Wedding in Melbourne

from w
Last night Peceli and I attended a wonderful wedding party at Williamstown Town Hall when Saj married Katherine. The hall looked magnificent with about 300 guests and the bride and groom both looked happy and relaxed. Thank you to Doreen and Sam Sen, parents of the bride, for the organising - there were dancers, mekes, a Christian ceremony officiated by Peceli, tasty food, lots of conversation - with many people saying - this is like being back in Fiji. One picture is of three older Fiji gentlemen - they had been yarning enthusiastically in Hindi until I interrupted them to request a photo, then they just lined up formally! Some more photos are on the Geelong Visual Diary blog.

When Nayau is too far away

from w
Because Fiji families are scattered over different parts of the world these days, there is extra grief when a member of the family dies in Fiji. Our friend Selai who lives in Geelong lost her Dad over a week ago. He was 78, lived on Nayau Island in Lau and was riding his horse to another village to prepare for the Sunday worship, and he fell. After a few days he passed away but many of his children were just too far away to attend the funeral. So here in Geelong a few friends visited Selai as soon as we heard the news, and then last night, Selai cooked a special dinner for a few friends as part of the ritual of remembering. We had kava, prayer and a meal together. In Fiji there are special gatherings after 4 days, 10 days, 40 days, but now some customs are adapted somewhat. Here are a few photos of some of the guests last night and one of the tables of the food prepared by Selai.

Fiji people in Melbourne

from Peceli
I took some photographs last Sunday at Carlton Church of All Nations as we mourned the death of Rev Doug Fullerton and expressed our condolences to his wife Ethel and family. Many friends from Fiji churches such as Dilkusha and Dudley have migrated to Melbourne and on Sunday they sang a bhajan. To enlarge the photos, click on each photo.