My girmitiya ancestors have had a torrid past, says Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation and National Committee on Girmit Day Chair Sashi Kiran.

In an interview with this newspaper, Ms Kiran reflected on the significance of the upcoming celebrations that would also include a day of reconciliation between the vanua and the Fiji Methodist Church.

“My ancestors have had a torrid and painful past,” she said.

“And then we have been hit by coups so there has been ongoing trauma about it and this gives us an opportunity to talk about us, to reflect on it, to talk about our pain and how we need to heal as a people.

“And also heal our relationship with other people importantly the people of the land, the iTaukei’s.”

She said while this healing process would take a long time, she hoped that would produce a wholesome Fiji.

“When we both heal, the Indians and the iTaukei’s, then the whole nation can heal.

“At the moment I think we are confused about our identity. We are confused about who we are.

“The name Fijian alone does not make us belong. If I am seen in any part of the world, people will ask me are you an Indian? Because I have Indian DNA and I have Indian features but I belong to Fiji.

“So I need to be comfortable about why I belong to Fiji, and I belong to Fiji because I am a descendant of the Girmitiya’s and what comes with that is our painful past.”

She said discussing the acceptance of the vanua of Girmitiya’s was also an important aspect of the nation’s healing process.

“Our people have been here for 144 years and we have been talking about the pain of our ancestors but we hardly talk about our landing.

“We don’t talk about us being in the bosom of the vanua and being treated by the vanua in a very compassionate way from the beginning and then we also don’t talk about the fears of the vanua because we did not learn about them.

“There is no judgment to that because our people were fighting the British and we kept fighting. We forgot to pause and say thank you to the vanua for embracing us.

“Nobody asked the vanua when we were left here and when our population grew those fears of the was evident in 1987.

“So nobody talked about it or mitigated it. So when we are fearful and hurt we hit out and we have been hitting out at each other.

“2000 made me realize this. We have been fearful of each other, and we feel we have been victims of the other so it is important for us to think about our relationships and think about how we could better heal for our future generations.”

Ms Kiran says the reconciliation event that will be held between the different sectors of the Gimitiyas, other races and the Methodist Church of Fiji would be an important turning point in our history and a positive determinant of our united future.

“Most significant would be on May 14 which would be a Methodist Church-led reconciliation event and it will be an important healing journey.

“It is very difficult to ask for forgiveness and it needs a different level of strength.

“I see that in the Methodist church leadership, in the way they have said let us all get together, the churches, the intercultural groups, the different religious bodies and acknowledge what has happened in the past.

“Let us apologise and commit to what we need to do for healing, and I am very thankful that they have committed to this process for the next 10 years.

“So it is not just a one off. The next 10 years will be part of a strategic direction to keep on healing between our different groups.

“So we have to commit to looking at the past that we do not want to acknowledge and unless we do not look at them we will not learn from them.”

Girmit Day will be marked on Monday, May 15.