DAVID Seeto returns to New Zealand on Wednesday this week.
He told me, he was booked to fly today but cancelled it because the airfare on Wednesday “was cheaper”.
“I will save $500 on the trip so it doesn’t make any sense to leave on Monday,” he said as he led crew members from this newspaper into his family home in Samabula last week.
Such is the character of the man of Chinese descent, who now calls New Zealand his home.
Despite being a millionaire and owning several properties in Fiji and New Zealand, it’s the simple things in life that counts.
“I have a background in accounting and economics but I run a bookstore in New Zealand,” David said.
“People ask me why I still do this, I tell them its because I love it. I just love books, even on this trip to Fiji, I managed to buy some more books for my reading.
“Have you read ‘Into the Wind?’ by Norman Yee?
“You should get your hands on a copy. It’s an amazing autobiography and will give you an insight into the life of the early Chinese settlers in Fiji,” he told me.
Dressed in a red jersey, shorts and a cap, the 71-year-old belies his age.
His love of history and sharing of it is infectious.
The Seetos are a well-known business family in the country.
Some of David’s relatives include his nephew Dixon Seeto, the president of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association and Chinese Association of Fiji, and niece Lorraine Seeto, a chief manager at the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
His family owns the milk mart store at both ends of the bus stands in Suva and are also wholesale distributors of soft drinks and manufacturing products in the country.
If you were to understand this enigmatic man, who strayed from his family business in Fiji to pursue an education and make a life for himself, you would have to understand his history.
Past week his family celebrated a great milestone — the 100th birthday of his beloved mother Wai Kun Seeto who first came to Fiji in 1956 with then 10-year-old David.
The life of this woman is perhaps the drive that brought Mr Seeto to where he is.
“China was going through tough economic times back then especially after World War II and my parents wanted to escape the extreme poverty they faced.
“So my father, Kee Seeto and a relative, Ham Nam Ping decided to come to Fiji to work and save. Ham Nam’s descendants now own wholesale and retail butcher stores, Wahleys Butchery.
“Back then with Chinese families, the man will go out to another country and make a living until he is financially stable then he will send for his family. Even extended families will come over.
“Dixon Seeto’s family came after us. Most of the early Chinese families came to Fiji with nothing, but they made a life for themselves.
“My father worked and saved for six years before he was able to bring me and mum over. I was just 10 years old.”
Life then was tough, he said. David remembers living in a one room flat in Suva with his two siblings, Gerald and Lynnette, who were both born in Fiji in 1956 and 1962 respectively.
His parents having escaped the one child policy that China had imposed then on its burgeoning population.
“We went through some pretty tough times. There were times where at one point we had only condensed milk for breakfast. When our rich relatives would visit us, their children would bring apples with them.
“They’d just bite it and throw it away. My mum would wait for them to leave before she retrieved the apples, washed it, cut out the bitten side and sliced it for us. She was a very resourceful woman,” describe David as he choked back his tears.
It’s not every day that you get to live to a hundred. For David’s mother, Wai Kun Seeto, it probably runs in the family genes.
One of her sisters lived up to 109 years.
Born in 1916, in the Province of Canton, in the village of San Haw Lai in China, Mrs Wai Seeto is the third of seven siblings.
She married Mr Kee Seeto in 1937.
As the world recovered from World War II in 1945, tough economic times forced David’s parents to make the difficult decision of moving overseas.
David said while all their relatives went to the US, Canada and Australia, his father decided upon Fiji.
“I guess he saw the potential in this country. We came from extreme poverty and he was willing to make something for himself and his family.”
The senior Seeto managed to save enough to open a tea room near the corner of Marks St in Suva.
Life began to get a bit easier after that. The family business later expanded to wholesale distribution and today they are one of the successful business families in the country.
“Relationship is very important, no matter what in life. Despite our success, it’s the relationship with people that counts and remain humble. Money cannot buy you everything.”
“When we celebrated my mother’s 100th birthday, we had various ethnic groups attending, and it was made with love. A lot of people came out of their way to contribute to the function without us even asking. That shows how important relationships are.
“My mother’s advice to me always was ‘stand up so everybody can see you, speak up so everyone can hear you and shut up so people can appreciate you’.
“I’ve always gone by that creed.”
Mrs Seeto has seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
“We are happy to still have her in our lives. Who would be so blessed to see four generations living in her lifetime,” describe David.
