Lee - Market in Vaileka

Note Index | Megan Lee

Tuesday, September 7, 1999 (written 8/9/99)
SUMMARY

We were awakened at 4 in the morning by a rooster, a goat, a dog and some other birds. I wasn’t really able to fall asleep again after that. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then we met for our first meeting. Steve and Karen went over how would be doing our field notes and the books we would use to get a better understanding of how life is in the villages. We are going to start reading The Fijian Way of Life and discuss it and the beginning of Nest in the Wind on Thursday. Steve gave us our first assignment and we started it in the afternoon. We drove to Vaileka after lunch and divided into groups. Andy, Erinn and I went to the market to talk to the vendors and start doing some real field work to get a sense of doing notes. The town of Vaileka is very small. Its set up as a square with the post office in the center and streets with shops on each side. There were a lot of people in the town. There were both Indians and Fijians there. Everyone seemed very nice but we were all a little uncomfortable at first as everyone stared at us as we walked down the street. We divided up and headed in separate directions to start our assignments. We decided to walk back to hotel from Vaileka to get some exercise. After dinner we walked with Karen to Michelle’s village in to perform her sevu sevu. Va performed the ceremony. It was informal and not as long as some of the others may be. After the ceremony we walked back to the hotel and went to bed.

THE MARKET
Market Layout

The market in Vaileka consists of two areas. The main area, where most of the vendors are located, is a large building. The outside of it is painted tan and the roof is tin. On one side there is only a half wall. The top is left open for ventilation but is covered with a wide mesh screen. On the end opposite from these "windows" are a series of small stalls that are labeled as shops, (Shop 1, Shop 2) although none of them were being used to sell products. There are two main entrances into the building. They are both on the same wall, the one facing toward the town. There is also an entrance on the back wall, although it did not appear that anyone used this entrance. There were several older men sitting outside this door talking, they did not appear to be vendors or in any way associated with the market. There were also four or five men sitting in the back of the market in front of the kava saloon that looks like a kitchen like that serves kava. It looks similar to the stalls on the adjacent wall labeled as shops but it contains a sink and has a window in the front that several Indian women serve kava through. Also at the back of this large room is the office of the market master. His office is separated from the rest of the market by walls on all four sides.
Renting Stalls and the Market Master

Inside the building there were long tables set up around the perimeter of the room and in rows through the middle of the room. There were about 40 to 50 vendors selling products. The tables are divided into sections called stalls. One stall is 4X3 feet. The price for one inside stall is 44 cents per day. The vendors purchase stalls according to how much they have to sell and how much room they can afford. Where each vendor sets up his goods is determined by the market master. The market master oversees the operation of the market each day. He assigns stalls to the vendors as well as collects their rent. If a vendor is a regular seller and sells everyday and then misses a day of selling, he will still be charged for his stalls. If he does not come for several days his stalls will be given to someone else. The distributing of the stalls to the vendors seemed arbitrary. A vendor is assigned to a stall depending on how much room he needs to display his produce. The position of the market master is assigned by the government. The market master’s name is Rajjen Dra Kum. He looked much younger than the majority of the vendors. He sat in his office the whole time we were in the market.
Indoor Vendors

Almost all of the vendors who sold inside the market were Indians. The male to female ratio was about 1:1. I saw only one or two vendors inside who were Fijian. Almost all the vendors who sold inside are in the market everyday. Most of them act as middlemen. They do not grow the food themselves but instead buy it and then resell it to make a profit. For example, one vendor selling radishes told us he bought them from the farmer for 30 cents and sold them for 40 or 50 cents. Most of these merchants live in or near the town of Vaileka.
Products and Prices

The products these merchants sell do not vary from vendor to vendor very much. They sell mostly fruits and vegetables. They prices they sell their produce for does not vary very much either. Bananas are generally 50 cents a bundle. Green beans, eggplant, taro leaves, peppers of different varieties, sizes and spiciness, pan, radishes, tomatoes, peanuts, okra, spinach, coriander, ginger, and dalo are very common products and all generally sell for 50 cents. There was only one vendor who sold eggs. They cost $3 a dozen. This same Indian women was also the only vendor who sold apples. There were several vendors who sold yaqona. Inside, these tables were all together in the back of the room near the market master’s office. The same women who ran the kava saloon also sold yaqona roots and stems, and also sold it in a powdered form.
Market Hours

We were in the market on a Tuesday and it was not very busy. There were very few customers in the market. Many vendors told us that during the week is not very busy but Saturday is the busiest day. During the week the market is open from seven to five. On Saturday it opens at six and does not close until six. The market hours recently changed. It used to be open the Saturday hours all week and longer on Saturdays. Saturday is called Market Day. There was a large sign posted at the main entrance noting these changes. It was unclear from the vendors why the hours had been changed but they were not very pleased with it. On the same sign there was also a notice stating that "market washing" had to be done at least once a day.

