15: Suva, Leleuvia and a women's meeting - (Ruth)

I am in Tim's house. Tim is our Australian couch surfer host, living in the capitol Suva, working here for some years. Even if this is a rather large town life is kind of lazy, there seem to be no stress, happy, easy-going pop music is heard on the buses and a lot of other public spaces. Fijians walk around slowly, enjoying their walking. They are friendly and one is often greeted with "Bula", the word for hello. Many men wear skirts, or sulus, even here in town. I am now sitting in Tim's home office writing, he kindly let us use his PC. From the Methodist church across the road the quire is heard, singing nicely in three voices again. every day in the afternoon they beat the wooden LALI instrument to call people in for a service. Tim just bought himself a new bicycle and is outside for his first ride. The office room is rather dark. There are purple curtains and behind them the iron grids in front of every window. People here protect themselves from crime this way. I guess it is necessary, but do not feel quite comfortable with the atmosphere created by it. Tim has generously offered us to stay in his house for a week, and we are happy about this. It gives Mari and myself the possibility to use the house as a base and do small trips on our own. Even if the tone between us most of the time is remarkably good we need some time apart when travelling together for such a long time.

All the couch surfers in Suva stay in contact with each other and use to met each other in a cafe. Through this we have met many nice people. Mari makes plans with some young people and seems to have a good time. I am happy to talk to Losana, is one of the couchsurfer hosts, a warmhearted woman married to a Scottish man with two boys from a previous marriage. Losana is just the right "mother" figure for these boys, and they get on well. Losana works in the University here and is engaged in women's liberation movement.

After some days in Tim's rather closed up house I need to find some other atmosphere and take off for a two days island trip to get some sun, bathing and boat riding. To get there one has to take a local bus, and then go by private boat transport. I was thinking I would find some sort of regular ferryboat, but this is not the case, I found out. Luckily a private family is waiting to go to one of the nearby islands, and I am invited to join their private boat, the last boat for the direction of the islands this day. What luck!!

First the boat goes in huge swings on a jungle flood with tight rain forest trees with the branches and leaves coming all the way down to the water surface, hanging out over it. The colours are immensely green. Suddenly the flood merges with the sea and the landscape opens up. I enjoy riding boats very much and this is the first time during our entire travel. The weather is good and everybody seems to be happy. The family I am with is very nice and friendly like most Fijians. They are heading for a birthday party and bring beautiful cakes. It is a speed boat. We are 12 people and quite a lot of luggage. No life belts are available in the boat I notice. (Later Tim tells me that drowning is the second biggest cause of death in Fiji. Most Fijians never learn to swim). Twenty minutes later I arrive safely on Leleuvia. The family waves goodbye and proceeds to the other island.

I am warmly received by Lena, the woman who runs the small and relatively cheap guest houses here. For 50 Fiji dollars I have a cottage and three nice meals a day. The island is immensely beautiful and very quiet. I meet some other travellers from different parts of the world, not ordinary tourists. During the evening the men working on the island sing beautiful Fijian songs in three voices, accompanying themselves on guitars and ukulele. They really love the songs and put their whole souls into them. It sounds very nice and the fact that some of the instruments are poorly tuned do not matter at all. I join them on two spoons for rhythms and some improvised voices. I am very welcome in the music All the guests gradually turn into one group. The New Zealand woman Lois sings passionately with a lot of vibrato a honeymoon song for a newly married couple. I sing some Norwegian songs. It is a spontaneous, happy event.

I stay here for two days, and on the second evening they arrange an international crab race. CRAB RACE????? All the guests are given torches and are instructed to look for their crabs to represent their nationality. With a touch of fear I imagine we are going to use the sort of big crabs used for eating in Norway. However it turns out to be small hermit crabs (eremittkreps) that we shall be looking for. I have some trouble to find them, but after I while I find a white one, several metres from the beach, under some leaves. This is supposed to be the Norwegian crab. All the guests gather with their crabs, and then the race start. They have arranged a wooden thing with three separate paths. Three crabs compete without knowing it, but follows the paths as they are supposed to. Amazing! Everyone shouts to encourage their crabs!!! The atmosphere is dense and, oh no!! The Norwegian crab comes to the goal as number 2 in the first round. I am beaten. There are several rounds and in the final round only Fiji and England is left, and England wins clearly. All the losers (Check Republic, New Zealand, Scotland Norway and Fiji however seem to be good losers).

The prize (not unexpected) another bowl of KAWA, the local drink we have tasted here. It is made from water and some herbs and tastes dreadfully bitter. No alcohol. Your mouth is getting numb and it is a mildly sedative herb. The ritual is to send around a coconut shell with kawa. To refuse the kawa bowl going round I am told is rather impolite and everyone has to clap their hands after each drink and say a ritual word I have forgotten already. After a few bowls I still decide to stop drinking the awful drink and I refuse the kawa bowl as politely as possible. No one seems to bother after all. The guests at Leleuvia meet for the meals. They joke with each other "What are you gonna do today? "Lie down" , "take a swim", "go snorkeling", "read a book", "walk around the island on low tide". The answers are obvious. There is not much to do on this island, but everybody among the guests seem to like the very quiet life in this place. I definitely enjoy my time here on Leleuvia. It is enough just to be and sense and think. If I need contact it is available.

The next night I am exited to meet Losanas women's group. She has told me that she was involved in the political work on influencing the process of making a new women and family law a few years ago. The present group first has started as part of the local crisis center, but they chose to break out after a conflict with the leaders of the center, where they felt they were not empowered.

Losana generously picks me up in a taxi and we arrive at the house of one of the women, where she lives with her mother and younger brother. We arrive and I expect to talk with these women and hear about their lives and the groups work, about the political situation for women here. They all great me nicely when I arrive. The women are aged from 25 to around 35 I would estimate. The mother is 63 and keeps us company. The women are all survivors from some kind of bad experience that brought them to the crisis center. What actually happens in the meeting is something entirely different from my expectations, something that surprises me a lot. They all turn out to be eager supporters of RUGBY. The TV is put on. This is the first time I ever see rugby. I watch these male Australian and New Zealand rugby players showing a lot of brute force, coming together in the one SCRAM after the other (crawling and lying in a big bunch). Most of the time it seems that the ball is under the men. It looks very strange and funny to me. All the women are really digging this game. Each time the New Zealand team is scoring some of them would go in the middle of the floor, shaking their hips as part of the celebration. It is really stunning. No one is commenting on the paradox of the situation, that in fact they use their meeting to adore the behaviour of these men on TV. Very weird!! After the rugby game the stereo is turned on. ABBA music streams out, they dance happily and let their bodies loose together. This part is very nice and the women are empowering each other in movement, challenging each other in the dancing. A few of them tell me they are very surprised that I am 52 years old. How is this possible, they ask me? Women here in Fiji do not look like this when they are 50. I am flattered.

Now, I expect we will really start talking and sharing stories. I am really curious to talk learn more about them this evening, but no! One of the women tells a few stories making fun of her husband and they are all laughing. Suddenly Losana tells me that this is a "vorspiel" and that they all will be leaving the house in a few minutes to go for a night club. A taxi is ordered. I choose to go to our lodging. This was the story of the meeting in women's group. The next day I am told that during the night they had been acting out a lot of energy, trying out borders, dancing on the tables, shouting and singing to the hip-hop-music.