Korotogo -Vatukarasa 26th February.

Today Bill took me to his village of Vatukarasa, about five miles from my hotel. He had suggested that I go to the church service in the village, to hear the singing.

This village are Methodist, but there are also a lot of Catholics in Fiji. The service lasted two hours! It consisted of lots of songs and several very long and intense sermons. The sermons were not in English, but it was relatively easy to get the gist. Which seemed to be something along the lines of "Do the right thing, or your for it!!! " I asked Bill what was being said after the service and although he didn't exactly use my words, I don't think I was far wrong.

I was introduced to Bill's family and invited into the house he has built. His house consisted of three rooms and he told me there were ten family members living in the house. The house was fairly basic. It was obvious that there is not a great deal of money coming into this home or village.   Bill told me that it had taken him seven years to build his house, because he would only able to afford a few materials at a time.

After the church service I was then taken to meet the chief of the village, for the welcome ceremony, where I offer the Kava as a gift and he welcomes me to the village.

After the welcome ceremony a large meal was prepared, in a large straw hut. There must have been twenty or thirty, men women and children, apparently all related, at the meal.

Just before the meal was served the Kava ceremony took place. Kava is a root that is ground up, then put in a bag and drained through water until the water goes a milky colour. There were various chantings that went on while this process took place. Eventually the liquid is given out in a cup made from half a coconut shell and clapping ensues as participants are required to drink the liquid down in one go.

I was third to be offered my cup of Kava, quite  nervously I complied and drank it all down. It tasted little aromatic and not very pleasant. Apparently it has a similar affect as alcohol, I asked how much they might normally drink.  I suspect from their reactions it is generally a lot more than one cup. I stuck to one cup.

 Lunch was served on the floor, there was no table. Children first, women next and men in the final sitting. Lunch consisted on fish and a chicken stew, sweet potato, cassava and another root vegetable called taro. I was a little nervous of the whole process, but the lunch was tasty enough and there have been no ill effects(so far) of the Kava ( or the lunch).