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Who’d live on an island like this?

Back in Fiji. Back on Vorovoro. Back to a routine I know so well.  But who makes up this little island community these days and what have they been up to whilst the rest of the world has been watching football, tennis & oil spills?

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From Vorovoro to John Obey. How did that happen?

“So where next?” It was September 1st 2006. We’d just welcomed the ‘first footers’ onto Vorovoro’s golden sands and Tui Mali had accepted our offer of the tabua (whales tooth) as our social contract with his community. We had begun.

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The Project: Building a new kind of community in Sierra Leone

In October 2010, a new group of visitors will arrive on Sierra Leone’s John Obey Beach, 20 miles south of the capital, Freetown, and begin to build a new life alongside the local fishing community.

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Enter the geotourists…

are we geotourists? / Photo by Ben Keene

Jonathan Tourtellot is a classic product of this infamous society I’m sitting in: wise, whimsical and, despite a head cold, full of wonder for the world – he is the stereotypical adventurous professor leading an ambassadorial training session deep inside the arteries of natgeoHQ, Washington DC.

And the subject of his images of Norweigan fjords and Costa del Concrete? Geotourism. Coined and defined by Tourtellot as:

“tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of the place, such as its culture, environment, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.”

In other words, tourism that doesn’t have a negative impact on a destination, and beyond this adds value to the place and it’s people, making it pay to protect it.

But what about eco-tourism, sustainable-tourism, responsible-tourism, heritage-tourism, or even tribal-tourism I hear you cry?

Why another?

Why now?

Well, because the ‘geo’ – of place – includes all of the above and more. Geotourism is all inclusive. But unlike the packaged tourism of before – this new form specifically describes practise that does not degenerate a place or it’s people, and often in fact does the opposite.

So where is all this geotourism happening?

Well, in a lot of places already. The reason I attended this conference was because I was fortunate to be asked to help judge on last year’s geotourism changemakers competition. 611 entries from 81 countries. The top ten made it to Washington and three were voted for online as being outstanding.

The winners included ‘Nature Air’ , Costa Rica’s and the world first ‘carbon neutral airline’, reaffirming some of my lost faith int he benefits of carbon offsetting when it is local; ‘PEPY Ride’ in Cambodia giving people rural bike riding adventures whilst simultaneously engaging them about development in the country rather than throwing them unguarded to volunteer in orphanages that haven’t asked for their help; and ‘Wikiloc’ an online tool for anyone to log a trail or trek they know and love online – think wikipedia for trails. Very cool.

Tribewanted and Geotourism?

I took part in a panel session at the conference and was able to share some of the Tribewanted story. Amongst the audience there seemed to be a strong interest in our version of geotourism in Fiji and also how to develop a toolkit to turn each tourist/ tribe member into a changemaker on their return home.

We discussed that perhaps an exciting legacy for geotourism projects might be giving their visitors the opportunity to take their inspiring experience back into their lives. This is something we’ve always been keen to try and do on Vorovoro – connect island life with city life. I hope our new Tribewanted credits model which we’ll start testing soon will incentivise our members do this even more.

And you’ll be interested to hear that next year’s geotourism competition is focusing on: ‘Places on the edge – saving coastal destinations’

So when you next travel, take the geo-tourist test by simply asking:

“Are we sustaining or enhancing the character of this place?”

If the answer is yes, then maybe the future of travel just arrived.

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From blood diamonds to beach football

Photo by Ben Keene

It’s June 1997 and members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) are sweeping through the Kington district of Freetown, Sierra Leone ‘recruiting’ for their militia by snatching babies and children and shooting the rest.

“The rebels were at our door. They came in with their guns. They wanted my baby son. I pleaded no, that he had a stomach sickness. The female rebel told the men to go. She gave me 100,000 leones (£20) and left. I thanked God. Maybe if I didn’t have a sick son to care about they would also have taken me away. They killed one baby near to my house.”