Bruce

On days that aren’t very busy the vendors don’t expect to sell much. Bruce, who had a large section of table (he paid $5 a day) said he thought he would only sell about $15 of produce. Bruce sells a variety of produce. He had papaya, which he told us was called paw paw, pineapple, potatoes, eggplant, beans, many different peppers (he told us that there were 10 different varieties of peppers that grow in Fiji, each of a different spiciness). He sells onions and watermelon as well. With him was his grandson who helped him and also helped his father, who sells kava at the market. Bruce said he had been selling at the market for "a very long time". He used to work for A. R. Dosee and Co., a shop in town but that he could no longer work there because he slipped a disc in his back. He had traveled to Australia, and his English was excellent. His former employer had paid to send him to Australia to find work but he returned and worked as a market vendor instead. He enjoys selling, he like to sell potatoes and watermelon and thinks it is a good way to make a living.

Bruce explained to us that they were beginning to experience a problem with selling kava to Americans because they buy a lot of it and then take it back to the United States where they sell it at inflated prices to people who try to smoke it.
Bargaining

People did not appear to be bargaining with the vendors. The prices were usually set and the customer what the vendor says. Few of the vendors had signs indicating the prices. Bruce said that there is not much bargaining. Occasionally a vendor will give an inflated price and the customer may ask for a lower one but he said in general that this is not good for business. It is better to quote the real price because if the customer doesn’t like the price he can go to another vendor because most of the vendors sell the same products at similar prices.
Heat and Flies

Inside the market was much cooler than outside. Many of the vendors who were inside said that was why they chose to sell inside rather than out. Most of these vendors sold everyday and wanted to avoid the heat as much as possible. They also said that selling outside dries out the produce much faster because it is always directly in the sun. Fruit flies were everywhere inside. They swarmed over the fruit. The vendors did nothing to try to control or get rid of them. Inside the market there was an odd odor. It smelled like both fresh fruit and rotting fruit.

Top of Page | Note Index | Megan Lee

Outdoor Vendors

There were also vendors who set up outside the building. There were not as many vendors outside, probably between 15 and 20. Most of the vendors outside were Fijian and most of them were women. It was harder to talk to these people because not as many of them spoke English. Most of these vendors were not at the market everyday. Most of them lived in the interior and came to market one to three times a week to sell the products they grew themselves. One woman explained that she lives between 30 and 40 km from Vaileka and comes to town two or three times a week. She sells voundri for $2 a bunch, a type of banana that is usually fried and then eaten. She also sells taro leaves for $2 a bunch. She uses the money that she earns selling to buy the products that her family needs that they cannot make or buy in their village.
Reasoning to Sell Outside

It is less expensive to sell outside. It only costs 22 cents per day for a stall outside. Many of the vendors who sold outside said they preferred to be outside because it is busier than inside, although it did not look that way to me. Many of the outdoor vendors thought that customers had a better chance to see their crops if they were outside. One vendor said the poor lighting inside made it hard to see the quality of the produce. Also, many of the vendors who were outside sold root crops, such as yaqona and taro root, so the sun had less effect on drying out their products. It is more economical for people to sell outside if they only come a couple of times a week.

