Kavewa Sevusevu
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Sat 28 Aug 2010 03:34
|
Thursday 26th August 1428 local 0228
UTC
16:11.72S 179:33.80E
The Great Sea Reef in Fiji is the third longest
barrier reef in the world after the Barrier Reef in Australia and the reef off
Belize, which in fact I had never heard about.
We entered it through the Sau Sau passage and once
inside we turned East to head for a little Island we had spotted on the chart
and where we thought we may find a nice anchorage. We had also met a girl from
this island in the village at Nagigi who said we should visit her
family.
I was nervous about the navigation inside the reef
here as we had been told by many people it was a dangerous and infrequently
visited place. The water was certainly not as clear as we would have liked and
there were a few issues with the paper charts and electronic charts not matching
that I was wary of. My waryness was justified when on the way to the island
of Kavewa there was a charted island of significant size which was missiing
all together! Checking the paper charts we could see that they were prepared
from surveys in 1879!
We proceeded carefully and anchored off Kavewa off
the reef between it and a little deserted sand ringed islet. We then
visited the village to offer Sevusevu to the chief. A large pandannis mat had
been prepared and laid out for us to sit on, under the shade of a large tree.
We got the impression someone was off to get the
chief, and we sat talking on the mat with an older and younger man. There
were many other men and children around sitting under the shade of the tree but away from the mat. We were
presented with two fresh coconuts to drink the water from - through a natural
straw made from a PawPaw stem and were then given two pairs of enormous
Plantains and instructions on how to cook them.
After some considerable time and being entertained
by the children's and it has to be said the adult's facination with us, the
older man istting next to me said - "the Sevusevu - you can do it now". I did
not realise all this time that this man WAS the chief! I dont think any
offence was caused but it was a little embarrassing. I should have realised as
no other people came onto the mat other than the Chief his son and the
grandchildren.
The Chief's acceptence of the sevusevu was very
ritualised and all the men gathered round chanted after the chief punctuated
with them all making a series of single claps before the chief picked up the
Sevu sevu which I had laid before him. Sevusevu is an offering to the chief
which is generally a bundle of dried Yaqona (Kava) plant
roots. They would later pound this down into powder, from which Kava would
be made.
The Chief accepted and picked up our Sevusevu
and passed it to another to go and prepare. Then an enormous Kava bowl was
taken out and two other senior men sat either side and prepared the "grog".
A younger man was elected to serve the Kava and he was nervous about his task.
He took each bilo (a half coconut bowl) and knelt down just off the mat and
presented the bowl with both hands first to the Chief then the two other senior
men then me then Trish, then himself. We had a few bowls and then the Chief
wanted to come out and "help" me move to a slightly better anchoring
spot.
I think he just wanted to come and see the boat and
his "skills" at choosing an anchor spot brought us too close to unsuitably
shallow water, so I just anchored where I could see a better spot myself.
Nearby his wife, daughter and grandchild were fishing in an open boat and the
daughter and child came aboard as well. The daughter had very good English
and was interesting to talk to.
We invited him and his family to lunch the
next day and it seemed they accepted and we had a date. The next
day Trish prepared a lunch of Mahi Mahi after our visit to the
little island while I scrubbed the bottom of the boat - again. They never
turned up for lunch but the chief turned up in his boat with a crew
of five or six guys, having been out fishing. Interestingly the chief was
wearing sunglasses and a headcovering - things which others are not supposed to
wear in the village as it is a sign of disrespect to him. They gave us a fish
which we accepted and I said to him we were expecting him for lunch. I suggested
they came in a couple of hours time, and again I thought we had a date. They
never turned up, but the daughter passed by and said they would come for dinner
instead - soon.
They never turned up! Eventually ay about seven
o'clock the chief's wife and his son came to visit and it seemed they were
expecting dinner. By this time Trish was furious and had thrown in the towel
with the whole deal so I rustled up a few platefuls from the dinner which had
been cooked as lunch seven hours before.
They were very nice and did apologise saying
that the chief and his daughter had to make a trip to the main island instead.
We had good conversation and gifts were again exchanged as is customary.
The son said he would return in the morning at 0700 with the DVD's he had
borrowed and asked if could take four children with him to see the boat. We had
already had a previous visit from a very nice group of the Chief's
grandchildren.
At 0700 the chief and his daughter arrived back
from the main island, and the son arrived with about 20 children to visit the
boat! It was hilarious and I just sat back and let them get on with it. In
between I noticed that the chief was examining in detail the DVD's that his son
had brought back. I got the impression that he was checking out the viewing
material to see if it was suitable....
The chief never apologised for not coming the
previous day and all the time had the whole crew running around after him doing
various tasks and chores.
The Chief system in Fiji is a complex tradition. It
is a hereditary title and carries great respect among all those in the chiefdom,
almost like a whole series of mini royal famailies. A council of Chiefs also,
before the military coup, acted almost as a senate to the parliament and also
implemented policy throughout the islands. All those in the Chiefs area are very
respectful and deferential towards him and his family and it all seems to
be a well accepted way of living life in
the villages.
Without getting too involved in social policy,
however, it has to be said that the system is not in any way progressive in fact
it is repressive and stifles peoples individual opportunities. Many aspects
of village life require all to contribute pro rata to ones ability to
contribute. Therefor if one earns, by ones own endeavours some wealth then
one is expected to contribute a greater, disproportionate amount to
the rest of the village. This is of course a natural disincentive to individuals
improving their lot. That in turn keeps everyone well and truly in line - below
the chief.
The Chief's wife was a school teacher and was
forced to retire at 55 after the military government decided to slash public
spending. She though that the government were doing some good things and some
not so good things, but her son did not approve of the new government. He has
been the exception - as all other people we have met have said the military
goverment are doing a good job, getting things done and stamping out political
corruption and reducing unaffordable public expenditure. Mmmm ...... now then
..............
I found the whole episode another interesting
experience, Trish was very impressed by the chief's bad manners at keeping her
waiting for lunch and dinner. I think to him it was just a demonstartion of the
fact that he was the boss and could do as he pleased.
On Thursday morning we set off from Kavewa to see
how far along the coast we could get and to try to find a suitable anchorage
without sailing over any coral.
|
