Some Fiji drawings and paintings

 From w
Here are a few of my sketches and paintings I made in Fiji - from Cuvu, Suva, Nukutatava, Pacific Harbour and other places. Click on any to see enlarged.  The one of the village church is actually a linocut.

A babasiga kid has knee surgery

from w
Jordan, our grandson had knee surgery at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne this morning and is recovering well this afternoon, even eating Maccas for his evening meal! George is staying with him and it's a beautiful hospital. His anaethesist sang a Fijian song to him as he went under. That children's song about a bulumakau. Apparently the anaethesist spent his childhood in Fiji! Peceli and I visited this afternoon and picked up Andrew Junior who was there all day for moral support. Jordan is in Platypus Wing, a lovely area decorated with paintings. Jordan's injury was to do with the growth plate on one knee (injured in a river near Labasa quite some time ago!)

and there's a bit to do over the next months to get it going well.
And on Sunday Jordan has visitors from Geelong - Andrew Snr, Andrew Jnr and their friend Jhiah.

And on the third day Jordan came home with a magnetic device to start the process of fixing his leg - over four or five months. Apparently the technology is very new and Jordan and another teenager were the first children in Australia to have this method of reconstruction of the limb.  The bionic boy!.

Can Fijian play Aussie rules? Yes!

from w

Nic Nat rules the roost in thrilling Eagles win

Date

from a WA paper: May 17, 2013 - 9:59PM

Nic Naitanui knows how to finish a story.

His kick after the siren to hand West Coast a two point-win over North Melbourne was meant to be. It had built to this all week.

He had been the middle of all the pre-game hype as he looked to face the big Roo Majak Daw for the first time.

Unfortunately for North, as the siren went on the 12.18 (90) to 13.10 (88) result, Daw was sitting on the sideline with the red subs' shirt on – with only four touches and one goal next to his name.

Naitanui capped off a great night and thrilled the crowd with a high flying mark to earn the shot at goal.

The Kangaroos should feel a bit dudded.

Special books about Fiji in a Melbourne bookshop

from w
Yesterday Peceli and I were delighted to be able to purchase a superb diary by May Cook, the wife of a missionary who lived at Nasoso, Macuata. Rev Oswald Cook worked tirelessly in Macuata and later in Lakeba. May is a lovely writer, noticing small details of life in the Naduri area and on numerous boat trips along the coast, and observing Fijian customs in the period 1904-1906. Her son collated her diaries and published them not many years ago with only 100 copies so we were lucky to get one pristine copy. Thanks to Rev Cyril Germon whom we visited a couple of days ago who said, 'Peceli, there's a book you might be interested in because it's about Nasoso and Macuata a hundred or more years ago.' I searched the internet and found libraries where the book is located and also bookshops. Kay Craddock- Antiquarian Bookseller, in the Assembly Hall Building - next to the Baptist Church - 156 Collins Street Melbourne, had the book. Website kaycraddock.com  There were about twenty excellent precious books about Fiji - first editions - that kind of book - but the prices were high as you would expect. But anyone interested in the history of Fiji can go there and browse.  A gem of a shop in the heart of Melbourne.

Happy Mothers Day in Fiji

from w
May all mothers and potential mothers in Fiji have a lovely day today - also the adopting mothers, the orphanage Mums, the absent mums, the families who mourn their mothers who have passed on, baby sitters and carers of children.
Here's a picture of Mila and Talei from Vatuadova.

About the Labasa River

from w
Always there is talk about cleaning up the Labasa River environment and being aware of degradation when mangroves are removed. Well, here's another effort to replant mangroves to save erosion and destruction.

Major rehabilitation for river

Salaseini Moceiwai
Tuesday, May 07, 2013

A MANGROVE planting program is scheduled for parts of the Labasa River in the hope of reducing the effects of climate change in the area.

Organised by the Department of Environment under the Building Resilience Project, the initiative will start next month in conjunction with World Environment Day.

