Lots happening but no time to blog (On SI Fiji Region Meeting)

Photo 1: Training on 'Online Reporting'
Photo 2: Attentive Soroptimists in the training session
Photo 3: Six crazy women heading back to Suva


Lots happening but its a pity that I am not able to blog as frequently I would like to. One of the interesting day trip was a trip to Ba. SI Fiji Region had its region meeting on 25th July and we were six soroptimists from SI Suva who were going to attend the meeting. Suva is east of Viti Levu and Ba is North-West. We rented a car from Carpenter Motors and started our journey at 5.30a.m. Rosemary was the one to pick everyone up, so the poor soul started at 5.15a.m. and after picking up all the five women, we were off to Ba. I have been on Queens road several times with my family but this was different. Six professional and community oriented women (obviously we must have something in common, that is why we are soroptimists) left their homes early morning and each one of them so organised that we had no shortage of tea, coffee and milo! The trip was good, we talked and argued and laughed and panicked since we wanted to reach by 10.30 to start off the meeting at 11a.m. sharp. We reached on time. I conducted a training session on 'Online Reporting', our federation of South West Pacific has revamped the website and we now report all the projects online, this is something new so members need to be trained! We then had our region executive meeting followed by lunch and general meeting. We then drove back at 4.15p.m, this time I drove. We were tired and cranky but some of us wanted to stop to buy vegetables since we get fresh and cheap vegetables in west. By the time we reached Sigatoka, it seems we had lost our marbles and we had music blasting and women dancing inside the car!!! We had to reach before 10 otherwise we would have to pay another day's rental, so I was basically concentrating on making us reach in time as well as in one piece, this was a big ask considering there were lots of distraction such as dancing (I like to dance too!) and some classic jokes from these women who you would not even think could get this crazy!! Good fun ladies, I had a good time, another very good experience in Fiji for me!!!

The Lovo - Fijian Traditional Food

Lovo is a Fijian recipe that involves cooking meat, vegetables etc in cocnut milk and just salt to your taste and bake it on hot stones/ woodfire. At Pacific Harbour Village, they give a demonstration of Lovo preparation. I absolutely love 'lovo', it is one of my favourite foods along with palusami (a leafy vegetable cooked in coconut milk).
Some photos of lovo prepartion will demonstrate the procedure involved. Check bottom to top to get the order of cooking. Step 1 is preparing the pit while food in parcels on the table is ready to be cooked is at the bottom of this entry going to top it the last step 15 with empty pit.

My first bowl of Kava

Pacific Harbour is about 60 kms away from Suva, it has beautiful beaches and a commercial centre that preserves 'art and culture'. I had my first bowl of kava when we visited the 'Pacific Harbour Village' with Catherine in Nov 2008 at Pacific Harbour. The botanical name of kava is Piper methysticum, it is considered a social drink in the some of the Pacific Island nations, its given huge importance in Fiji. It gives you a feeling of numbness and you feel sleepy after drinking it. Traditionally, the roots of kava are mixed with water and the resulting solution is then drunk as kava. I had witnessed the ceremony before during my charity projects functions, however, did not get a chance to drink. Although this was a commercial scene. What the demonstrator mixed with water is the kava powder which is sold in market. Nevertheless, eperience of the drink would be nearly the same. So here I was, got a chance and grabbed it. I would like to have it again to understand and relish the drink properly.