Part 2
The changing climate conditions we face as Pacific Islanders point to the way we treat our environment. In a collaboration between the Pacific Environment Journalist Network (PEJN), East West Center and Internews, veteran journalist
ILAITIA TURAGABECI visits Verevere vIllage on the Ra coast and reports on how the villagers are rebuilding and fighting back against climate change and the fury of nature.
This is the second part of a series on their story.
WHEN the Hunga-Tonga-Ha’apai volcanic eruption unleashed its fury across the Pacific, villagers of Verevere in Ra gave thanks as the tsunami triggered from the neighbouring kingdom arrived and was halted by their newly-built stone seawall. This, only three weeks before the seawall saved the village from the waves whipped up by the first cyclone of the 2021- 2022 cyclone season, Cody, on January 8. When the tsunami arrived on January 14, villagers fi rst knew something was wrong when the water receded several metres.
Verevere’s women’s leader, Temalesi Vere, said they first heard a loud boom. A phone call from Suva informed them that a tsunami alert had been issued by Fiji’s Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources because the volcano had violently erupted off Tonga’s mainland.
“Three waves then followed, one after another. It was lucky the stonewall held them off or seawater would have reached the homes behind it,” she said. “We are blessed that we now have this. Twice now, we have been saved.”
Development side-effects
While they are happy with a new seawall, it has brought about new problems. Sometimes at high tide, when the sea surge is strong during stormy weather, the tide pushes in further into the bay and fl oods the gravel road that vehicles use to travel along the Ra coast. “Water reaches the knee where vehicles pass. All good, we can stop waves from fl ooding the village, now we have to contend with the water that has risen and spills on to the road.”
Water
The villagers don’t drink from the new water system the Government has installed. They only use that water for washing.
The old water system – from a natural stone dam that their ancestors had built around to channel spring water to a tank that feeds the village, is the preferred source. “The old water system ensures cool fresh water.
“Our forefathers had great foresight and built around that spring. Until today, that spring water never ceases, come floods, soil erosion and all else. That water is always clean, cool and has a pure taste.”
Village elder Maika Masinameke said they were now committed to protecting the environment around their spring water sources on a nearby hill. The new dam was built higher than the stone dam and pipes laid out for the outflow was laid atop soapstone and covered with soil. Rain washed away the covering, exposing the plastic pipes to the sun.
“That new piped water brings stale water. The taste is different than what we’re used to and the water is warm.” The new piping system goes down to the village and around it near the coast and up again to feed homes it missed on the way down. “Sometimes, when the pressure to bring water back up again, there’s no water in the taps.
“So I told my family, we’ll rely only on our forefathers’ water system.
“This new system is not providing healthy water for us.”
Blessed bay
The bay also partly saved Verevere from further damage during Winston in February, 2016.
“Unlike the Tailevu coast, where the sea came straight and swept all out to sea, we were more sheltered,” another elder, Kuliniasi Qorowawi Senior, said. “When Winston’s waves came and retreated, we could still recover household stuff that had been swept out. “From the mangroves in the bay and across the bay at Saioko Village.” The bay, he added, provided an abundance of food and because it sheltered them, they thanked God for placing them in a “blessed Toba (bay) Basaga where we can use its resources.”
Abundant in fish species, shellfish and other marine delicacies, villagers feel their respect for ways of old and the environment will keep them in tune with nature. After Winston, fish in the bay turned poisonous. Fisherman Vilisi Jesoni said fish that they could normally eat, were left out of their menu. “Winston took rocks from land and dumped them on the reef. We don’t understand why the fish turned poisonous. Maybe it was the rocks that damaged the feeding areas of these fish and somewhat affected the various species.”
Link to the past
Stories past down by families tell of a woman from Verevere who traveled far to fetch water daily. Fed up, she called out to the land to make her life more bearable. Fresh water springs sprung out from where she stood. Villagers said God answered her plea. From that day’ villagers said they always had fresh water.
Octopus
Among the fresh water sources are streams that fl ow from an octopus-shaped in rocks in the bush above the village. From it, eight streams fl ow, including one that fills the stone dam that villagers drink from. The octopus is the totem of the people of Verevere.
Assistance
Among the first organisations that reached out to Verevere after Winston was Rise Beyond the Reef (RBR), an NGO that promotes sustainable women’s livelihood. Its help has ensured the empowerment of women.
The women are paid fortnightly for handicraft work that they do for RBR, which markets the products to clients, including Jacks Fiji and Tappoos. The men concentrate on their farms, fishing and building homes for the new arrivals in the village. The women weave place mats and baskets for RBR, earning between $18 to $80 per product, depending on the size.
