes. Thus the ===.)

Other than leap year, December 30th is a pretty hard birthday to have. Everyone is exhausted from Christmas and resting up for New Years.  So, we decided to sing you the Fijian Birthday song to cheer you up on your Birthday!! Yeah!!  Three Cheers for Granelly!!

Download GranellyBday

We hope this finds you with family and friends celebrating the true reason for the season! We miss you terribly during this holiday and hope you know how much we love you! Things have yet to slow down on the island…. we prepared for and finally received the Prime Minister of Tuvalu on Tuesday (since all the Kioans are from Tuvalu this is a big deal) and then celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in true Kioan fashion – feasting and dancing. There was, however, an addition to the usual festivities for Christmas – the pamupu fana AKA bamboo gun. Yes, children of all ages, shapes, and sizes partook in lighting kerosene inside a shoot of bamboo 24/7 all day and all night. Whoever has the loudest boom without burning flesh wins! For 48 hours non-stop we felt like we were on the beaches of Normandy…. for more details and a video, check out Mataio's earlier blog post.

Our Christmas living in London was unique, but at least we had similar climates! I am told it is snowing in Texas now and it is a just the opposite here! To top off our unique Christmas, we cooled off by snorkeling in our backyard. Wishing you were all here … Merry Christmas! We love you! Keli & Mataio

Kelly Roy

gigglepic.com

vaportrail.typepad.com

mobile 011.679.937.5958

visit us online @ http://www.kioaisland.org/

Canoe flotilia to welcome the Prime Minister of Tuvalu.

See the outhouse overhanging the river? See the children fishing? 

Apparently it is perfectly fine to poop on your food, but not on blueprints!

We finally felt Christmas-y when we received an AWESOME package from Jill!! Thank You!! We love you!!! 

Some photos from the reef just outside the village.

 The water is shallow and the water clear. Perfect for snorkeling!

We celebrated Christmas Eve with our neighbors, Paki and Filo. 

Yes mom, I'm sunburned. Yes mom, I wore sunscreen. Yes mom, I burned my arm on the "oven" again. Yes mom, I am being careful.      

Here is my first attempt at 'video' blog.  Well, it is the 90's so I figured I'd better get with the times.  

I was really just trying to find away to capture our Christmas experience and felt there was no other option but video to completely grasp the full effect.  Enjoy…

Download Christmas

Looks like my family received their Christmas presents from Fiji! I forgot to tell them how to wear the sulus and that your not supposed to tuck in the bula shirts … but I think they still look amazing! Especially Jackson – who knew a pocket sulu would look so good with John Deer Boots!! I LOVE & MISS YOU!!! ~Kelly