THIS week, Emi Ravela put the spotlight on a problem hidden in plain sight
The Suva Fish Market, where the smell hits before the problem is fully seen.
In her presentation at the private judging this week, the Miss Kaibu sponsored Hibiscus contestant explained how vendors worked in makeshift shelters, surrounded by fish offcuts, wastewater and the persistent odour of decay.
Beside them runs the Nubukalou Creek – a waterway woven into the life of the capital.
“This is where people come to buy seafood,” she said.
“But for the people selling it, the conditions have become a question of dignity, hygiene and basic human need.”
She asked an uncomfortable question: how can a city depend on its fish market while allowing the people who work there to operate in such conditions?
If given $5000 to undertake a community project, Emi has chosen to put the money and, more importantly, the public spotlight on the Suva Fish Market.
The 23-year-old knows $5000 cannot rebuild the market.
She knows government approvals, infrastructure planning and major investment would be required.
But that is not the point.
The point is to get people talking about a problem that has been allowed to become part of the city’s landscape.
Recent reporting by The Fiji Times highlighted complaints from vendors about the absence of toilet facilities at their location, leaking roofs and other poor working conditions. Vendors have also raised concerns about the disposal of spoiled fish and the proximity of the market to Nubukalou Creek.
“The issue is not new.
“Earlier research into Fiji’s seafood markets identified inadequate drainage, toilets, water facilities and poor stall conditions among problems affecting women seafood vendors.”
For Emi, that makes the fish market more than an infrastructure issue.
“It is a public-health issue, an environmental issue and a livelihoods issue.”
Fish sellers provide an important source of food for Suva families and earn their living from a trade that connects fishermen with consumers.
Yet the people at the centre of that chain can find themselves working without something as basic as a toilet.
“They have to cross the road to use the facility in other buildings.”
While her $5000 would not pretend to fix decades of neglect, it did buy something perhaps just as important — attention.
A market that feeds the city should not leave the people who work there fighting for basic dignity.
And for Emi, that is the story worth telling.