The added benefit was that women were able to revive an ancient art that had been fast disappearing. Mrs Vere, the project’s district co-ordinator, said the fortnightly income was a blessing for the women along the coast. “We’re grateful that this venture has allowed us to revive our weaving skills,” she said.
RBR buys products from all 11 villages in the Nakorotubu district. 195 women from Verevere, Namarai, Saioko, Nadavacia, Nabukadra, Nayavutoka, Naqele and Naocabau villages are beneficiaries of the income. From Verevere, there are 35 women.
“Today, we are exploring new designs as we become confident doing this work. Our women are becoming creative and innovative with their weaving,” Ms Vere said.
Training for weaving, screen printing and other design works is done for younger women along the coast. “It’s nice to see some of our people’s ancient traditional art returning in a good positive way.
“We are grateful to God and to RBR for not forsaking us during our hard times.” Among the woven handicraft is a piece called Winston, a Sasa Voivoi Wall Hanging decoration. When the global pandemic struck in 2020, RBR came out in support of families with food rations. In 2021, during the lockdown, it returned to help again.
It helped villagers cart their produce to the border with the Central Division and sell them to middlemen, including the Fiji military, who gave foodstuff and money in exchange. 277 households were assisted through that venture. As the women of Verevere continued their work, they mourned a son who had returned home to build his home and brought his young family back to the village to settle down and join his family.
Kuliniasi Qorowiri Junior, Mrs Vere’s son, one of five youths who returned home before Christmas to back the move to prepare the village for the future, died on January 20 from leptospirosis after he was rushed to the Lautoka Hospital.
In an interview before his newly-built home, Kulinias Juniori, 27, who used to works at the Rise Beyond the Reef (RBR) headquarters in Nadi, said he was proud to bring his young family to Verevere and help his parents save their home.
Riches wait beneath
Mr Masinameke said God had richly blessed the village with natural resources. “We have fresh water and maybe, one day, fuel,” he said.
In 1993, after Cyclone Kina struck in January, that year, fuel appeared in the bay. “When fuel first appeared in the bay, it caught us by surprise.
“When we walked along the shoreline, we’d have blackened feet from the oil.” For the first few days, villagers were able to scoop fuel out and use it to light lanterns for their homes.
“It was for a while, but the fuel in the water disappeared again.” He said some researchers came and took samples for testing. Fiji’s Ministry of Mineral Resources Department acting director Raymond Mohammed said the Verevere claims were new to him. He said they were familiar with claims of oil occurrences at Barotu, further up the coast and at Malake Island, off the Rakiraki coast, and would investigate any new finding claims. Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources permanent secretary Dr Reijeli Taga said she believed the occurrence was probably residual fuel that came from land and did not seep out of the seabed.
Mr Masinameke said while the oil had disappeared, he believed it was still there along their coast. “I believe that our wealth is waiting for us,” he said. “Maybe after we play our role to save our environment and be good stewards of this Earth, God will unveil these riches one day.
“But first, we must be good stewards or our riches on land or these oil riches will remain hidden from us.”
Residual fuel found further up the coast is among the lowest-value petroleum products from a refinery. It is essentially a product of producing the light products that are the primary focus of a refinery. The primary end use for residual fuel oil is as a fuel in simple furnaces such as power plants and industrial boilers. It is also called bunker fuel that’s used on ocean-going ships.
Dr Taga said more research was needed on the coast to determine the truth about it. She said if any further occurrence happens, her team would collect samples and analyse them. Mr Masinameke said the yet-to-be determined oil riches were God’s promise to his people for keeping his planet well looked after.
He said while they were doing their best to ensure they contributed to a 1.5 carbon output as committed by island states as agreed to in the Paris Agreement Cody arrived on January 10, 2022, caused widespread flooding of villages and towns across the country and exited into open waters south of the country.
The Fiji Meteorological Service has predicted three cyclones to hit Fiji this 2021-2022 season. Ms Vere said the new seawall withstood Cody and the tsunami, they were ready for the rest of the season. Ms Vere said life was just as unexpected as Winston was.
“It’s not easy losing a hardworking son, especially one who had returned to the village to build his home and brought his family here to join the pledge to save his home,” she said. “We stumble and fall but we stand up again. We cry but the Lord is our strength. We pick up and move forward again.
“Verevere is good. We were better prepared this time. The waves were rough within the bay during Cody and from the tsunami but our seawall withstood them,” she said.
“Come what may, we’re good.” “God is good.”
The author is a former senior journalist of this newspaper, now attached with the Methodist Church in Fiji as a communications consultant.