Senior environment officer northern Senimili Nakora said the project's goal was to reduce the vulnerability of targeted communities to the impact of climate change through a strengthened and co-ordinated approach within the national climate change policy and strategy framework.

"We aim to achieve these goals with an approach that involves resilience — building in high bio-diversity tropical mangrove areas and associated coral reef, sea-grass and upland ecosystems across its community project sites," she said.

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Photos of Labasa River are by Bhaskaroo.

Learn to swim

from w
There have been many drowinings in Fiji during the past year.  Children play in water even when there is a flood and a raging river. Adults going out fishing do not use life-jackets.  The sea is warm and you can float for hours as long as you don't panic. Yet thousands of people in Fiji never experience the pleasure of swimming and it's necessary for all people who live near the sea or near rivers.  How many schools have swimming classes for the students?  Years ago I took swimming lessons for a group of girls from Dudley High School. Most were timid and scared in the water at first but after six weeks they became more confident and some could swim. At least they learnt to float and not panic - I hope.  We lived by the sea at Nukutatava, near Labasa when our three boys were very small and they just went into the water with their cousins and somehow taught themselves to swim, but not all families do this.

 Here is a letter to the Editor in today's Fiji Times.

Swimming class

I THINK more awareness should be done on drowning. Mandatory classes on swimming should be taught in schools. I firmly believe that the reason for most drowning cases is that the victims don't know how to swim. People must be taught on how to handle a crisis. Most people get confused and nervous when they see someone drowning. We have to start from the grassroots if we want to lessen the number of drowning cases. I hope necessary authorities will have a thoughtful view on this issue seriously.

ASHNEEL PRASAD ,Auckland ,NZ

Watched the movie 'The Land has Eyes'

from w
I was lucky to notice that NITV planned to screen the Fiji movie 'The Land has Eyes' last night, so we were able to watch it.  Set in Rotuma it is the creative result of a Rotuman academic, Vilisoni Hereniko, working in Hawaii. It is a lovely film. The culture and language of Rotuma takes first place as the story revolves about a teenage girl coping with the contradictions of life - corruption, beauty, family loyalty, heritage and myths.  Pity it was on late at night and not in prime time.  Australians need to be aware of the peoples of the Pacific, even this little island group called Rotuma.  NITV are putting on great programs - Australian indigenous, Maori, films from Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Solomons and Fiji.

One website writes it up as:

May 7, 2010

Review: Pear ta Ma 'on Maf/ The Land Has Eyes

Author: 

Melanie Schnell

CSQ Issue: 

29.1 (Spring 2005) Indigenous Peoples and Violent Conflict

Pear ta Ma ‘on Maf / The Land Has Eyes (87 min., 2004) is a visually stunning film set on the remote island of Rotuma in the South Pacific. Directed by Vilsoni Hereniko, it is the first indigenous-made feature-length film from Fiji. Its making is an admirable example of how the process of producing a movie can be as important as the finished film.

“I wanted to give something back to my community; I wanted my people to take pride in their language,” Hereniko, a professor at the University of Hawaii, told an audience as he introduced the film during the fifth-annual imagineNative Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario. “Today, people no longer live in traditional thatched-roof houses. The whole movie set had to be constructed, yet after we were done, people moved in and are living there.” The film also encouraged the people of Rotuma to relearn traditions such as mat-weaving and canoe-making.

The Land Has Eyes centers around Viki, a young girl who fights to clear her family’s name in the face of the island’s corrupt colonial administration. Strong, independent, and smart, she is inspired by the Warrior Woman from her island’s mythology as she enters womanhood amidst cultural and family challenges. The lush beauty of the island contrasts with her struggle for justice as she follows her dream of leaving the remote island to pursue further education in Fiji.

Viki adores her father, a patient, traditional Rotuman man named Hapati, and listens intently to his stories. When she becomes angry with her mother and sister for keeping her from learning how to cook and weave mats, Hapati encourages her to develop her scholastic abilities. Viki excels in school, where she learns English quickly, but her world begins to crumble when Hapati is wrongly accused of stealing coconuts by their wealthy neighbor, and their community turns against them. Because Hapati cannot understand English, his neighbor is able to frame him and only Viki, hiding under the court window, knows of the injustice. The movie’s title comes from Hapati’s reassurance to Viki of the ancient Rotuman belief that the land is vigilant and will eventually avenge wrongdoing.

