RECONCILLIATION is a two-way fence.
Catholic nun Sister Teresia Tinanisolo, said this while sharing her ‘healing’ experience with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at the Suva Civic Centre yesterday.
While sharing a moving story about forgiveness and healing, Sr Teresia explained that during the years after the 1987 coup, she wrote to The Fiji Times Letters to the Editor column, speaking for those who were afraid or hurt.
Writing, she said, helped her give a voice to those traumatised by the events of 1987.
“One thing that was said to me was to continue to be the voice of the people of Fiji in public,” she said
She spoke about a personal moment of conviction to reconcile when she spotted Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka exercising by the road one day.
She said she got off the car she was travelling in, crossed the road and approached him.
“I went across and said, ‘Sir, I am Sister Teresia. I wrote about you in The Fiji Times. I would like to make peace with you’.
“So we shook hands. For me, it was an act of reconciliation that I needed to ask forgiveness from him.”
That simple but courageous act reflected her deep belief in healing through forgiveness.
She added that “reconciliation is a two-way fence,” emphasising the need for both the victims and those who caused harm to come forward.
“Sharing heals. And I believe our nation needs that healing now more than ever.”
