A quick kava lesson

So what's kava again!? I tell you how I drink it regularly but have yet to actually describe it. Let me give you a groggy little lesson.

KAVA, also called yaqona or grog, is a large part of Fijian culture. It is a mild narcotic, looks like light brown muddy water and makes your tongue go numb. Yaqona is a type of pepper plant. Grown in tropical areas. And in order to create the lovely kava powder, must be separated from the leaves and then dried out in the sun so its brittle enough to pound into powder.
Yaqona is such an intricate part of Fiji's culture because it revolves around everything. People drink it on a daily basis here but most have no idea why or how it actually became such an integral part of the culture. Every important ceremony such as marriage, offerings of forgiveness, deaths, for church, after church, hosting important guests in the village, saying goodbye for an extended period of time, or just because it's Saturday are just some of the reasons to grog. When visiting a village a visitor is usually required to give an i sevusevu or the ceremony during which you present a yaqona root wrapped in newspaper and tied with ribbon, in order to offer your gratitude and hopefully acceptance to stay in the village with their blessing.

There are certain protocols to be followed at a kava ceremony. Sit cross-legged, if you're a guest you must sit above the tanoa (large wooden bowl), if you're apart of the village you sit behind it. Women usually sit behind the men, and the elderly are allowed to bring cushions because if it's a good ceremony it means people have brought lots of kava to drink until the wee hours of the night. Never walk across the circle of participants facing the front (unless you're already sitting up front) or one of the youth who is giving the cups of kava. Also DO NOT turn your back to or point your feet at the tanoa, or step over the cord that leads from the tanoa to a white cowrie shell, which represents a link with the spirits. Right against the back part of the tanoa are always 3 people, more often than not men, and the "youth". They will make the kava bowl.

Once it's dried, the root is then "tuki"d or pounded into a thin powder, and wrapped in a piece of cloth. Then water is poured into the tanoa and the piece of cloth is twisted and ringed out in order for the powder to mix with the water. Then the main middle man behind the tanoa claps his hands three times and does the "stir the pot" move over the yaqona to bless the bowl. After the bowl has also been blessed by a long Fijian blessing, you will be offered a drink of the resulting concoction from a bilo (half a coconut shell). Clap once, accept the bilo, say "bula vinaka or cola vina" to say offer good health and peace to the men and women surrounding you & whosever house it is, and finally drink it down. Then, clap three times in gratification. The drink will be shared until the tanoa is empty (they refill it and refill it until there is no more powder left). After a few bilo's you may feel a slight numbness of the lips. Longer, 5-7 hour sessions with stronger mixes can make you very drowsy, and some heavy drinker develop kanikani (scaly skin).

For a village Peace Corps Volunteer like me, being at grog sessions is used for bonding with villagers, for storytelling sessions or beginning to talk about business plans. Many ears in the village fill with delight when the distinct "dinging" sound of the metal rod pounding the brittle root into powder in a long metal cylinder bowl. Today kava is a part of daily life across the country and across the races. It's actually sold in the US! Check it out :)

Below is a picture of me drinking kava, group 89's very first i sevusevu and grog session with the Peace Corps staff, then my first encounter with my training village Lodoni (see how there's three men surrounding the tanoa bowl), a sign of a store where women sell small bags of already pounded powdered kava, and how the i sevusevu's look in the market (these are what guests and large ceremony gatherings will give)!!

Rua-sagavulu-ka-tolu

So I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you don't know what my title means. It means the number 23 written in Fijian (Roo-ah sanga vulu ka toe-lu) As in this past weekend I am officially at the age of 23. Woopdiedoo :( And let me be frank, turning 23 in this beautiful amazing and breathtaking place can not even completely turn my birthday frown upside down. For all those people who hate me for saying this, I'm sorry... But 23 is not an age I wanted to be nor did I ever want to turn because it just makes me feel like an adult. And I have never thought of myself as "adult" material.

But my last few weeks at site have been amazing, and people who are important to me here are really just making it easier to be 23. After our 10 day training in Pacific Harbor, a few of us went to Suva to get some dance and be crazy time. A little let loose after the stress of training! It was really fun, and I was glad I went. Then that same weekend I spent some time with another volunteer in Rakiraki. You haven't seen crystal clear oceans, plush green mountains, and the beauty of Fiji until you take a bus from Suva to Rakiraki town. Rakiraki and its Peace Corps inhabitants are just some overall great guys. Especially the one in my group, Matt! He's one of those guys that are just good and easy to be yourself around. And whenever I go visit him we always nerd out and watch Game of Thrones, cook something random and chat about life experiences. Haha sounds like me and my best friend at home, MISS YOU MADISON!! <3 but for my birthday weekend he let me steal away to Rakiraki to enjoy the sites and just stay inside. Check out some pictures from my trip to Rakiraki!