When Hapati’s overwork to pay off his court fine overtakes him, Viki enters into her own inner, surreal realm, as the village people gossip about her mental instability and rebellious ways. The end of the story proves that her father was correct about the land’s vigilance.

The beautiful visuals, haunting music, and realistic characters lend honesty and simplicity to this story, which is based on Hereniko’s own life story. The director lived on Rotuma Island until he was 16, when he won a scholarship to complete his secondary education in Fiji. In the 1960s and 1970s, administrators for the former British colony had no knowledge of the local customs or language, and often allowed corrupt members of the community to take advantage of fellow islanders. The importance of knowledge both old and new are woven together throughout the film, as the heroine bucks tradition and uses her modern education, along with her respect for her cultural beliefs, to win justice for her family.

Silence and children in Fiji

from w
The speaker was rather game to criticize Fijian culture at a Fijian Teachers meeting, however he has a point. There is a perception that a child is cheeky if he or she keeps on asking questions. It is children's place to be rather quiet in the presence of adults, so in school many children do not ask questions.  We found that with grandsons when they relocated to an Australian city and high school.  They were always lauded as very polite by the teachers - perhaps because they were not as talkative as the Australian students.

from Fiji Times today:

Inquisitive mind and spirit

Demayble Pasoni
Saturday, May 04, 2013

Culture can contribute to the problems of Fijian or iTaukei education.

Children have an inquisitive mind or spirit and they ask questions based on their observation, the most common being, Why?

Former High Court judge Justice Filimone Jitoko, who was chief guest at the Fijian Teachers Association 79th Annual Delegates Conference, made the comment when he launched the event in Suva.

He said the Fijian or iTaukei culture stifled the enthusiasm of the child to learn, citing an example where parents or adults were overheard telling the child, "O sobo, o sa rui gone dau taro" (You ask too many questions), or "Sa rauta mada na taro" (Stop asking questions).

Such statements make children believe that asking questions are not polite and are inappropriate behaviour.

Justice Jitoko said schools and teachers must be pro-active in encouraging children to ask questions.

He cited the old Chinese proverb, "He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes — he who doesn't remains a fool forever."

He said teachers and parents needed to break down the cultural barrier and re-ignite the enthusiasm of curiosity in the minds of children because it was vital to their education and their future.

A paradigm shift in the home is necessary to recognise that a child that asks a question is not a nuisance because it shows that the child is starting a life-long adventure of learning, gaining and storing knowledge that will positively contribute to making a success of his life later.

Political parties registered

from w
And about time too. Holding the applicants on a tightrope at times -  but now it's okay for these parties to get on with their tasks.

from Fiji Village this morning:

NFP, FLP and SODELPA registered as parties

Publish date/time: 02/05/2013 [17:59] Print this page Email this page The Registrar for Political Parties Mohammed Saneem announced today that the National Federation Party, the Fiji Labour Party and the Social Democratic Liberal Party or SODELPA have been registered under the Political Parties Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures Decree. The Registrar said as of today these parties will be able to operate, function, represent and hold themselves out to be political parties. The Registrar said that he had taken a liberal approach in assessing the applications and although there were anomalies in all three parties membership lists, he was satisfied that each contained more than 5,000 valid signatures. The NFP applied for registration with 7,574 member signatures, 189 of which were discounted as anomalies and total remaining 7,385. The FLP applied for registration with 8,456 member signatures, 284 of which were discounted as anomalies, total remaining 8,172. The SODELPA applied for registration with 8,825 member signatures, 136 of which were discounted as anomalies and total remaining 8,689. He said the anomalies will be referred to the relevant authorities, including the police for investigation and any further action. Meanwhile, these parties are given 30 days to submit to the Registrar a written declaration giving details of all assets and expenditure including all contributions, donations or pledges of contributions whether in cash or in kind, made or to be made to the initial assets of the political party. Party officials and in the future party candidates will also have to disclose personal incomes, assets, business connections, directorships, gifts and liabilities. Story by: Tokasa Rainima

