The ocean keeps calling her. Stretching, beckoning and brilliant blue. It promises her gifts of crabs and fish, and fresh air to soothe her skin. If only she would come.
She always goes. As she’s done all her life. Her five year-old feet traipsing about for shellfi sh and jumping away from sea snakes. Trailing her mother across sparkly,white lagoon sands uncovered at low tide. Running amuck mangrove swamps with other ten-year-old girls from the village. Adept at finding mud-crabs, grabbing them as they fl ail and jab with their cruel pincers. Screams and laughter pierce the morning calm.
Cows stop feeding at bright green meadows nearby, heads up wondering at the raucous. Even the golden sun smiles. The paddles of the dingy plough through the waves, slicing the blue depths with the power of her arms. At the reef, she hurls out a line and reels in lunch. Alone. Unafraid.
She breaths in deep the ocean winds that nibble her face and heads back to shore. She’s 18 years old now and like any other girl her age, she must bring home a meal for the family. The ocean’s her friend. So is the forest behind her village. There she fi nds coconuts, plants cassava and sweet potatoes. She picks wild ferns and gathersfi rewood. All the ingredients she needs for a scrumptious meal of ika vakalolo (fish in coconut cream). The memories light up Selai Tuidrokadroka’s face. Her eyes sparkle with joy as she hears the ocean and feels the forests of Naduri again. Naduri Village is in Macuata Province in Vanua Levu, Fiji.
“I left Naduri so long ago when I had to come and fi nish secondary schooling in Suva City. But I kind of never left,” said Ms Tuidrokadroka.
Ms Tuidrokadroka enjoyed the garden at Lelean Memorial School in Suva. Growing food and touching soil as a student boarder. She continued gardening for decades at the Pacific Theological College (PTC) in Nasese. She is PTC’s Registrar. A job she has held for more than 20 years.
Every now and then, she paddles out into the Suva lagoon in front of PTC. To catch a fish and get a whiff of salty waves. It satisfi es the ocean’s call. Calling from within her.
“My ocean, my forests, my fish, my bird, my environment is my wellness,’ she explained. “Living, breathing in every sinew and fibre of her being. Bonded forever.
“They keep me physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually healthy,” she said.
“I’m happy working in my garden, or out at sea because it’s where I am most alive.”
The shrieking cheers of the spectators filled PTC grounds. It was February 19 and the launch of Wellness Day. The wellness program addresses the rise of deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Chronic lung and heart disease, cancer and diabetes kill the most in the Pacific Islands.
Pacific Islands have some of the highest prevalence of adult obesity. They are among the top 12 globally. The wellness program aligns to the PTC Strategic Plan 2020-2025.
A key aim of the plan is to contribute solutions for social justice issues that afflict the region. This includes mainstreaming wellness, wellbeing and wholeness of life as part the school curriculum.
The NCD crisis is a social justice issue. It increases poverty with premature deaths or disability of income earners.
It can also cripple economies with a huge health bill.
“Go Nau Selai, fire! fire!” the spectators cheered. Nau Selai grabbed the rugby ball and weaved in and out, goosestepping other women on the field. Her agility surprised many because she was well into her sixties.
“I look after what I eat, making sure they are fresh from the farm or sea. I see, I hear many young people fall dead, young, from all kinds of diseases.
“It makes me sad,” she said. “As Pacific Islanders we connect our wellness to the environment. We need to go back to that. Go back to the diets that come from our environment. Cut back on processed foods and be more active. Reconnect with our rituals of living with nature. They keeps our minds and bodies healthy and our spirits at peace. Until the day I die, I will keep needing my forests and keep hearing my ocean calling. That’s the way it is,” she said.
- THERESA FOX is the communications co-ordinator for the Pacific Theological College (PTC). Her views are her own and not of the PTC or this newspaper.
