As part of the Fiji program students spend a day and a night in Votua Village. For the time that they are in the village they are allocated a host family who they stay with and participate in village life with. Evaluations always show this experience to be a program highlight and the SUNY-Brockport program this year was no exception.

Firstly the students were welcomed to the village with a Sevusevu (kava ceremony). This is always the first ceremony that is conducted when two groups meet and it acts to open up the path for further interaction, the kava is pictured right. After the Sevusevu students met the families they were to stay with and went to their respective homes to have lunch and settle in. The afternoon was spent participating in various activities. Some students and their families went to a provincial rugby game final, others helped dig the lovo pit for the dinner that night, others went on a ‘short walk’ (it ended up being quite long!) to the village’s plantation  and some had the opportunity to help fish for that nights dinner. Pictured left is Shiri with some of the local children who befriended her. 

The dinner that night was a traditional lovo, which isa fire made on a pit in the ground lined with heat-resistant stones (sometimes referred to as an earth oven).  When the stones are hot, food, wrapped in (banana) leaves, is placed in the pit, covered with soil and left to cook before being exhumed and eaten. Dishes cooked this way include palusami, which are parcels of taro leaves saturated with coconut milk, onions, meat and fish.

After the meal the villagers performed a meke for the group, pictured right. This is a traditional style of Fijian dance that is generally performed at celebrations and festivals. In return the group were asked to perform a song and dance from America. The group sang ‘going to the ball game’ and the American national anthem followed by dancing to DJ Casper’s Cha Cha Slide to great amusement of the villagers. Kava and conversation flowed all night with some students not making it to bed till after 2am!

Comments from their time in the village included; ‘ It was such a touching experience, I had fun and bonded with everyone I encountered’ and ‘It was really neat how welcoming everyone in the village was towards us’ and ‘This opportunity has been unbelievable and I highly appreciate this family sharing their home, culture and way of life with us’.

It was a cultural, educational and, most importantly, a fun experience that the group got a lot out of.