Tui Macuata laid to rest

The Fiji media and facebook have many stories about the funeral of the Tui Macuata, photos here are mainly from a Government site in facebook and from Rev Vula (who resides in Malake Island as a minister) who is from Mali, who went to the funeral.  Our family was represented by some of the women of Vatuadova.  I think many people took photos, discreetly I hope, on their phones or wtih cameras. There were up to two thousand people to be fed after the funeral so that was a huge task and for once it was correct to catch turtles for the chiefly occasion, though it was taboo at all other times.

From Fiji Sun

Ratu Aisea rests at their sautabu

April 28, 2013 |

By Siteri Taleitaki

The late Tui Macuata, Ratu Aisea Cavunailoa Katonivere, was finally laid to rest at the sautabu; the chiefly burial ground in Naduri Village yesterday.
As his casket made its way into the sautabu, the tikina ‘o Sasa was ready to bury their chief. The burial of the chief of Caumatalevu is the traditional responsibility of the Taukei Vuniwesi of Sasa Village.
Boundaries were placed around the burial grounds, as instructions for visitors and the people that it was a tabu to move closer to the Sautabu.
Speaking to Fiji Sun Adi Naomi Qiokalou, a representative of the Tikina o Sasa, said they were proud to prepare the final resting place of their late chief, the Tui Macuata.
Adi Qiokalou says it is their traditional role to prepare the burial ground of the chief of Caumatalevu. The tikina ‘o Sasa remained at the chiefly burial ground until the late Tui Macuata was buried.
Adi Qiokalou was grateful for the tremendous support and said: “Turaga Tui Macuata, Taukei kei Bolatagane rest in peace.”

Tui Macuata going home

from w
Isa, the journey back to Naduri from Labasa meant that the Tui Macuata is going home, ready for the huge day tomorrow of his funeral.  There was evidence of great respect by the people of Labasa - offices and shops were closed for a period and many people lined the streets by sitting on the ground as the decorated truck went by.  It is a reflection of the good will of of babasiga people towards the chief of Macuata.

Chiefly cortege heads home

By SERAFINA SILAITOGA
Friday, April 26, 2013

SERAFINA SILAITOGA

Update: 3:25PM HEADS bowed, tears flowing, the people of Labasa paid their last respects as the funeral cortege of the late Tui Macuata, Ratu Aisea Katonivere, left Labasa Town for the chiefly village of Naduri this afternoon.

Traditional warriors escorted the body to the village. 

The vanua of Labasa led the funeral cortege.

Draped in fine masi, the truck carrying the chiefly body slowly made its way to the village, from where the late chief left last week on that fateful fishing trip.

Students lined the route from the Labasa Hospital Road and the town, draped in black, came to a standstill as thousands paid their respects.

Labasa at a standstill for Ratu Aisea

By LUKE RAWALAI and SERAFINA SILAITOGA
Friday, April 26, 2013

Update: 2:59PM STUDENTS at Labasa Primary School lined the Labasa Hospital Road with government officials for their last respects to the Tui Macuata, Ratu Aisea Katonivere.

Girls sat on crossed legs as a sign of respect beside the roadside as traditional escorts prepare to take his body to Naduri Village.

Labasa's main street sidewalk was filled with townspeople who are waiting to catch a last glimpse of the late chief.

The body of the late Taukei Bolatagane is expected to leave Labasa Hospital in the next 15 minutes. Children, adults, civil servants and the town of Labasa has come to a standstill.
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And the video on youtube with the awesome sound of the blowing of the conch shells reveals the power of the vanua and connections that Tui Macuata had with so many people and the strength of the relationship with his own people..  Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5yuEK_jpiA

Ra qiqi in Naduri village

from w
A story in today's Fiji Times is about the little silver eye bird  (zosterops lateralis)  as an omen in Naduri. The second piece is from an earlier babasiga post by Peceli about building a house in Naduri, and the third piece is a poem I wrote, associating the little bird with the destruction of the forest.  Ra qiqi the bird is in the first line of a meke ni yaqona and another version is more like a lele, a lament.

