Chinese once said, “if your plan is for one year, plant rice; if your plan is for ten years, plant trees; if your plan is for one hundred years, educate children”.
And education was the main reason the people of Ono-i-Lau left their shores in the early ‘50s to pursue a dream they had for their children to receive the academic opportunities that they never had.
They braved the choppy waters and swift currents in their handmade canoes and battled their way to reach the shores of Suva.
Saiasi Luveni, 74, is a member of one of the founding families that made the treacherous journey.
He said that once his ancestors arrived in Suva, their real challenges began because they had to find a place to settle.
Mr Luveni termed their search for a place to call home in the then bustling Colonial town as an “inner migration”.
“My father was like the leader of the pack that started the move from Billmoria, a well-known place in Suva, in the early days as they looked for a better place, a place they could call their home,” the Nukuni, Ono-i-Lau native said.
“At first we were like nomads who moved around, temporarily setting up in different places as we looked for a place where we could access education and work but also live life just like how it was on Ono.
“It was exciting, scary and an adventure all rolled into one.
“The menfolk would hold long discussions around the yaqona bowl after a tiring day of work and toss ideas back and forth about what the next move should be.
“From there they moved to Laqere, settled there for few years and as the community started to grow, they shifted their home to Tovata and Makoi.
“After a few years in Makoi as the population grew, they decided to look for another place to settle.”
Mr Luveni said he was eight years old when the family ended up in Sawani.
He said he could clearly recall in 1955 when they set foot at the place they call home.
He said Waibau was a natural forest which was teeming with greenery and rich soil.
“We were then directed here to Waibau and from that time until now, this is our home.
“Even though I’m originally from Lau, I have spent my whole life here, it’s the only place I know.
“As the banana trade started back in those days, some of the family members moved to Lomaivuna and some crossed over to Seaqaqa on Vanua Levu.
“This is not our ‘home away from home’, this is home to most of us who have been raised here since we were small.
“Things were not going smoothly in the early stages because there were trees all over the place and it was hard to start from scratch.
“My father and his group were unfazed, they knew what they had to do to set us up for quality education and they just began developing the area.
“The place was rich and untouched. The waterways were teeming with prawns, and the forests were filled with wild yams and pigs, food was plentiful.”
Mr Luveni said their first night in the jungle was like something out of a storybook.
“We used some 44-gallon drums as posts and placed some old roofing iron and leaves across them for our shelter.
“We could hear wild pigs walking around and from time to time they tried to demolish our makeshift home maybe because it was new to them.”
The retired court translator said as the days went by, they began to build proper houses and their little community began to take shape.
“In the first few years, we started to experience some difficulties because we were just staying here for free.
“Isoa Malimali of Sawani allowed us to live there and establish ourselves.
“However, the traditional landowners would come and pull our crops, and take our chickens and pigs.
“The elders then decided we should seek Government’s assistance to legalise our stay here in Waibau.”
As their farms developed, the men began to venture into the produce trade.
“We began to take our farm produce to Suva and the price those days was as low as five penny or 50 cents.
“For the yaqona, only the lewe was in demand because it was clean when it was mixed, we used to throw the waka (roots) away.”
The former Ratu Kadavulevu School student said in 1960 road work was carried out through a loan facilitated by the Fiji Development Bank.
“This was made possible with the help of the late Prime Minister and former President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. He was also our chief, so this made it easier for us.
“Ratu Mara set up our lease and we contributed through fundraising to help pay the loan.
“When the road was completed, he insisted we hand it over to the Government so that the maintenance could be carried out by them as it would be a burden to the farmers.
“He also set up Vatukoula Gold Mine and Queen Victoria School to buy dalo from us. The cash collected was not much, but it helped us move forward with our plans.
“So we got our education and some moved out and set themselves up in the city, some migrated overseas, some have joined the Fiji army, the British army and many are still staying here.”
Another old-timer of Waibau, Vatilai Naitini said he was one-year seven months old when his grandparents and parents came to Waibau.
The now 64-year-old said they arrived in Waibau in 1958.
He said his grandchildren were the sixth generation to continue living there.
“Straight from an island miles away from Viti Levu to the shores of Suva and straight to the untouched forest, that’s how it was,” the Matokana, Ono-i-Lau man, said.
“We followed the same protocol in asking landowners in Sawani for a piece of land.
“Our forefathers were some very hardworking people.
“There were families from Kabara, Vanuabalavu, Vanuavatu, Matuku but most of us were from Ono.
“They treated this place like it was their own village. They were able to build a proper Methodist Church and a water tank in 1980.
“They brought us here so that we can have a good life and education.
“It was not a very good beginning, as I was told by my parents, but I can recall all the hardships that we have to take in order to achieve what is expected of us.
Mr Naitini said they walked the horse tracks dug by the elders to reach the main road.
“I have seven siblings,” he said.
“We went to Sawani Fijian School for our primary education.
“Our secondary education we parted ways. Some joined Vanuakula Catholic School, but I was able to attend the newly built Suva Muslim College in Nabua, Suva.
“I reached Form 4 and returned to Waibau to help my dad.
The first family of Fijian of Indian descent to arrive in Waibau were from Ovalau, Levuka in Lomaiviti in 1976.
Bidya Prasad said as a 17-year-old boy straight from high school they began to settle at their new home.
“In 1975 we moved to Suva worked there for a few months before we made our way here,” he said.
“My parents were eager to start their new life here,” he said.
“During those days, ginger were known as the ‘green gold’ of Fiji.
“But it was disrupted as the price of ginger began to deteriorate.
“We moved on to dalo farming, but it didn’t last long because insects damaged the crops and Waibau was known as the biggest supplier of dalo ni Samoa.
“We only able to plant cassava and vegetables.
“Life was hard too those days because you can only sell two bundles of dalo in Suva at a very low price compared with this time.
“You just plant, pull your crops and wait for buyers to pick them from your farm at the same time collect your cash.
“I lived my entire life here and was able to marry my sweetheart, who is from Vanuatu in Lau.
“We were blessed with three children and five grandchildren.”
The 61-year-old farmer and pastor said he was fortunate to be part of Waibau dwellers and would never regret his family’s decision to move from Ovalau to Naitasiri.
