Volukaka and Kana

Well, this wasn’t supposed to be a chronicle of Fijian medicine, but I keep getting sick, so there you go. This time around, I had something I wouldn’t call a flu, but it had muscle aches, headache, stomachache, nausea and diarrhea as symptoms. Once again, Eseta was concerned for my well being, and told Miles when he dropped Jasper off that she would pick some leaves for me to use. She also reiterated that I really need to be careful about being out in the rain. If I get caught in the rain, I need to wash it off. When I went down there today to drop Jasper off, she told me this again, and I said that I couldn’t remember being in the rain at all recently, and she said it happened when I walked home the other day. I said I didn’t think it was raining, and she replied “only a little bit, it’s still not good.” Maybe there was a slight drizzle. Being from Oregon, I couldn’t remember feeling any rain. This time, she gave me leaves from the volukaka or Simple-leaf Chastetree to pour boiling water over and inhale the steam. This time, I couldn’t find any good information online; even Wikipedia was not much help, but I went ahead and tried it anyway. I didn’t really notice any difference in how my stomach felt, but it did seem to help my head, and it felt refreshing. Good enough for me.


Yesterday we received a feast from Eseta’s family. A complete lovo meal (food cooked in an earthen oven with heated volcanic rocks), with two kinds of fish, dalo (taro roots), lolo (coconut cream sauce), palusami (dalo leaves stuffed with onions and lolo), chicken, lamb curry, and chop suey. Every time they have a lovo, they really load us down with food, enough for several nights’ dinners. This particular lovo (or more appropriately "kana" or feast) was in honor of Asenaca’s (Eseta’s next youngest sister) getting her first period and her transition into womanhood. There were probably fifty people over for dinner at the Waqa’s, and I have no idea how many others they gave food to. These people know how to throw a party, and I think it’s really awesome to celebrate this particular life transition in such a beautiful, life affirming way, surrounded by friends and family. What a gift to give to your daughter.