If your system clock has *ever* been changed (either by a person or by your operating system), particularly in a backwards direction, since starting a tribe, the game may be permanently affected even though the system clock is stable now and your other VV games are working properly. There are very complex, independent timers in Virtual Villagers, and any of them can be affected by clock changes. The only thing that can possibly help is to give the tribe enough time to sort out those issues.

One thing you might try is starting another tribe in a different player slot to see if the problem exists there, too.