We're here again...FINALLY!

Ni sa bula vinaka!

The two photos above were taken by Ben Cavu when he visited Vasara in 2006. The tree on the top is the vunivutu at Vasara (apparently it is over 100 years old). The tree at the bottom is the frangipani tree on our great-grandfather Paula Cavu's yavu in the village. It is also very ancient (about 60 years old).

Current Fiji news:

- With great sadness we share the news of Aunty Litia's (Tua Ilaisa's eldest daughter) passing 3 months ago. Aunty had been sick for a while from cancer and died after a short stay in hospital. Aunty Litia's 100 nights was held at her farm in Waila last Saturday (28th June 2008). Uncle Paula and Ben attended and in his email uncle wrote: "It was a wonderful and peaceful experience for me to be amongst a small group of young people, the members of the Nazarene Church. Litia was truly a practising Christian and lovely person who really cared for others in a very honest way. We represented the Cavu family as aunty Jackie was not well."

- It is also with great sadness that we announce the passing of aunty Emma Osbourne, mother of Betty, Joe, Ilaisa (junior), Babs and David. Aunty Emma passed away on Monday morning, 40th June 2008 at Lautoka from breast cancer. We will be going from Suva to Sigatoka on Saturday morning to attend the funeral.

I apologise for the long silence on this blogsite - it has been unbelievably hectic especially at work! However, here we are again and we look forward to your comments and news as well. I will be making more postings next week.

From the 'wide-angle lens,' if you log on to Fijilive.com you'll see the latest on Ono-i-Lau. There has been some discussion that Ono is now considering 'moving' to be a part of Tonga. After the bose-ni-yasana last week, Anare Jale and his supporters who were barred from the meeting have requested that this matter be given serious and immediate consideration by the interim PM. Watch this space...

Loloma yani,

theresa.

Faye and Babs en route to Lomaloma

Just a little peek at the Cavu girls en route to Lomaloma! They have better pics I'm sure but here's a little 'taste' of the long-awaited trip!

Far left (top to bottom): Faye Senico in the bus from Nadi to Suva on Sunday 16th March 2008. The world suddenly became a much smaller place when Aunty Ateca from the US (middle) bumped into Babs and her 2 children, Jade and Keanu (from Sydney) in downtown Suva! Luggage, cartons, biscuit buckets, you name it - for the trip to the village.

Left (top to bottom): David Cavu (Faye and Babs' brother) 'having a few' with his brothers-in-law, TuWaqa on the left (Toko and Emosi's big brother) and Emosi (Babs' partner) on the right. Jade (closest to camera) and her cousin, Faye's daughter, Lydia inflight from Sydney-Nadi. A trauckload of kerosene drums and fuel arrives to be loaede on board for the village.

Faye, Babs and David - in that order of seniority - are Uncle Ilaisa Cavu's (Tua Netani's son) children. Both sisters live in Sydney and met their life partners in the same family; the brothers Toko and Emosi Senico. The only missing child in the photos is Faye and Toko's eldest son, Navi. Both the mothers and the children were going to Vanua Balavu for the first time. The trip has been planned for a while and is being made primarily to return Mr. Luke Senico's ashes to his village as his final resting place (RIP). The Senico siblings along with their partners, spouses and children gathered in Suva on March 16th -20th with their close cousins and family to make the trip to Lomaloma on Good Friday. They are due to start returning to Suva this weekend.

Have a great weekend!

theresa.

hi5 - Triz's Photos

hi5 - Triz's Photos

Kia ora to all of our Cavu family in Fiji and abroad,
If you click on the link above it'll take you into my hi5 site. Under the 'My albums' heading, select the 'cavu family tree' and this will give you 14 pages of our Vola ni Kawa Bula. If you want a closer look at the pages, simply click on a page and it will enlarge to afford you a more readable view. Please have a look and if there are any MISTAKES, NEW ADDITIONS, etc to be made on your pages, send me a message through the 'Comments' portal and I will amend accordingly.
HAPPY READING!!
Loloma from Suva,
theresa.

Sa Malo!!

