A Visit to Dalice and Nasau villages on Makogai Island – Fiji

August 9th and 10th made such a deep impression on me that it was difficult for me to write about it that same evening. That’s why this will be a throwback.

The last image of the first day was Vina, an eight-year-old girl standing on the unfinished pier trying to catch a fish and waving at us with her heartwarming smile.

Back to the beginning.

In the morning, Norah, Peter and I went ashore (Joe was writing her bachelor’s thesis) hoping to meet the ‘kape’, the village chief, to give him kava roots that we had brought from Savusavu for the greeting ceremony ‘sevusevu’. A Fijian tradition that we learned about in Savusavu and thus had prepared the yaqona roots as a gift. From the yaqona roots, by grinding them, the basic ingredient for ‘kava’ is made, a traditional, non-alcoholic drink.

We met the kape at the beach with a group of men waiting for a boat to pick them up for diving and fishing. But before we met him, the kape, he was already giving us directions about the channel through the reef to the beach and that we could tie our dinghy to the lines of their boat.

When we approached the above-mentioned group of men and asked for the kape, it turned out that it was the kape who had advised us. Norah gave him the yaqona roots and he appreciated them. According to tradition, he told us that “whoever owns the land owns the sea” and that we were welcome to anchor in the bay and walk through the island and village. He also asked Emma, his 10-year-old daughter, to show us the ruins of the former leper colony. She did so more than happily. She already speaks very good English.

Shortly after we began our walk with Emma, Vina came running up to us from behind, beaming across her whole face. We already knew each other from the day before. Today was Saturday, so no school.

The leper colony was nothing but ruins. We saw remains of the cinema and the prison and what could have been houses. At the end of the colonial period, the island was uninhabited for another 10 years, then the first settlers came. The father of today’s kape was one of these first settlers.

About the leper station:
https://chatgpt.com/share/68a66456-e99c-800b-b475-550d3114b053
Above link gives a longer story which matches information I got from other AIs I’m using.

Then came the question “Have you ever eaten ‘wara’?” “Wara, what is that?” “Come with us,” and we left the path. Emma searched in another corner and Vina took us along. She quickly pointed to a coconut from which a shoot was already emerging. So that is a ‘wara’ and you can eat the contents. We took about 5 waras with us. When we arrived in the village, Emma briefly went into her parents’ house and got a machete. Then we went to the “village tree”. I call it that because it has spreading branches with many leaves. Under it is an approximately 60 cm high, about 2m x 3m large, somewhat aged wooden platform on which the people of the tiny village gather in their traditional way.

Emma placed a wara between 2 stones on the ground and split it lengthwise with a few well-aimed machete blows. And then she showed us the inside of the wara. It’s not just the normal coconut meat on the inner walls, the whole coconut is filled with a different “meat”. You simply take it out with your fingers and eat it. Vina also showed me that there’s a fibrous structure inside that you also simply pull out. This part tastes fresh and has a much softer consistency than normal coconut meat. A delight and I learned something new about coconuts again.

Then Ateca also joined us. She is a young woman who came to the island through the fisheries ministry and spent 5 months dealing with the cultivation and release of mussels into the sea. From her we learned quite a bit about life and the people on the island. In the end, she gave me her email address so we could send her photos.

In the meantime, Peter had brought Joe back to the MaRe so she could continue writing her bachelor’s thesis.

Then we set off for Nasau, the other village, about 4 km from Dalice.

The path, an unpaved road, went up and down and repeatedly opened up views over the sea. Since the sun was shining well, it was more pleasant to walk where the canopy was closed over the road, even if the humidity was higher there. Jungle atmosphere.

When we arrived at a crossroads and wondered which way was right, a woman joined us. She led us on the direct path into the village and to the covered veranda where everyone was sitting, singing to guitar music, drinking kava, and having a good time.

We asked for the father of the kape from Dalice. He was sitting right in front of us. Since we no longer had yaqona roots, we apologized for this and asked for permission to visit his village as well. We were most warmly welcomed and asked to sit down. Of course, we immediately got kava to drink in half a coconut shell. Besides the normal questions “Where from?”, “Where to?” regarding us, we learned what happened in Nasau after Cyclone ‘Winston’ (2016). Ian, an Australian sailor, started a project to rebuild the school. Bruce, a sailor who was there with his wife, had come back to the island the day before with Ian on his St Francis after about 7-8 years. What luck we had. We saw a long list of sailors who were also involved in this project. A particular challenge was landing building materials because in Nasau there is no pier, only a sandy beach. So everything had to be brought ashore from small boats by walking through the water. It was, so it’s said, work that was done by the women of the village. I can only take my hat off to these women.