Blood diamonds

The ‘resource’ war was being fueled by a fight for diamonds dug along river beds to the East of the capital. The exchange of diamonds for weapons between the RUF and Liberia was deepening the crisis. The 1997 surge on Freetown was its violent climax where more than 3000 lives were lost. You’ve probably seen or heard of the film ‘Blood Diamond’ starring Leonardo Dicaprio depicting these horrific events. Sadly for many living in Sierra Leone today, this was a reality, not Hollywood.

“Since my baby and I survived that day I have always wanted the best for him. Sometimes I sacrifice my whole salary just to send him to school. John is everything I have. At first I resisted football as I thought it would take time from school but now I can see the future it can give him. He is a goalkeeper and if he makes the academy everything could change. He could lead our country.”

Football driving change

Selina MaCarthy, a nurse and her only son John Fillie, were lucky to survive. Twelve years on and John is on the cusp of being selected as one of a dozen first generation players to Sierra Leone’s first professional youth football academy. Scouted from across the country this small group of young boys will represent a project that has aspirations not just to help them realise their potential but to also use football to empower teams and communities to initiate positive social change. An ambitious project in any country, but considering the recent history of Sierra Leone and with unemployment at 80%, it appears brave and optimistic.

Freetown

“Welcome to Lungi International – you are in Freetown now!” Exclaims Kenya Airways as you taxi past the mirage of palm trees on a single strip of sweltering tarmac.

Freetown. Like its African neighbour to the North East, Timbuktu, Freetown is one of those distant, exotic, almost mythical places that most of us are aware exist, vaguelly recalling a lyric from a song or a reference in history, but little more. This is slightly worrying, considering the significant role we as a colonial power played in forming it. Aside from the familiarity of names – Aberdeen, Waterloo, Hastings – the first thing you notice in Freetown is the typical bustle but without the hassle I’ve experienced in other African cities.

The dramatic geography of Freetown – sweeping peninsula, arcing beaches and ports, and steep surging hills, is almost at odds with its quiet charmed chaos; endless ramshackle Dickensian markets, with seas of people, taxis, bikes, trolleys, swelling in and out of the streets like tides. There are numerous war-inflicted amputees who wheel themselves along muddy alleyways in gloriously inventive homemade contraptions. One guy who looks my age and has lost both his legs high above the knee calls me from his tricycle, ‘hey aboto (white man) don’t take taxi. Come with me. I have four wheel drive,’ before pulling an impressive wheely, laughing loudly and spinning off down the hill.

The buildings have retained their colonial style but since the war many have changed the materials they’re built with; window shutters and steep rooftops are bent out of corrugated iron rather than hard woods and stone – it’s like a Tim Burton town in the sunshine. If anything, wondering through Freetown I feel less threatened, less of an outsider, than in other African city’s I’ve visited. In Freetown you happily become part of that ‘seething mass of humanity’ we often hear about but rarely experience.

Photo by Ben Keene

The birth of an idea

My invite to this vibrant place came via a friend I’d kept in touch with since the summers I’d spent leading volunteer expeditions in West Africa. In 1999 Tom Vernon took some time out from a sports science degree in Liverpool and found himself coaching and teaching on the streets of Ghana’s capital, Accra. Tom was quickly struck by the gaping hole between the potential of these brilliant ten year olds and the countries so called poor Premier League. Something was going badly wrong in their development. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that a lack of adequate nourishment and basic education were undermining any chance these young talented players of becoming something.

Tom rallied family and friends in High Wycombe and soon had the funds to start a basic academy. He scouted the country for his first generation of players, recruited volunteer coaches and teachers and set about work. Ten years on, Tom and his team at Right to Dream are completing a European standard sports academy in Ghana, have graduates at Fulham FC and, almost more impressively considering these boys backgrounds, 22 are currently on scholarships at top colleges in the UK and the States. Tom has also managed to become Manchester United’s head scout for Africa. Funny what a summer teaching English abroad can lead to.

A new academy

Photo by Ben Keene

In 2007 Tom got a call from a well known English Premier League player asking if he could help him set up a similar academy in Sierra Leone. Craig Bellamy, captain of Wales and today one of a plethora of world-class strikers at Manchester City, did not have the best ‘google me’ results page as he would be the first to admit. Regardless of reputations a partnership was formed, Bellamy visited Sierra Leone again, wrote a significant initial cheque and publicly made his commitment to the people of this war-torn nation. The government gave the newly formed Craig Bellamy Foundation a decent slice of land an hour from Freetown and in mid 2008 the goal-scorer took part in a ceremony and broke the earth where the new academy would be built.