Warning of death on wings and a song

By SERAFINA SILAITOGA
Sunday, April 21, 2013

SIGNS of a looming event that would strike the vanua of Bolatagane were revealed to two traditional leaders in the village of Naduri, two days before Macuata's paramount chief, Ratu Aisea Katonivere died out at sea.

The kingmaker of the chiefly title of the Tui Macuata, Ratu Peni Sogia, and the Marama ni Yavusa Naduri, Kalisita Bulikula, yesterday said they saw signs, but could not interpret their true meanings until the tragic news reached them.

Ratu Peni said a bird, known as the Qiqi, kept flying around the verandah of his home on Wednesday.

"For us, the Qiqi bird is a sign of good or bad news. It is something that has happened from the time of our forefathers.

"I was lying in bed when I heard the bird flying around the porch. This went on all day. My wife and grandchildren lying inside the house got frightened and moved to the back of the house after complaining about the bird.

"I told them to remain calm and not bother because I knew such birds heralded news. I didn't know whether it was good or bad news. I prayed and asked God to give me the peace to accept whatever would happen whether good or bad," Ratu Peni said.

He said when the villagers told him about the passing of their high chief, he bowed his head and thanked God for giving him peace at that moment.

"Only then I knew the purpose of the bird's visit to my home. As a little boy, whenever these birds visited the village, my father knew something was about to happen, but whether it was good or bad, he never knew, until it actually happened.

"I thank God for the life of my brother. He was very kind and never refused help to anybody.

"E na maqa va'adua ni va maqa. Tamata tauco'o dau lai ere'ere vua, e tu vua se maqa, ena soli ga e dua a (He will never say no. Anyone who asked him for help would receive something, even if he didn't have all that was asked for)," Ratu Peni said.

The Marama ni Yavusa Naduri said on Wednesday night, she chanted an iTaukei song in her sleep as she dreamt of a big function on the village lawn.

"I was asleep and my husband woke me up because he heard me singing an iTaukei song. I sat up in bed and told him that I dreamt of many people on the village lawn. People I had not met before and they came from all over the world.

"Naduri Village was full of people and in my dream, while watching these people, I was standing in the middle of the ground and singing the song.

"I prayed and asked God to reveal to me the meaning of my dream.

"When the sad news was brought to me on Friday morning, I cried and thought of my dream. But God has the last say and we really miss our brother," Ms Bulikula said.

Ratu Aisea Katonivere died early Friday morning at about 3am after his fishing boat sunk in the qoliqoli of Naduri. His cousin, Ratu Peni Vulaca, and nephew, Ratu Vereniki Marawa, who were with him, survived.

Building a chief's house in Naduri

One day we visited our elderly relative Sakaria in Naseakula village and he told us about the little bird in the forest near Naduri and he sang two versions of a song about Ra Qiqi and the building of a chief's house in Naduri.

During the 1940s Sakaria was part of a house-building project to build a new house for the high chief in Naduri down the coast from Labasa. They went into the forest to find the most suitable timber and only when the little forest bird, the white-eye, called, they knew that they had found the right tree. The men cut down the tree and chanted as they hauled the logs. The fine chief's house was builtd and named Bolatagane which means 'The House of the Strong'. Naduri is the village of the chief of Macuata 

Traditionally the the duru or bou, the king post, has to have a human sacrifice. A man is buried with the king post. While they were building they chanted as they placed the kingpost in the hole and a man Epeli was thrown down. Luckily a young chief Kini Jioji from Labasa growled at them and he pulled the man out just before the king post was pushed down. Kini Jioji said, 'Sa gauna na Lotu!' This means we are Christians. No more human sacrifice!