My job has been crazy!! So as I have mentioned before I work for several areas of the Ministry of Health, but I also work for my village. So while most volunteers here work directly with a health center or health inspector, I get to work with the hospital's NCD team, Sigatoka Health Center's School Health team, and Korolevu's Health Center outreach while still maintaining a work schedule for my village. Plus another volunteer and I want to work on a peer education manual and help primary/secondary schools with a booklet on activities to make being a health promoting school easier in the classroom. I have been crazy busy attending village meetings, doing school health talks, assisting Hospital programs for NCD's, doing curriculum research and village outreach events. I'm exhausted every evening on the bus ride home from work. But lucky for me Fiji is a wonderful place and the people I work with are seriously phenomenal. The different teams I work with are such an intricate and balanced family. One nurse on the NCD team talked to me about her personal life and even sought my council. I told her I wasn't a professional though my degree is psychology but she told me everything anyway.

Now I don't know if I ever explain a typical I Tau ke or Indian Fijian person, but neither group of people are very willing to even talk a little bit about their personal lives. Others personal lives, sometimes but to talk of their own trials and tribulations with a foreigner like me is a huge deal because it means they trust us deeply. I can't even explained how touched I was to know intimate details of her life and even her asking for what I thought she should do. And then another time a wife of a very important person in the village came to me and after talking for a while told me many intimate details of her troubled marriage. I honestly have no idea how I have been able to make these women feel it's ok to talk to me about these issues after only knowing me for a short period of time but it is a blessing I'm sure. These past few weeks at site have been nothing short of blessings.

Today I went to a local Health Promoting School, and had the most amazing talk with the Class 8 (12-13 yr old children) about sexual health. I split the groups in girls and boys and when I talked with the boys questions flooded out about everything!! And it was crazy when they saw the teachers walk around they would shoosh their voices and turn the topic to something else. It felt great to sit and talk to them about being safe and why it's important to always be conscious of your actions. I felt like I was getting through to them, though it was funny when their first question was if I was single. Typical boys. Though there was a very young Muslim teacher who I had my eye on all day lol. Oh Fiji...

By the way, in case you wanted to know, a Health Promoting School is a school that does just that: Promotes a healthy well-being for the children in and outside the classroom. The United States Public School system could learn a thing or two from this. Now though it's difficult to follow every guideline, like build a community garden, change over the snack canteen to only healthy foods, or even making the area a healthy and aesthetically pleasing environment for the students... every school has priorities that can hopefully influence the students to make better choices. A Health Promoting class, specified teeth brushing time after lunches, lunch box checks or specific days that are for physical activity etc, all for the promotion of health lifestyles in their future. It's a wonderful concept, but its the follow through that is what holds the development back. Many schools find it hard to carry out all these practices for a multitude of reasons, which leads to decaying teeth in children age 7, hefty lazy children, and malnourished cases for the clinics. It's sad to see some children with beautiful smiles whose teeth are black and they're only 6 years old.

In other news, my favorite fellow Peace Corps volunteer Tricia is out visiting her family in Taiwan, I miss her a lot :( she lives in Suva and I think I talk to her more than 2-3 times a week (which is a lot haha). After training I think I have a new perspective on everyone. Good one though :) It's amazing how intricate people are! I've been having really good conversations with people back home and it just makes me miss it so much!! My beautiful little Sam, my best friends Justin Madison Amanda Frank and Shannon, my wonderful siblings and family. The best moment though over the past month had to be when my past boss Larry and Madison sent over packages for me! Maps, crayons, markers, cards, uno, a cuddly giraffe of happiness, shampoo/conditioner, make up and a safe case for my ipad. AKA Christmas came late but my birthday came early!! Then as a birthday present, my local Fijian mom helped me completely re-decorate and clean my large house (new pictures to be posted soon). Even though it's been a complete mess of weather with the rain, it's seriously been a great couple of weeks. Though yesterday when I didn't have any water after coming home from a long day of work was devastating. NO BATH :'( lol

Well, as I said turning 23 has been an internal battle but an external celebration with amazing gifts of confidence and love to be thankful for. Peace Corps has honestly taught me so many things in these past 6 months. OMG I've been here for 6 months! This experience is truly a blessing! Thanks everyone for the amazing birthday wishes! Love you!