It’s July 2009 and Bellamy is in South Africa preparing for the upcoming season. His visit to Sierra Leone last month oversaw the final trials 27 of which, 16 will become the academy’s first generation. The young goalkeeper John and his mother are hoping he makes the cut.

A new football league

Alongside the academy, the Bellamy Foundation has also set-up with seed funding from UNICEF, a football league built on incentives that go beyond winning fortnightly matches. Each one of the forty U14 and U12 teams are also awarded points for fair play on the pitch, attending school and on the weekends when games don’t take place, initiating and completing community projects. Meeting some of the teams coaches and managers and you soon discover that a football league table can be a powerful motivator.

As we watch the competitvely fought U12 game between Promising Stars and Portugeuse Town in front a crowd in their hundreds, Kamusu Koroma, Regional Manager for the league in the Freetown district tells me:

“Previously the coaches and supporters would beat the ref before the game starts. Through the coaches training programme and now in the league we are demostrating fair play and incentivising ourselves to change the way we behave.”

When I ask if this is an overnight change across the league, Kamusu acknowledges the reality, “This is not a day job, it is a process. The good thing is that we are confronting corruption head on and showing that you can win football matches without cheating and violence.”

Coach of Freetown’s Eastern Eagles, Abdul Karim, goes further; “I believe the fair play policy of the CBF league is already changing attitudes of the young players. We are moving away from violence in our communities because of this league.”

The boys themselves are understandably more focused on the football but are still aware of the bigger picture they’re involved in, “Let me say the difference between this league and other games I’ve played in is that we are all all brothers here. We don’t fight anymore but we can still win,” says a determined looking 13 year old called Suleman who is known simply to everyone else as Essien because he is rarely beaten in a challenge even when he plays with boys two years older than him.

Off the football pitch

Beyond the football pitches the teams have already been involved in community clean-ups, water well repairs, and leading peer and health education sessions. As Tom Vernon suggests this is quite something considering that many of these boys older brothers, uncles and fathers were the child soldiers that make “this today’s history.” And because like goalkeeper John, most of the boys in this league were born just as the civil war was reaching its peak in the late 1990s, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is with them where a good chunk of hope for a better Sierra Leone rests. We know there are many life lessons to be learnt through sport but when it is set against this kind of recent historical backdrop as it is here, it becomes a much more powerful opportunity to those fortunate enough to be involved. Coming here you can understand the wave of optimism.

The beginnings of something special

During my stay in Freetown I am a guest of Durosimi Thomas and his family. Duro is the foundation’s in-country director who has built a career as a freelance BBC sports correspondent (he had a premonition in 2001 not to go to African Nations cup game in Ghana because he tripped on a stone that morning, 126 people died in a stadium crush that day), resurrecting local interest in football and staunchly fighting anti-corruption in his country at every turn. A deep voiced, our-man-in-freetown thick set man, Duro is only too aware not to get carried away;

“Football is what I know, and football can teach people to be better citizens quickly. But it will still take time. Bellamy has given Sierra Leonian’s a good opportunity to find a new way, let’s hope we take this chance.”

The league is only three months old and the academy is yet to open, but the hundred strong staff now involved with this new approach to sport and development in Sierra Leone obviously believe passionately in what they are doing both for themselves and their nation.

Kamusu, the regional manager of the league for Freetown, shakes my hand as I leave one red-sand rectangle of football, shouting and laughter for another;

“Football is finally getting a great name here – before, playing football was seen as idleness, now you can break the cycle of poverty by kicking a ball.”

For Kamusu, young John the goalkeeper, and his friends that survived the horrors of last decades war it is the simplicity of such an ambition that seems to be kick-starting the kind of positive mindset many people of this beautiful country clearly crave.

These footballers can feel change coming, even if it is only one game at a time.

Article written by Ben Keene on his visit to Freetown in July 2009.  The Craig Bellamy Foundation Academy will officially open in 2010. The league will extend later this year to also include girls and amputees.