Many thanks to Veitinia (Sydney, Australia) and aunty Ateca (US) for your comments and pledges of support for the dinner fundraiser. I will also pass your good wishes on to the family at our next meeting. The dinner will be held on Friday 11th April here at the Central Cuisine restaurant, Suva.
We'll keep you updated.

Meeting at Laqere for aunty Litia's (nee Cavu, Tua Ilaisa's eldest daughter), reguregu

Left: Ben Cavu turning to beam a smile at the camera and above, Mo listening intently.

Right: Jackie, Theresa and aunty Marama catching up before the meeting started.

Left: Aunty Fatafei Jiko Luveni at the meeting for aunty Litia's reguregu.

On Monday 17th March, the Bukani mataqali met at Laqere to collect the traditional items required for presentation and an 'envelope' for aunty Litia's reguregu which was held at Nepani, the home of her (late) first husband, unlce Tavite and children. Aunty Litia died suddenly on Thursday 13th March after a short time in hospital. We understand that she had throat cancer, but her death may have been related to diabetes. It was with much sadness that we gathered and then made our way down to Nepani. Aunty Litia was buried at the Nasinu cemetery and is survived by her husband, Kali and her children, Alena, Toni, Ilaisa and Odila.

Bula vinaka

Bula vinaka to our Cavu relatives both in and out of Fiji,
Jackie (Yavalanavanua) has forwarded me the Cavu family bank account details. They are;
WESTPAC 9801748113, Suva, Fiji.

She has asked, if you'd like to buy tickets, please deposit your money into this account and record your first and last name along with the phrase 'dinner ticket' in the section where you write information for the account holder.
See you again soon,
theresa.

Cavu meeitng III 2008

Thank you Lupeti for taking these photos!

Below: Ben Cavu, uncle Paula's son and grandson of Tua Lepani listens intently despite the heat to the discussion. Above: Mrs. J. T. Koroi, takes a breather during the meeting.

TO ALL OF OUR RELATIVES : I have been asked by the Cavu committee to 'spread the word' that our fundraising drive for completing the two homes at Vasara is kicking off with a Chinese buffet dinner at the Suva restaurant 'Central Cuisine'. There have been 400 tickets printed and each family has been tasked with selling 20 tickets each. For all of our relatives abroad, could you please support us by sending in the cost of the number of tickets you nominate to buy and we'll make sure that those of us who are not as 'comfortable' as others make use of the tickets with their families? I will upload the bank account number in the next couple of days, The dinner will be held on Friday 11th April from 6 - 10pm.

Cost: $20.00 (FJD) / ticket

The minutes for the third meeting appear below. Please note that we have made enquiries about using solar energy for the Vasara homestead and this cost will also be met by the fundraising events that are planned for the year. The overall objective is to complete all renovations and the solar energy installation by the time we go over for Christmas this year.

Another very important reminder: For all those who wish to make the trip to Ono at the end of this year, please submit your names and those of your family members who wish to go as soon as possible. All fares must be paid by Novemeber 2008.

Fares: $230.00 (return)

Boat: SUILVEN or WESTERLAND

Dates: 19th December 2008 - depart for Ono

2nd January 2009 - return to Suva

If there are any changes to these arrangements I will inform you all as soon as I hear of them. Could I also please ask everyone to send in your comments regularly so that I can see how accessible this site is? We haven't heard from our US relatives in particular and we know we have a very sizeable Cavu-descendant community up there!

Minutes for the 3rd CAVU FAMILY MEETING

Date: Saturday 24th February 2008
Venue: Aunty Jackie Koroi’s Residence Tamavua
Time: 3:30pm

1.0 Present:
Paula Cavu - Turaga-ni-Mataqali (TNM)
Mrs Jokapeci Koroi - President (Chairperson)
Peniasi Cavu
Jackie Yavala
Uncle Netani Cavu
Paula Cavu (Uncle Netani’s son)
Joe Koroi
Theresa Koroi
Lupeti Fihaki - Secretary

