Beqa, the island of Fiji’s legendary firewalkers, located 10km to the south of Viti Levu, upholds a rich heritage that began centuries years ago.
It has always been known as the home of the firewalkers, a spiritual ritual passed down from their ancestors. Many talk about their power to heal burns but there’s so much to learn about Beqa and its people.
All nine villages in Beqa and one from Yanuca have come together embarking on a new journey in collaboration with Pacific Blue Foundation (PBF) under their Beqa Lagoon Initiative (BLI).
The Beqa Lagoon Initiative (BLI) is a program focused on facilitating nature-based solutions to alleviate poverty and enhance community development.
BLI adopts a blue green economy approach recognising the intrinsic relationship between the economy, people and the environment whereby the initiative enhances Beqa Lagoons natural and cultural systems and the livelihoods of the people that depend on them.
Beqa Island has a total of nine villages which are broken into two tikinas (districts)-Sawau and Raviravi.
The villages of Daku-i-beqa (the chiefly village of the Sawau clan), Dakuni, Soliyaga, Naceva and Naseuseu are part of the tikina of Sawau whereas Nawaisomo, Raviravi, Lalati and Rukua are part of the tikina of Raviravi.
Monday, May 30, 2022
I accompanied PBF’s environmental officer Ulamila Matairakula, community engagement officer, Taitusi Dradra, and Fung’s Organic Farm managing director Veresa Fung to Beqa Island.
While Ulamila, Taitusi and Veresa were on a mission to check on the progress of the projects they’ve carried out in the different villages, I too was on a mission to gather information from the chiefs on how the villages and their people have benefitted from the projects under the BLI.
With Daku-i-beqa village being our first stop of the day, I made my way to Sawau District School to check out their Green Schools Program.
The Green Schools Program is a partnership under the BLI between PBF, Fung’s Organic Farm, Matanataki and most importantly the chiefs and communities of Beqa Lagoon Seascape.
The Green Schools program has been mostly funded by the Canadian High-Commission, through the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives, and United Nations Development Program, through the Accelerator Lab Pacific.
The program aims to enhance nutritional food security to the students while building community knowledge and capacity on organic farming.
Through BLI and under the green schools program they established projects such as nurseries, composting, drip irrigation and my favorite the home biogas.
Made purely out of recyclable materials the home biogas digests organic waste that is fed into an inlet opening, then stored using a patent pressure mechanism and later used for cooking. Organic fertiliser is then produced as a by product.
Turaga na Tui Sawau Ratu Timoci Matanitobua said the first project that was introduced to the village was the home bio-gas.
“The village has benefitted greatly from the home bio-gas project. “through it, the village has reduced the cutting of trees for use as firewood,” he said.
Ratu Timoci said this project has also allowed them to save money and fuel.
“Before we would travel to Navua just to buy fertilisers but now we don’t as this home bio-gas is a natural fertiliser itself which helps keep the soil fertile.”
After my short yet interesting visit to the village of Daku-i-beqa, the next stop was Nawaisomo village where the Turaga na Tui Raviravi, Ratu Peceli Veitaukitoga, is chief.
The Water Security Project is a high priority under the BLI and is a favourite among the chiefs and villagers of Beqa Lagoon.
The water security project has been partially funded by the Wai ni Bula Foundation.
The project aims to increase community and schools’ resilience by providing awareness and access to fresh water for domestic and farm use, expanding rainwater capture and storage infrastructure, and achieving best practice hygiene and sanitation practices.
During my talanoa session with the chief, he shared with me issues the village faced because of climate change
“Climate change has caused many negative impacts,” he said.
“From sea level rise, increase in temperature, frequent natural disasters like cyclone, hurricanes, floods, destroyed water source and disrupted pipe system.”
Ratu Peceli said through the water security project water pipe systems were finally coming together.
“They are fixing our current water source including the repairing of leaking and broken water tanks.
“Under the solar project, they have fixed household solar in the village that are not working.
“In the coming weeks we will be fixing our water pipe systems and the community of Nawaisomo can finally have running water.”
After what I could only describe as a successful talanoa session, we were welcomed to a delicious lunch prepared by the women of the village to end our days’ work.
Tuesday, May 31.
We sailed to Yanuca Island located six miles to the west.
I was fortunate to hear stories shared by the chief of Yanuca, Turaga na Tui Daga, Panapasa Matia, on how the village has greatly benefited from the BLI partnership.
“We became friends with Greg Mitchell the Director of the Pacific Blue Foundation and they have assisted us in many ways,” he said.
“They’ve given scholarships to our students and because of that our children were able to go to the University of the South Pacific.
PBF’s community and government relations director, Roko Sau, Roko Josefa Cinavilakeba, says his role as the director is to ensure that the dissemination of information works for PBF, the community and the government.
“We try to create a playing field where people and relevant authorities can understand their role in the relationship and work together,” he said.
“PBF is very much on science and what we are trying to do is try and collaborate the traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge.
“Also, I’ve seen that most communities lack the understanding of the legislation and they need to be empowered, not just the chiefs but the community as a whole.”
Roko Sau said workshops have been organised for chiefs so they could understand their roles and responsibilities.
“We enlightened them, to understand why they own land and the purpose of owning land.
“It is very important that they understand this and if problems arise they know how to overcome them with solutions.”
Through these various projects, PBF aims to sustain sustainable development, preserve cultural integrity, and enhance education and coastal ecosystems.
