HAZRAT Ali grew up at Seaqaqa on Vanua Levu without electricity. Where some would have used that as an excuse to not succeed, Hazrat Ali thought otherwise. Hazrat knew he had to make-do with whatever was available and that meant studying and finishing his homework with whatever light a little lamp afforded him.
Growing up Mr Ali always dreamt of making changes to his village and bringing the people of Seaqaqa better opportunities.
“It would be lovely if a market is built at my village where the villagers could come and sell their crops,” Hazrat said
“Our road conditions are very bad too, changes like improving the roads, building bridges for students to cross in order to get to schools are what I want for Seaqaqa,” Hazrat said with some feeling as he spoke about his dreams, which he hopes to be able to implement soon.
He completed his high school education 29 years ago at Seaqaqa Central College and, like other young people in the area he started helping out on the family’s sugarcane plantation.
Hazrat left his farm behind in Seaqaqa during 2007 and moved to Suva with his family to give his four children better oportunities in life which their father never had while growing up. Hazrat, however, makes it a point to visit his village every fortnight.
“The cost of living living was very high and what I was getting paid for my sugarcane production was not enough to put food on the table, so I decided to move to Suva,” said the 47-year-old
Once Hazrat had moved to Suva with his family, he set about looking for some work. He eventually started work for the Ministry of Education as a security officer and later joined City Security Services.
In 2010, Hazrat joined the Fiji Police Force and worked under the building and maintenance unit until he decided to start his own business last year.
“I started my small shop at Nakasi, it’s called Hajas Dairy Shop. I sell basic goods,”Hazrat said.
He had to work hard and chase his dreams in a new environment so he could be an agent for change for himself, his family and his community. Now that he has done that with two of his children having completed their studies, Hazrat has decided he wants to change things on a bigger scale, to be exact, he wants to change things at the national level.
With the general election scheduled for next year, Hazrat had no hesitation tossing his name into the rig, so to speak, to contest the 2018 poll on a Social and Democratic Liberal Party ticket.
Until then, the Seaqaqa man wants to make effective changes whenever the opportunity presents itself.