Further information:

• craigbellamyfoundation.org
• righttodream.com
• Twitter: craigbellamySL

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Fiji Tourism Will Recover

Photo by Ben Keene

Watching Obama speak to congress today on CNN whilst waiting for my connection to London I was seriously impressed to hear the amount of investment the US will make into renewable energy in the coming years. The President referred to a new site that will track the gargantuan amount of spending: Recovery.gov is a brilliant example in web communication, and the fact that RSS feeds are being used to stream government spending plans is amazing considering how new the technology is.

Recovery for Fiji?

Before I left Fiji last night I shared a grog session with tribe and partners in the Skylodge, Nadi. Sara Jane, her beautiful baby Dylan and his Dad, Shane were there, as was Brad, Casey, Ana and Ruben from Feejee Experience, Cecil from Pacific Sun, Amy (having a few well earned days off island) and Ulai.  Also joining us on the matt was Jo Tuomoto, the new boss of Tourism Fiji. Jo shared with us the dismal state of Fijian Tourism with the combination of global downturn and recent flooding seeing a rapid drop in bookings.  I asked Jo about how, even without the kind of budget Obama has, Fiji might also plan for recovery within their most important source of revenue. Jo talked of looking for new ideas in creative and innovative online marketing that were strong on buzz and talanoa (story).

I’ve no doubt that Fijian tourism will recover – it seems that even with Vorovoro only half full, we’re ahead of most of the pack in terms of ‘occupancy’. Feejee Experience is also doing relatively well compared to the main operators.  So I think that shows something.  The kind of tourism that reflects Fiji as it really is – a collection of villages and communities living out their lives in a stunning environment, regardless of the drama and changes around the world and even in their own country – is the kind of tourism that attracts visitors and engages them.

Now that we’re established in Fiji and are extending our partnership on Vorovoro with Tui Mali, I look forward to more ways we can support the right kind of development for this beautiful and unchanged country that I (and I know I’m not the only non-Fijian to say this) love.

Sota Tale Viti.

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Tribewanted: Bringing The Island To The City Of London

Bringing the island to the city / Photo by Ben Keene

‘Team Fiji’ will be building bure’s, weaving matts, singing songs, teaching meke and sevusevu and yes there may well be some kava consumption…

The idea is that we create a mini-Vorovoro at Hampton Court – showing off the best of Fijian culture, sustainable building and the Vorovoro story.  There will be plenty of opportunity to catch up with the team at the show and at another event in the UK during their three week visit.

I will be asking tribe members to help with accommodation and will post the specific requests soon.

Team Fiji’s visit ties in perfectly with the end of the initial three year project on Vorovoro, and hopefully repays some of the amazing hospitality they have shown so many of us, and a chance for many of you who have built friendships with them to re-connect again – only this time it will be at a Palace!

On behalf of Tui Mali and Tribewanted, thanks to Jane West and Jo Tuomoto from Tourism Fiji and all at RHS for this amazing opportunity

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Tribewanted: Islands As Arks

Leavi leads tribal forage through papaya heaven / Photo by Ben Keene

Captain Api swung the short open fibre boat in a familiar curve around the Western end of Vorovoro. And as he did so channels of late afternoon sun-light re-gathered and cast their rainbow prism on the beach. The foot of the colourful arc tracked as we skimmed parallel to the land before coming to a brief rest as we turned again directly toward the shore. And there at its foot, I saw what lay at the end of the rainbow: A line of seven island girls dressed in sulu’s and coconut palmed skirts welcoming us with a Fijian meke (dance) as we skidded onto the sand. The rainbow ran into the rain-soaked bush, the boys stood up to greet us from where they played and the girls scampered for the umbrella trees. I was home.

I had escaped the English snow storms only to dive into the depths of a tropical ‘rainy season’ which tends to include: an afternoon heavy shower or two, the occasional strong wind, an explosion of growth in the gardens and a significant increase in the bug population (the downside of island living).

