I WISH to pay tribute to Ratu Eliki Rabuka, who passed away on May 24 in Savusavu.
Eliki was without doubt one of the most successful Fiji journalists.
When I joined The Fiji Times newsroom in 1965 from the UK as a professionally trained reporter, Eliki was our tea boy and messenger.
He had a secret ambition.
He wanted to be a journalist but was too shy to share this.
Instead he quietly observed and listened.
He learned about the nature of news.
He studied how stories were written and read the paper from cover to cover. He was particularly interested in sports.
Then anonymous stories began to appear in the copy basket, usually about boxing. Where were they from?
These were Eliki’s first tentative offerings.
I looked at some of them.
Our messenger and tea boy had mastered the art of the intro, one of the most crucial aspects of journalism.
He knew how to construct a story with direct quotes.
His use of English was sometimes a little awkward, but this could be fixed by basic editing.
We encouraged him. Very soon Eliki was a full-time sports reporter.
Eventually he was appointed sports editor. He held that position for a number of years.
Eliki had pulled himself up by his bootstraps.
He was proficient, reliable, well-informed, accurate and trustworthy.
Well done Eliki.
You were a credit to your newsroom. RIP.