Prices and Displaying Products Outside

The prices of the products seemed to fluctuate more outside. One vendor sold kasava for $1 a bunch, another woman sold it for $2 a bunch. The products were much less varied outdoors and well. Most people sold the same products. Most of the women displayed their products on the ground on large sheets. The men, as well as one group of women, had small carts that they sold their products on. Most of them also had some of their products on the ground. One of these men had been selling for 16 years, although he did not come to the market everyday. He grew his own produce which included taro leaves and kasava as well as okra and dol, both used for making curry and soup. Several of the men who sold outside were yaqona vendors. They were set up in the carts, closer to the building. They sold root and stem pieces. One of the vendors, an Indian man, told me the root is stronger than the stem. He said that young people like to drink kava made from the roots. The prices at all the vendors seemed to be the same. It was $30 for one half kilo of root and $20 for one half kilo of stem. These men also sold it in the powered form. The men who sold the yaqona did not sell any other products.

Wednesday, September 8, 1999 (written 9/9/99)
SUMMARY

The rooster didn’t wake me up this morning but I was still up by 6:30. After breakfast we went back to Vaileka to finish getting notes and to do a little shopping. We went with Steve and he dropped us off at the post office. Andy, Erinn and I wandered around for a little while and bought sulus before we went back to the market. We spent some time in the market and then met the others to switch off the camera. Erinn, Apryle and I went back to the market to try it out. We took pictures of Bruce. Everyone in the market laughed and made comments to him as we took his picture. We found a little kitten in the market that looked just like Friday (Karen and Steve’s kitten). We went back to the hotel and spent the afternoon reading and swimming. We had dinner and then Apryle, Stephanie, Emily and I went to Apryle’s village of Vitawa for her sevu sevu. We first went to her house and then to the chief’s house to perform the ceremony. The chief of her village is also the chief of Stephanie’s and my village, so it was good that we were there as well. Her village seems like it is very big and her family seems really nice. Afterwards we went to Stephanie’s village for hers but her family was in another village because someone had died recently. We stayed at her house for a little while and drank kava and met some of her family while Beverly Hills 90210 played in the background. Solo and a man who worked for the education department came with us. The other man performed the ceremony in Apryle’s village. He was a cousin of one of the woman at Stephanie’s house. Solo’s mother-in-law was also there. They told us she was 107 but we’re thinking that’s not possible. We stayed there for about 40 minutes. Afterwards we came back and went right to bed. Kava makes me so tired!!
THE MARKET

The market seemed busier today than yesterday, although the vendors say that today is not busy either. Bruce said that he will probably only sell about $15 of produce, the same amount he had expected to sell yesterday. He told us on a busy day he would likely sell between $80 and $150, but that it was difficult to predict how much he would sell on Saturdays. He told us that Saturdays are referred to as Market Day because it is the busiest and many people who only come to market once a week come on Saturday.

Bruce said that the manager of the Raki Raki Hotel had just been there and that he bought pineapple and the other fruit the serve at the hotel from him. He said that he comes to the market daily to buy the produce for the hotel.

There appeared to be about the same number of vendors inside the market but outside it looked like there were several more women selling. All the vendors were in the same places they had been yesterday. They all seemed to have the same amount of produce and all the prices were the same as yesterday.

We bought yaqona outside from a man that Erinn had spoken to yesterday. He told us that he usually did not sell at the market but that he was selling for his wife because she was in the hospital. He worked as a policeman and she sold at the market. He thought she would be leaving the hospital tomorrow. He was selling with another woman who had not been there yesterday. He said she was his cousin. He explained that she has a Fijian mother and an Indian father. He also explained that his sister had married an American man in Lisbon. He said it was strange for this to happen, almost as if it was looked down upon socially, but he seemed like he was proud of his family.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

Being in the market for the first time was intimidating because everyone stared at us the entire time. It was hard to approach people at first because we didn’t know how they would react to all our questions, especially because we must look so strange to them, writing everything they say down. But once we started talking it got much easier and everyone was very friendly and helpful. I think the town of Vaileka itself is pretty ugly, there is so much beautiful scenery around and then all of the sudden there are all these ugly store fronts. Store owners in America would be disgusted to see people walking in and out of stores with no shoes on. The stores sell the most random assortments of items. There are bins of underwear next to dinner dishes and hammers and screws on the same aisle as juice and cereal.

The market was pretty interesting. It reminded me of the outdoor markets in old movies. I would like to see it on a Saturday when it is busy.

The flies all over all the food in the market was pretty gross. I don’t know if I could eat food that was covered in flies. Its amazing how cheap everything is. A pineapple or papaya cost 25 cents American when in the states it would cost probably $4.

Top of Page | Note Index | Megan Lee