In the Fiji Museum in Suva are two door posts carved as a man and a woman and the sign says they come from a chief's house in Naduri. The photo Wendy took of them did not come out. Today in Naduri the remains of the chief's house are left undisturbed and this is a tabu site.

Ra Qiqi the white-eye bird

Sing to me softly Ra Qiqi, a lullaby lightness,
not the guttural of men. Your wings tremble
amidst silver-leafed saplings, despite obscenities below. 
Ia ia.

Beware of loggers' teeth ripping the forest apart, 
severing the canopy. You panic and zigzag away, 
your habitat stricken, the rape explicit. 
Ia ia.

Here was a moment to lament, your song ignored, 
Once, you signalled a season, timely and right, 
your wing flashed, sacred white-eye. 
Ia ia.

Your song flutters a message, one ironwood tree, 
opening the canopy once in a decade 
to build the Big House for the chief. 
Ia ia.

Your full-throated cry dissolves to a lament 
for the stolen land, the broken forests.
Isa oilei, isa oilei.

Rest in peace Tui Macuata

From FBC radio

The Tui Macuata – Ratu Aisea Katonivere has passed away. Ratu Aisea was on a fishing trip yesterday with two others when his boat started taking in water and capsized. FBC News this afternoon spoke to Ratu Peni Vulaca – one of the survivors from the incident. Still emotional from the ordeal, Ratu Peni described how he and the Tui Macuata started swimming to shore after the boat capsized. Ratu Peni says he tried to help Ratu Aisea for as long as he could. Naduri villager, William Foster who was part of the rescue team says the people of Naduri and the whole of Macuata are still in shock. 

Ratu Aisea’s body has been taken to the Labasa Hospital while traditional leaders are meeting to decide the funeral arrangements.

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Ratu Aisea Katonivere is a Fijian chief and politician from the northern Province of Macuata, where he is the Paramount Chief and Chairman of the Provincial Council. He holds the title of Caumatalevu na Turaga na Tui Macuata, which is usually abbreviated to Tui Macuata. Since June 2006, he has also represented his province in the Senate as one of fourteen nominees of the Great Council of Chiefs. In the parliamentary election of 2001, he contested the Macuata Fijian Communal Constituency for the United Fiji Party (SDL), but was defeated by Isireli Leweniqila of the Conservative Alliance (CAMV). On 23 February 2006, he announced his candidacy for the Presidency or Vice-Presidency. When Great Council of Chiefs met on 8 March, however, it reelected Ratu Josefa Iloilo as President and Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi as Vice-President.

A BIOPAMA champion in the Pacific

08 March 2013 | News story

A tireless champion of conservation in his province in Northern Fiji, Ratu Aisea Katonivere, brings political experience, leadership, local knowledge, and successful community engagement to BIOPAMA efforts in the Pacific region.

Mr. Katonivere hails from the village of Naduri in Macuata Province, where he is the Paramount Chief and Chairman of the Provincial Council. He holds the title of Tui Macuata. His ‘kingdom’ is made up of 110,000 people living in 117 coastal and inland villages and includes the Great Sea Reef, an area of 78,242 square miles that is the world’s third largest barrier reef. In the early 2000’s he joined with four other chiefs to establish the 32-square mile Macuata Marine Protected Area Network, which has been widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful models for marine protected areas. In 2006, he won the Global Ocean Conservation Award. 

Tui Macuata attributes his conservation success in part to capacity building, the key component of BIOPAMA. “It is important to embrace scientific knowledge and harmonize it with traditional knowledge,” said Tui Macuata, when attending the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Jeju, Korea last year. “Capacity building works when the society – the communities – are involved from day one.” 

In addition to attending the BIOPAMA event at the Global Protected Areas Programme’s Protected Planet Pavilion during the World Conservation Congress, Tui Macuata actively participated in the recent BIOPAMA Pacific workshop, providing valuable input and guiding efforts on networking and appropriate forms of capacity building for the region. Fiji’s locally managed marine area (LMMA) sites are under consideration for BIOPAMA programme engagement, and Tui Macuata will be an invaluable ally in this partnership. 

