Tribewanted is unique fusion of ideas and cultures. It’s a mixture of a real world tribe and it’s customs allied with the virtual community and it’s online democracy. The aim is to build a simple sustainable village on Vorovoro Island, Fiji and a buzzing online community.

Vorovoro is not a resort. It’s a challenge: three years to turn the island into a community that is as sustainable as possible. Tribe member’s debate and vote on island issues online with the guidance of the on island team and elected chief.

Here is my story.

I was unsure how I would cope on a practically deserted island without my hairdryer but decided to embrace the frizzy hair and get on with it! I wanted to experience the 1st anniversary celebrations so arrived on Vorovoro on 29th August and stayed for three weeks.

I found the first few days totally overwhelming. I arrived on Vorovoro, and within three hours I’d learnt (or rather, attempted to learn,) two mekes (traditional Fijian dance). We then went to the neighbouring island of Mali to perform the mekes at a Methodist convention!!

We spent the next couple of days preparing for the 1st September celebrations. Everyone was busy tidying up the camp and preparing things for the guests who were coming over to Vorovoro to help us celebrate.

The anniversary celebrations were superb. I felt so lucky to be a part of it. One of my favourite parts of the day was sitting on the floor, waiting for Tui Mali (the chief!) to walk between us to start the celebrations.

Tui Mali was running a bit late (Fiji time!) and the local school children just started singing! It was amazing! Throughout the day, the island was packed full of people who had come to help us celebrate and I think everyone had a good time.

Things returned to normal (whatever is normal for a sustainable community in Fiji) on the Monday and I started to feel like I’d settled in more and was experiencing the Vorovoro that I’d read and heard about. On the Monday, I planted beans, transplanted tomatoes and built a shade out of fallen down branches, banana leaves and tree bark to protect the tomatoes from the sun.

I’m pleased to say that the structure is still standing! There were a few activities arranged by other members – from an island treasure hunt which had us running around Vorovoro in blistering heat, to a casino themed night when we played cards and ate chocolate cake that had been made in the shape of a dollar sign.

The three weeks all kind of merged into each other. I couldn’t tell you what happened when, but I can remember helping to make pawpaw jam, sunbathing, snorkeling and gardening. One of the tribeys (tribe member), who was on island the same time as me, is a Thai boxing instructor in Australia.

She did a couple of lessons early one morning and pretty much all of the camp turned up to have a go. There was always something going on. Once a week, there is a trip to Mali District School which was one of the highlights of my trip. We got a boat to Mali which takes about 5 minutes, and took part in school assembly. The children sing a few songs, and do a meke, and then we perform our meke.

After assembly, we take part in classes. Some members played sports with the children and Japanese tribey taught some of the older kids Japanese. Me and two other girls spent the morning with the kindergarten class and taught them Incy Wincy Spider and how to Hokey Cokey!

They taught us “ataki taki” which, I suppose, is a Fijian version of the hokey cokey. When the day came for me to leave, I was gutted. My time on Vorovoro was so much better that I thought it would be. I’m going back

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