Uepi Island Resort - Community News

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Uepi Community News

In Marovo “community” is everything. Traditional life is based on belonging to & taking your place in a community. Who you are is defined by your genealogy & the community you belong to. Before Uepi was able to commence its tourism operations almost 30 years ago, it was necessary to get approval from the premier community forum, the Marovo Area Council. To continue to function comfortably & even to survive, Uepi had to maintain a good relationship with the local Marovo community. Fortunately this should be regarded as a blessing not a problem, as to ongoing relationships with individuals, villages, tribes & communities has enriched the whole experience for managers & guests.

Today there are many well established & developing relationships that are to the mutual benefit of both the Marovo people & Uepi Resort. In early times the basic benefits of market & fish purchases, wages & carving sales were quickly established. In recent years those relationships have dramatically improved & increased with more & more interaction. Both parties have become more dependent on each other, with healthy outcomes. In addition many new relationships have rapidly developed as Uepi Management, guests & other associated people & organisations have become increasingly involved & committed.

The contribution by Uepi guests is very significant & growing. This is not surprising as the warm interaction of guests with Marovo people certainly makes a deep impression.

As a result Uepi Managers are now very often involved with community matters during part of their day & are approached on all sorts of issues. This we believe is an indication of the trust & respect that exists amongst Uepi & the Marovo people.

The benefits for the Marovo people are diverse & plentiful.

The benefits for Uepi are equally diverse & plentiful.

For those Europeans who work at Uepi in Marovo, living amongst people who exhibit such a strong sense of community in their daily lives, & being able to feel part of that community, is a great personal reward & pleasure.

Listed below are links to more information on some of the projects that Uepi is involved with & we hope you enjoy reading about them.

“Leana” Grant & Jill Kelly (Managers Uepi Island Resort)

VSAT Project - Communications for schools, clinics and villages in the Marovo Lagoon

School donations

Local Projects

We sincerely wish to thank the following people for use of their photographs in our website:

Peter Lange, Peter Pinnock, Oceania Films/Matt Guest, Eric Cheng, Fred Bavendam, Andy Belcher, Manuela Kirschner, Louise Murray, Roberto Rinaldi, Mark Strickland/Oceanic Impressions, Jill Kelly, Grant Kelly, Wes Kelly and Jason Kelly.