AT the age of 75 Jovesa Tuikubulau has lived life and only longs for the shores of his childhood home at Nakawaga Village on the island of Mali.
Mr Tuikubulau was married to Silika Lalawa and they resided in the village of Nakorotubu, Sasa, Macuata where she had maternal links to.
He had four children with the Viani native of Cakaudrove before she passed away 20 years ago.
“After my wife died my children married and they are all residing in Nakorotubu Village,” he said. “It was then that I felt that my parental duty to them was over and I had to return to my birthplace and my people where I was needed.
“There is no place like Mali Island and this is the best place in the whole world.”
Mr Tuikubulau spends his days planting root crops and fishing.
“At the moment I am residing with my relatives and they really look after me well,” he said.
“I had to come back home because this is the only place where I am truly recognised by my people and I have a sense of belonging to this place.
“Here on the island we are fully dependent on the sea and it is a source of sustenance for us.”
Since returning to the island, he recognises the changes happening to his home of Nakawaga.
“Much of the village shoreline has been eroded away by the king tides and waves and it seems to be thinning down after every storm which is a concern,” he said. “We had put up a retaining wall to stop soil from eroding into the sea and preserve the houses that are directly in the path of the increasing sea level.
“Just when we thought that the problem has been solved the seawater level rose again and is threatening homes again.”
Mr Tuikubulau said he had also learnt from specialists the rise in sea level would also affect fish stock and size.
“Compared to the kind of fish that we used to catch in the past,I can say that it has dropped so much in the past years,” he said. “Also fish that we would catch within the reefs have disappeared making fishermen search for fish in the open sea.
“I wouldn’t know of the effects of climate change or how bad it would become but I always pray to God for his protection on the people of Nakawaga and Mali as a whole.”
Mr Tuikubulau was speaking during a WWF organised honey making project on Mali Island.
