Bula from the sunny Fiji Islands!

Above, some of the 332 islands that make up the Fiji Islands

Ni sa bula vinaka, Namaste, Noa ia e mauri & warm greetings from sunny Fiji to all the readers of the 192 countries blog project and to all my fellow contributors.

Firstly, a big thank you to the organisers of this blog project for the opportunity to participate and to tell you more about my country, Fiji and its people. Congratulations for a great blog - what a wonderful idea! This is a brief introductory post and I look forward to comments and interaction.
Above: baby turtle taking its first
steps to the sea

As I write it is a sunny lunchtime in Suva, the capital of Fiji. Suva is bustling this lunchtime as people of Fiji go about their everyday business.

Some readers and friends around the world may have read about some tension between political leaders at this time, but I can assure you that everything is fine here - on the ground, life is normal. I can tell you that most of this is overblown by the media and that the people of Fiji are living in peace right now. We have not yet had a coup though the news media have been furiously speculating about this the last two weeks.

Well firstly, a little about the Fiji Islands. Fiji is a tiny island nation of about 870,000 people in the Pacific Ocean. It is made up of many different ethnic, religious and cultural groups, of which the two largest are the indigenous Fijians who make up 51% of the population and Indo-Fijians who make up about 42% of the population. Fiji is a former British colony which achieved independence 36 years ago on 10th October 1970. We all therefore speak English though Fijian and Hindi are also official languages. There have been three coups in the last twenty years, the first took place in 1987, 19 years ago. So you can see why the possibility of a coup in Fiji is big news for the media.















Above: Sugar cane fields, Vanua Levu Above: Vanua Levu coastline


Fiji is the cross-roads of the Pacific islands and many regional organisations and initiatives are centered in Fiji. We straddle Melanesia and Polynesia, two of the three general groupings of the Pacific which some of you may have heard about. Micronesia is the third of this general grouping. Fiji is a founding member of the Pacific Islands Forum, which is headquartered in Fiji and is a grouping of 16 Pacific Island countries and includes Australia and New Zealand.

Fiji has had a turbulent history, with ethnic relations being an unfortunate centrepiece of our political history. Indo Fijians who make up the second largest ethnic grouping in Fiji are descendants of indentured labourers from the Indian sub-continent shipped to Fiji 120 years ago after Fiji was ceded to Great Britain. Fiji was a colony for 96 years during which indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians co-existed in separate development under the British. Politically once the British began devolving power and authority to the local colonial government, both groups as well as the Europeans, Part-Europeans and other Pacific Islanders making up the nation were represented in the legislature. This history of separation continues today and dominates the political landscape.

Ok enough of the politics and history for now - more later.

Socially and culturally, Fiji is very rich. The different cultures, traditions and religions that co-exist in Fiji today mean that there is a rich cultural landscape and opportunity for interaction between the peoples of Fiji. We recently celebrated the Hindu festival of lights called Diwali where our Indian friends invited their Fijian, European, Rotuman and other Pacific Island friends to their homes to celebrate the festival with lovely Indian food, curries and sweets. Our muslim friends recently celebrated eid-el-fitur after the month of fasting called Ramadan and we were privileged to be invited to share in their celebration as well. At work, for Diwali, many of us donned traditional Indian saris and salwar kameez to celebrate eid and diwali. Earlier in October, Fiji Day (10th October) was celebrated with colourful sulu where we got colourful island prints and everyone had matching island bula shirts and sulu jaba for the ladies.

In addition to Sugar, which is the backbone of Fiji's economy, Fiji is a popular tourist destination for Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and European countries. Tourism is now our largest foreign exchange earner and our beautiful beaches and beautiful sunny weather is the main attraction. Visitors also enjoy the cultural experience of our varied cultures and the warmth of the people - we love to host visitors to our country and to showcase our many cultures. Some of the readers of this blog will be very familiar with the tourist theme in relation to Fiji. I hope to introduce you to more about the country over the next few months. In the meantime, come on over and visit my blog Vakaivosavosa , check out my flickr pictures, and meet other Fiji and Pacific Island bloggers on my sidebar.



To Shinji, fellow contributors and readers, thank you again for the warm welcome and happy blogging!