Jone Vuvu hopes to spend the remainder of his days with his family on their farm in Naitasiri.
He may strike you as an average family man but to those who know him, he is one who carries out his duty for his vanua with diligence.
Jone is a well-known Naitasiri truck driver who carried people and cargo between Matainasau Village to Suva between 1994 to 2009.
And he was happy to do the job for $30 a week. Jone said he drove the village truck and money earned was for his village in Verevere Ra, which could only spare him $30 a week.
It was a village project to operate a truck between Matainasau and Suva. Over the years despite advice from concerned friends telling him to demand more money, Jone says he was doing it for his vanua.
The 56-year-old was once the main link for a lot of families that depended on his transportation to the markets to sell their produce, some caught a ride to work.
The charge was $5 per passenger, which was considered a lot back then — and $10 for a return trip. The ride was more than two and a half hours, a bumpy ride and one of the very few trucks — if not the only one — operating the route at the time. Jone said he would sleep over at Matainasau Village when he worked late and the fact he had family ties there.
“Sometimes I would return late at night because of a lot of issues whether it be waiting for passengers or bad road conditions.
“My village paid me $30 a week for driving our truck. “I never regretted it because I have to sacrifice to give something back to our village and I have to give my life for that,” he said.
Jone was educated at Nakorotubu District School moving on to Vatukoula Government School and later Nilson High School where he dropped-out at Form 4.
“After my high school years I went back to my village to farm because it is where I was brought up. Plus in the village if you don’t complete your education the land and sea was waiting for you,” he said.
In 1992, Jone and other boys left Verevere Village to go to Natalau in Lautoka to cut sugar cane for money. A move organised by the village.
The money earned was used to purchase a truck for the village project.
“In 1994 we earned enough from canecutting to buy a truck. We also had the land and fishing to help us survive. Sometimes we would fish right up to Beqa Island or to Levuka in Ovalau,” he said.
Jone said the fish they caught were taken to the markets or sold at Queen Victoria School. Jone never married until 2009 when he finished driving to finally settle on his own piece of land in the village.
“I have two children, the eldest is a girl in Year 2 and the second is a boy still in a kindergarten.
“My advice to young people is to give all your life when you serve your people or your vanua. But first serve your God with all your heart and trust.”