Vorovoro was quieter than when I was last here in September, but nonetheless vibrant. Pupu now runs a regular popular coconut accessories workshop, Leavi (aka Crimestopper – Vorovoro’s local law enforcer with guitar and smile as his deterrents) takes tribe members on food forages into the lush undergrowth behind the villages, Save continues to teach meke and language classes to enthusiastic participants, Moya is leading a happy mini-tribe as February chief, the damn project has made great progress under team Fiji and we’re hoping with good weather next week to get near to completion (I have to say I’ve actually enjoyed lugging the sacks of gravel up the hill path first thing in the morning), and there is a welcome increase in tribal engagement in the kitchen where Va and Francis lead a Fijian fusion style menu with support of Amy, Chelly and the gang. And of course there are there are the projects…

University of the South Pacific Ethno bio-diversity study begins

As I am sure you will read on Ben Katz’s blog – our sustainability manager was able to recently persuade a team of five students and lecturers to visit Vorovoro to begin a study of local knowledge of Vorovoro’s reefs. The goal is that after this initial research more students will return to extend the study, building up detailed knowledge of the islands marine environments so that both the knowledge and the reefs can be preserved for future generations.

At sevusevu on tuesday (Tui Mali’s weekly visit to Vorovoro) the USP team presented their two day findings to chief, team, tribe members, and the Prisons Commissioner for the South of Fiji (as Tui Mali’s guest). Teddy Fong, the team leader from USP, spoke of ‘islands as arks’, of how we can see the whole cycle of life on and around an island – and how they provide a rare opportunity to see global ecosystems on a micro scale. When we first looked to come to Vorovoro, I remember thinking something not disimilar although not as scientifically put – that on Vorovoro, we can see so easily the full cycle of life and its biodiversity, and that is why it is the ideal place to educate, inspire and make connections. We will post the full report of their survey online when it is complete and I hope that the partnership will grow from here.

Piggy Honeymoon

Piggy is the only survivor of last year’s lovo season, and has consequently been filled to the brim with tribal left-overs. A well rounded sow if ever you saw. In preparation for the busier dry season on Vorovoro, Tui Mali had offered to accommodate piggy at home for a brief honeymoon period with his own pig livestock before returning her pregnant.

Lifting a disgruntled piggy out of her pen was both noisy and back-straining for the four men involved. But once outside she trotted along on the end of a rope in an, almost, direct line to the boat. Another heave and she was aboard, ready for her journey to her honeymoon destination, the chief’s house.

After a brief swim in the mangroves, Api lured her up onto the main road and there she took the short walk to her new home. I don’t think I will easily forget the sight of Api, Leavi and the pig happily strolling down the Malau road like it something you always do in the late afternoon.

Piggy is now safely ensconsed in the chiefly pen and we will pick her up when given the call.

The 11th Hour: a holistic sustainability workshop

After a full meke class on Thursday morning (with Crimestopper even introducing a new head wiggling style), Ben Katz lead a discussion on tribe members attitudes and involvement with sustainable living. Interestingly all those present had been involved through their work at home in some way: Jodie as a sales rep for a recycling company, Louis from Holland knows a lot about liquid nitrogen and even sells CO2, Paula from Italy sells bikini’s (thus saving on extra clothing…), Becky had been involved in Environmental & Energy Law, Moya ran the eco-car fleet for Estee Lauder, Sophie had produced Radio Campaigns on green issues, and our very own Katz had run a sustainable landscaping business.

From Hybrids to Shampoos to Greenwashing to defining sustainability, Re-designing Design itself and becoming re-connected with our environment, we covered a lot of ground. The third compost loo is being re-decorated by the tribe with eco facts for what you can do easily at home.

Later in the afternoon, as the showers began, we settled down in the Great Bure with scones and sugared tea to watch The 11th hour, the most compelling environmental documentary I’ve seen – following the insights of the world’s most eminent scientists into the state of planet today and what must be done to prevent catastrophe. The closing comments of the film are made by an indigenous indian chief who speaks very plainly that no matter what, the earth will survive, the question is whether we want to survive with it.

