Summary: Fiji village news starts out as we hear more from Debra Waters and a team of volunteers with the Johken school music department.<br> <br> <br> Since Debra and her team has visited several Fiji villages we stop off with her at the Johken school where, over the last couple of visits the school have started a music department.<br> How to Vote for the EATT magazine podcast <br> <br> Vote for EATT<br> Click this link <br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="https://australianpodcastawards.submittable.com/gallery/2829f195-1021-4d7c-853f-f0ce775f4fa4/9757165" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vote for us here</a><br> How to Vote<br> <br> Click on the thumbs up add you name email and password <br> <br> You then get an email to confirm your email address <br> <br> Click on the link Click the thumbs up - and you have voted<br> <br> <br> Voting closes on 1 April Sunday 2018<br> <br> During previous visits, they also managed to bring over many guitars, bongos, flutes, percussion instruments.<br> <br> <br> Head teacher Agnes teaching the students with the guitars donated by Debra's team.<br> <br> They have also spent three days teaching all the school children's 274 students from 1st t 6th class how to play the instruments.<br> Over time the team have been receiving donations to support the school supporting children from Fiji villages near Navua.<br> <br> <br> On a recent trip up to 100kg of school equipment and medical supplies were delivered to a local small 12-bed hospital in Navua, and the Johken school of over 235 students also in Navua.<br> <br> <br> <br> Navua is a small town that floods regularly with the overflow from the Navua river. Apparently, this was the river used to film the blockbuster Anaconda.<br> <br> <br> <br> A early season downpour meeting high tide can bring floods to this region more recently due to changing weather patterns<br> During that time the team were also able to learn how Tapa prints made.<br> The Masi plants used to make Tapa prints grow very well in Vatulele because of the rocky soil, mixed with sand.<br> <br> The plant is also called the Mulberry plant and can grow up to ten to sixteen foot long. The plant and can also take from six to ten months to fully mature.<br> <br> The weather is also ideal for growing the Masi ( Mulberry plant) to as the climate is hot on the volcanic island of Vatulele. Masi, as it is known on Vatulele, is also a primary source of income.<br> <br> <br> <br> Mostly men from the local Fiji village work in the plantation working on the second stage stripping process. This process involves separating the bark of the mulberry plant from the stem.<br> <br> The women do mainly separate the bark of the mulberry plant from the stem. They use their feet to hold the stem and use their hands to pull out the bark.<br> The bark is like a long strip once it is pulled out from the stem.<br> <br> A third process is used to scrape the bark.<br> <br> The knife is used to scrap the outer skin of the bark strip to achieve smooth white strips.<br> <br> The fourth stage is soaking the strips of the bark cloth in water.<br> <br> Because drinking water is conserved, in Vatulele seawater is used to soak the bark cloth. The strips are then prepared for the beating by soaking them. Soaking achieves a softer texture to the bark strips.<br> And it can quickly be soaked just a few hours before beating process.<br> The fifth stage of the beating process<br> Each strip is beaten up using a wooden mallet, and that is shaped like a flat club.<br> The strips are laid flat on a long wooden flat log that is carved by men in the village.<br> Each strip is beaten until it is soft and up to a foot wide.<br> <br> This process is the most laborious part of beating process known as " vava ha" to the...
