June 15th to 16th:
After meeting the Nadroga rugby team at sunset, we headed to the nearby Nasama fishing village to prepare our workshop for the next day. We donned our sarongs for the official welcoming ceremony with the village elders, including ball signing and signatures, and of course kava. We heard that kava may have many ceremonial purposes but that it, like all things, is best to be used in good measure. Thereafter we talked through the plan for the next day’s workshop and retired to the house we were being put up in for a delicious meal. We even had some time to catch up on blog writing, email correspondence, further trip planning and social media.
We had heard that the workshop participants would be young and mostly male with only a few females, a very different mix to Tavua Village just two days earlier. Anticipating a more testosterone filled environment we took a more direct style as we led the workshop – making a point of asking the men to think about gender equality in their daily lives and be proactive during the workshop in supporting women to also have their say. It seemed to work. We were also informed too by Atu and Ravu in advance that these folk would be a talkative group. They were. But with a stricter and more direct style, supported by LMMA facilitation, we were able to go deep into the SDGs and their connectivity to the circle of life in the Nasama Village. From mangrove planting, to the need for more education about recycling, to the realisation by several of the male participants to support women more – the discussions were fruitful and many dots were connected for the participants but also for us facilitators.
We finished the one and a half day workshop with a fantastic round of extremely passionate FairPlay football in the middle of the village. As part of his facilitation Ravu talked about why we stop The Ball in fair play football. Rule number 3 is Teamwork. It means everyone must stop The Ball dead when they get it and they cannot dribble it. You must pass. You must get your head-up. Ravu said:
Our society is becoming more like in the west. It is hectic. We are too eager to develop. And we rarely take the time to think about the things we are doing. When we take football as a metaphor for life – we are constantly moving forward with speed, without thinking. Where are our team mates? What is going on? Do I really need to do this activity or to have this product? This rule is about slowing down the pace to have a look around you? We as Fijian communities need to make decisions that are good for our communities both financially and socially and that protect our environment and way of life.
We hadn’t made this connection before on such a level. It was also one that the participants could relate too. Ravu has helped us to develop our method accordingly. We can use this as an excellent example of connecting our core module FairPlay football to sustainability in a very tangible way. At the end of the workshop, the feedback round resulted in several participants reflecting upon learning about the SDGs, their interconnectivity and how they learnt about how this connectivity is reflected in their own community. For us, we were also impressed by the pledges of several men, committing to take on the role of male advocates and supporters of women in their community. We were reminded of the important role that male allies play in enabling gender equality.