A community in mourning

News came early in the week that Mosese’s (one of our boat captains) younger brother had tragically passed away at the age of 31. Peni was a fit young man, who met his lovely wife whilst visiting Vorovoro one afternoon last year, and since begun a new life in Nakawaga village. No one seems to know why he dropped down so suddenly last week – all the villagers can say is that his wife had been saying that Peni had told her in the days before his death that he “would soon be going to a far off place.”

Marau left early in the week to start helping the village prepare for the significant funeral. I travelled with the family on Friday morning and arrived to a village full of people quietly preparing for a heavy day. The two hour service was followed by the short pilgrimage to the village grave site on the hill, and there in the midday heat, 150 gathered – wailing, singing hymns and shoveling thick heavy mud into Peni’s final resting place. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of something like that – where you can feel the communal shift in emotion for a man who passed too soon to one of quiet acceptance for all except the immediate family, as the flowers were placed on his mud and rock make-shift grave.

Life – and death – on these beautiful islands, a story we’re fortunate to be part of.

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Best Job In The World? Vorovoro vs Hamilton Island

Image: Best job in the world?

Redundant? Restless? Ready to change it all?

Well now is your chance… with the career opportunity of a lifetime of not one, but two dream island jobs on offer this week.

Best job in the world: ONE
Position: WAVU
Where: Vorovoro Island, Fiji
Job Description: ‘Wavu’ means bridge and this is exactly what we need from this person – to provide the on-island social bridge between visiting tribe members, elected chief and on-island team and family. This is much more than a compost cleaning role now…its a front-of-beach, cross-cultural islander.
Package: $100 a week/ endless Kava

Application details

Best job in the world: TWO
Position: Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef
Where: Hamilton Island, Australia
Job Description: There are a few minor tasks that need to be taken care of, but the most important duty is to report back to Tourism Queensland (and the world) and let us know what’s taking place on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.
Package: $150,000 for the year/ no Kava

Application details

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Global Enterprise Week

“The global economy will double in the next 20 years,” Gordon Brown said with the conviction of a headmaster looking forward to his summer holidays, by which I mean it sounded like it would happen because ‘I am wise and old skool, but I won’t be around to help you achieve it’.

It was global enterprise week, an impressive network of cross-continental events, the first in the world…ever, part three, volume 4, triple disc set…and here we were at the centre of it: young (check), enterprising (check), optimistic (check), inspired (er..) and taking part in the flag-ship debate with no less than the first minister of our fair isle hopping from his front bench to tell us “we need you.”

Like signing-up for duty, it is now up to the entrepreneurs of this country, apparently, especially those with little or no experience, to play their part in innovating our way out of the mire, of marketing without spending, of delivering without compromising. Stirring stuff and slightly mad? But, of course.

Photo: Speed-networking on the London Eye

Now, speed-networking my way across central London this week (including a fun hour with the Sun Newspaper on the London Eye where you hope that your dream connection is not behind the glass of the next bubble) I don’t think anyone can deny the entrepreneurial spirit is burning strong and in an understated way, is actually optimistic – but there also seems to be two quite different trains of thought towards ‘enterprise’ which was illustrated well in the only real moment of ‘debate’ that the PM opened.

Dragon’s Den star James Caan was advocating the Bill Gates approach to entrepreneurship – make your money and then you can give back more. Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, begged to differ. Tim, quite rightly in my opinion, said that we should focus on good profit from day one and that the millions that Eden has created for the 2400+ suppliers of its project and communities in Cornwall wouldn’t have happened with the old model.

Enterprise shouldn’t be about restricting profit, Tim continued, its about making lots of good money and using it well. Yes sir. And what about ‘your horrible moment during the development of Eden’, the host asked…”there wasn’t one,” Tim replied, “the biggest mistake I’ve made was managing Motorhead.” Fair enough.

I also took part in the ‘Enterprising Young Brits’ network, the ‘Future 100’ event, and spoke today at an enterprise event at the impressive Leeds Met. And in these networks of speed and hope and creativity one message became more clear than any politician or dragon could articulate… in a mixture of Obama, South Park and Coldplay rhetoric the young optimists are shouting with their megaphones… our marketplace is instant and global and yes we can bloody do it. We must. Will it be easy? Will it heck.

My start-up discovery of the week is YouNoodle. You’ll love it.