More than 80 percent of protected areas in the Pacific are community managed. “We put the community first, we put the community second, and we put the community at the end,” concluded Tui Macuata in Jeju. “When the community is left out the project doesn’t work. With community participation and capacity building, we were able to embrace the new management regimes that were brought in by the various NGOs that are now working hand in hand with us. We can now sustain our marine protected areas for the future.” This insight, and Tui Macuata’s success to date, will provide valuable lessons that will enable BIOPAMA to build a solid foundation for improving protected area management and local livelihoods in the Pacific.

Spring water near a beach

from w
I've been thinking about 'water' this week for a task coming up. Then I found pictures of Nukutatava beach where we once lived when the boys were very little, and the spring water dripping from the cliff only a few feet from the sea, enough clean water for ten people those days. A place where Hindu families used to do their puja because of the amazing gift of fresh water near the beach. We used a bamboo pipe to catch the water into a pool, then piped the water to a tank. We actually had water for two showers and two toilets near two of the bures. Unfortunately the houses are no longer there and erosion has damaged the beach. Meanwhile the water continues to seep from the rock to provide fresh water and neighbouring farmers still go there to collect water when there is no rain.

High blood pressure in Fiji - too true

Opportunity for fashon designers

from w
I was interested to read that two persons from Fiji will go to Melbourne in June to study fashion design at Kookai, an excellent fashion house. Their designs are beautiful and geared to the 20 year olds. It's good to see the owner, Robert, thinking of training young designers from Fiji because Fijian fashion design is up there as very promising . Robert's mother came from a chiefly family in Bua so the connection with Fiji is very strong. Vinaka Rob and designer Tutu.

Kookai to greet Fijian interns

Tevita Vuibau
Friday, April 12, 2013

WORLD-RENOWNED brand, Kookai, will soon welcome two Fijians into their Melbourne-based headquarters for a month-long internship.

The pair — Yolla Johns and Netani Vulakoro — were the winning entry of last year's Most Promising Designer category at the Fiji Fashion Week (FJFW).

In line with one of FJFW's aims this year to send all 2012 winners abroad, Ms Johns and Mr Vulakoro are set to leave the country in June for their attachment.

"I'm so excited but at the same time, I'm also quite nervous about the experience," Ms Johns said yesterday.

She said she wished June could arrive sooner.

"I have no idea what to expect, but whatever it is, it'll be a challenge and I can't wait," she said.

Mr Vulakoro shared Ms Johns' sentiments, saying that in preparation for their internship, they were putting together other ideas.

"We're currently working on new designs to take with us along with the designs we showcased at the FJFW last year," he said.

From little Kia Island to Sweden

from w
It's amazing that a group from the island of Kia off the Macuata coastline have been able to travel to distant places such as Sweden. Way to go! Congratulations on their conservation project too.
From Fiji Times today: The photos by Meagan Kelly were taken during her visit to Kia and on her blog.

Students take trip

Serafina Silaitoga
Thursday, April 04, 2013

FROM the little island of Kia in Macuata to Gothenburg City in Sweden — a group of students who have not seen a plane have considered themselves blessed to be part of a world competition that will fly them to the second largest Swedish city.

The five-member group will represent Fiji and the Pacific at this year's United Nations Environment Program/Volvo Adventure Awards in June.

The group, who are reef rangers of C3 (Community Centred Conservation), will also be the first group from the Pacific to be part of the global competition among seven other countries.

The rangers were assisted by C3 officials with the application done last year.

C3 co-ordinator Akosita Rokomate said they sent pictures and the programs of work done by young rangers on the island of Kia that won the hearts of organisers.

"The five students are excited because they have never been out of Labasa and have not even seen a plane so the thought of having a new airbus is making them even more excited about the trip. They want to get a ride on the new airbus," Ms Rokomate said.

"It is a fully-funded trip by the organisers and our application made it to the seven finalists out of 130 other applications that came from around the world. So it is a proud moment for us in Fiji," she said.