2.0 Welcome
2.1 Tea & refreshments were served before the meeting started.
2.2 Uncle Netani conducted devotion, prayer & welcomed everyone to the 3rd Cavu family meeting for 2008

3.0 Apologies
3.1 Laite Cavu
3.2 Aunty Marama & family
3.3 Netani
3.4 Jone
3.5 Susana
4.0 Confirmation of minutes
4.1 Minutes were read by secretary
4.2 Minutes confirmed by Ben 2nd by Jackie (JY)


5.0 Matters Arising
5.1 Correction to the minutes. The minutes did not mention the calendar dates for the Cavu meetings. It only stated the Committee meeting dates. (Re: Attachment a)
5.2 Ben was asked to address and action item 5.2 “the insertion of the voting procedures into the Constitution”
5.3 Re: Item number 6.2 Theresa presented her findings pertaining to the Costs of Installing a solar system.
5.3.1 Basic materials required are as follows
5.3.1.1 Solar panels
5.3.1.2 Batteries
5.3.1.3 Generator (Invertors)
5.3.1.4 Wind Generator (as an alternative to reduce running cost)
5.3.1.5 Ben gave further insight as follows
5.3.1.6 8watt panels $1250
5.3.1.7 1000w Invertors $3500
5.3.1.8 Controller $350
5.3.1.9 Batteries $300
6.0 Business
6.1 Treasurer’s Report
6.1.1 Total of $156 was collected in the last meeting. $100 was given as the deposit for the fund raising dinner at Central. Balance is $56.
6.1.2 Balance b/f $299 plus$56 = Current balance $355

6.2 Water
6.2.1 Aunty Jackie provided her findings to the committee as follows
Table 1 Costing of Water tanks

Supplier
Tank / Size
Jack’s Tyre Centre
Suncourt

Vinod Patel

10 000 litres
$2,200
$2 950
Can be reduced to $1950
$2,850
with strainer
25 000 litres
$5 500


$2,550
w/out strainer

6.3 Fundraising
6.3.1 The tickets were distributed to those present at the meeting and it was agreed to that each family have a minimum of 20 tickets each to sell.
6.3.2 Tickets were to be distributed to families that were not present.
6.4 AOB
6.4.1 Uncle Paula requested that the Action list be followed as it provided a guidance to the activities of the Committee to be able to cross check items that needed to be followed up.
6.4.2 He also suggested that a congratulatory letter be sent from the clan to family members who are taking up public office positions.
7.0 Conclusion
7.1 Uncle Paula showed his appreciation to the young members of the Committee who took the Initiative of paying a visit to Brenda’s baby daughter’s funeral. He also apologized to the Secretary for not informing him of the event as it was on short notice.
7.2 Secondly he emphasized the need for the elders to encourage and and to be happy for the progress made by the younger generation and that this needed to be recognized.
7.3 He also encouraged everyone to continue to be punctual and committed to the Clan’s plans and commitments
7.4 Jackie closed with a word of prayer
7.5 The next meeting as per scheduled will be conducted on the 8th of March 2008.
Item #
Action
Name
Due Date
Comments
1
Include Clan Meeting dates
Lupeti
Immediately
√
2
Minute M#2 Item 5.2
Peniasi
8/03

3
Solar Project
Theresa/ Peniasi
October
Quotes presented to the meeting (WIP)
4
Water Project
Autny Jackie
October
Quotes presented to the meeting (WIP)
5
Dinner Night
Jackie (JY)
11/04
Tickets to be distributed to all families not present at the meeting immediately
6
Barrel Night
Marie
Unidentified
Marie to update members
7
Action List
Lupeti
immediately
√




Lupeti Fihaki Jokapeci Koroi
Secretary Chairperson


Dated this 27th day of February 2008.
March

8th Saturday

24th Saturday

April
5th Saturday
19th Saturday

May
31st Saturday

June
28th Saturday

July
26th Saturday

September
6th Saturday

November
1st Saturday

December
6th Saturday (Annual General Meeting)


The default venue for the meeting is at Tamavua Aunty Jackie’s Residence unless advised otherwise.

See you soon,

theresa.