The school today consists of two buildings with several classrooms, office, and teachers’ room. All students on the island are taught at this school, including the children from Dalice. They are transported back and forth in an open school boat and have to walk a few steps through the water when getting in and out. (What would that be like for helicopter parents who would prefer to drive their children in an SUV right into the classroom?)

I remember one classroom very well. It was for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. There were 5 tables for 5 children in 3 age groups.

What I really liked were the many hand-painted posters hanging on the walls. Here the students repeatedly see the most important things about a subject; with us, the books are closed and the material is forgotten. So that the little ones remember the multiplication tables well, it’s painted on an exterior wall. Simple. Practical. Effective.

What I had already noticed with Emma and Vina was the good English they spoke at the ages of 8 and 10. Thanks to Vitalina, the English teacher, for that and for the tour through the really interesting school.

I noticed that all roofs have three medium-sized solar panels. Vitalina showed us her system with 2 x 100 Ah 12V lead batteries and an inverter to 230V. Vitalina said that the system is just enough to charge the phone. It’s a shame that more doesn’t come out of it. This is primarily due to the lead batteries that are finished after 5 years. The equally old solar panels probably also only produce part of the performance they once delivered. Someone, presumably from the government, paid for the initial equipment but forgot about the aging process.

Where is there someone who finances a dozen replacement batteries and possibly the replacement of solar panels?

The school tour was already triggered by Diana. A girl of about 10-11 years old from Nasau. She, accompanied by two younger girls, showed us the simple church that people love to live their faith in.

Then the conversation turned to papaya. Diana offered us some. When we said that she needed them herself, an “Oh no, we have plenty of them” came out of her mouth. So we set off again to a papaya tree right next to the church. It was probably her younger sister who quickly climbed up the papaya tree and twisted off the two already ripe papayas and threw them to Diana. You have to know that the papaya tree is a good 5m high and has a smooth trunk. It’s not easy to climb a papaya tree barefoot. But here everyone seems to be able to do this.

Slowly the time to say goodbye came. We still had to walk back. If I remember correctly, it was the kape who was sitting next to me who said we should go back with the school boat that was supposed to bring Ian, Bruce and his wife back.

So there was another green coconut for each of us to drink; I love this delicacy. Refreshing and nutritious.

Then came the departure. Almost everyone who was gathered went with us to the beach. Two young people went ahead and began to bring the motorboat, which was anchored in sufficiently deep water, to the beach so we could all get in easily. Something that the school children from Dalice have to do twice every school day. At the not-weak outboard motor, the guitar player took his place. He knew the boat and he also knew the waves. Extremely skillfully he steered the boat through the surf and only gave gas when the waves allowed it. But then he really gave gas. Very quickly we went extremely close past coastal rocks. He knew the route, the boat and the waves.

Then we arrived and the farewell came. Not an easy one because the people had grown close to our hearts in one day.

Back on board, Norah had the idea to bake chocolate chip cookies and give them to the kape of Dalice the next day with the request to share them with the people in Nasau. I made the dough in the evening to let it harden in the refrigerator. The next morning I baked 60 cookies. Joe painted 6 bags from memory with motifs from Dalice.

We then brought the bagged cookies and a few English books that Joe brought from the Whangarei Marina library ashore.

Since the kape wasn’t there, his neighbor accepted the small gifts. Just as we were about to get into our dinghy, some of the churchgoers returned with the school boat. The women had to lift their skirts in the water; it’s certainly not an easy church visit.

Farewell, you wonderful people on your island, and stay happy.

While writing, I had another thought about what our experience was probably like for the children with whom we were able to experience these two wonderful days.

Strangers come to the island. They are friendly and visibly like us children. Just when we have also come to like them, they get into their boat and sail away again and only in very few exceptional cases ever come back.

You’re right, children.

We can also only say that you remain in our thoughts and hearts even when we are far away again.