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By Isoa Koroiwaqa
Some may say better schools, telephone for every home or a generator for every village, but all in all, shipping remains the backbone of island economies. No ship means no supplies to the village shop, building materials for the unfinished school block or water tank and no new supply to the island’s nursing station. No ship means no copra to be sold in Suva or Savusavu, handicraft wanted by middlemen in Suva rot in the village and pigs and root crops wanted for a wedding in Lautoka does not reach its destination. Factually, a ship is a bank for our islanders. To certify this assertion, it would be safe to compare Gau and Ovalau both islands of the Lomaiviti Group. Gau is an hour and half by punt from Ovalau. Both are approximately half an hour by plane from Nausori and three hours by punt from Nakelo in Tailevu. Both are volcanic mountainous and have abundance ocean resources. The similarity end there outweighed by the enormous differences that have plunged Gau this once economically vibrant island to a one that is now economically rusty. Lomaiviti Member of Parliament and Minister for Information, Communications and Media Relations, Simione Kaitani stated that $92 million circulate in Ovalau yearly. Ovalau houses the Pacific Fishing Company Limited (PAFCO) the South Pacific’s only tuna processing plant, enjoys a daily Roll-On-Roll-Off ferry service to and from Viti Levu, has two secondary schools, over 200 vehicles on the road and the Old Capital- Levuka Town is listed on the internet as a World Heritage Site. In contrast, the road around Gau has been overgrown for the past two years, ships can not dock at the Nawaikama jetty, nursing stations have been closed for a year and the students from Yadua village are walking for two hours to and from Narocake District School. Their grandparents did the same in their schooling days.
Gau was once like Ovalau as such ships as the doomed MV Ovalau docked at the old Nawaikama jetty weekly. Sawaieke village had four trucks, down the road there was the Somosomo Village Carrier although the road did not reach the village and the Government Station at Qarani were frequented by the islands on a daily basis. It all fizzled out when the old jetty at Nawaikama collapsed in the devastation of Cyclone Kina in 1992. Today, approximately $900,000 is in circulation in this island of potential. It is a pin drop amongst the millions enjoyed by the people of Ovalau. The Malawai Youths Club is one of the vibrant organisations in Gau. Last year its president, Inoke Tikoinavuso accompanied 15 cows and bullocks his village to start a breeding programme with the assistance of the Ministry of Agriculture. Unfortunately he had to spend five months in Suva before a ship was found to deliver the livestock. "It was frustrating for me and it was affecting my relatives who I was staying with in Suva and because the Marine Department could not make certain when a ship was going to be available, it affect my family here and the morale of youths who were looking forward to the new project," Inoke said. Mr Kaitani visited the island recently to wove the social fabric that is needed to warp and woof the social engineering process of motivating and recreating awareness of the developments government has been place for the people of Gau next year. Of particular interest in the island now is the planned establishment of the Rural Fisheries Service Centre in Qarani next year. The Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase announced this when opening a similar project in hi native Vanuabalavu last year. "The ownership of such a programme by the people themselves must be first secured otherwise it would not have a meaningful impact on themselves, thus limiting its effectiveness as a community development tool," Mr Kaitani said. Project ownership is realised when the people are involved in the activities before, during and after the project’s implementation. Otherwise project financiers would be wasting their dollar labouring white elephants. "We are looking forward with renewed hope that the Fisheries Centre is going to better our livelihood and that one day our roads would be used again by vehicles, our resources are used better and companies and government won’t hesitate to post their workers here," said Marika Bulamaibau the representative of the Navukailagi Tikina to the Lomaiviti Provincial C0uncil. To understand the problem at hand a journey around Gau should be taken. After disembarking from the airplane at the Gau Airstrip, a 10 minute walk takes you to the seashore and from here you can skim left going North to Vadravadra or turn right and head for South for Lovu village and along the Eastern coast where villages face Viti Levu. "Since we travel by punt here, we have to go by the timing of the tides if not you would make it around Gau or to where you are going and this is why we need the road," explained Samuela Bale of Yadua village. The low and high tides have different timings on either side of the island. Remember it is the fifth largest island in Fiji after Kadavu. After Lovu is Levuka-I-Gau where a kindergarten stands with only its roof left. From here you can walk to Nukuloa where officials from the Centre for Appropriate Technology Development in Nausori were training 20 youths from villagers across the island were to construct bathrooms and flush toilets and its accessories. "This project will be established in Gau and the Lomaiviti province as it is a basis of healthy living and a healthy population is a productive one," said Mr Kaitani. Next is Nawaikama where the new jetty and the Public Works Depot are located. Ships such as the Cagi Mai Ba, Bulou ni Ceva nor the Spirit of the Fiji Islands can not use the jetty. Its waters are shallow and the structure small. The PWD workers daily task is either to clear drains or maintain the office and its compound. The road is unused. The on to Somosomo, a village of 10 or so homes of people known like Nukuloans for their skills out at sea. Both these villagers consisted in the nine vilages under the rule of the Takalaigau who resides at Sawaieke, the next village. Every visitor must make an effort to spend the night here. The suggestion is based on the hospitality and friendliness of the villagers and to be part of Gau’s most popular string band the Lailai na Dina. Your vocals won’t be a problem as it would be drowned in the rustling sound of coconut leaves strummed by the 20 or so singers following the rhythm of a single guitar and ukalele. Navukailagi village is 15 minutes by punt from Sawaieke and is one of the three villages in the district of the same name. The village is lodged between two streams and needs foot crossings for people need get to the health station and telephone service up North at Qarani and collect firewood or visit relatives down South at Sawaieke. Every morning and afternoon students have to cross a 10-metre foot crossing constructed of four felled coconut palms to reach Navukailagi District School. It’s dangerous during high tides. Qarani, home of rugby superstar Waisale Serevi, is up next and it has the safest anchoring passage in Gau. This is why government favors the Fisheries Service Centre to be located here. The island’s doctor the Lomaiviti Provincial Office and Telecom Fiji Office is located here. It is picturesque to approach Vione by sea. The punt delivers you over a narrow mangrove passage and brings you first up in line with the home of another Fijian rugby star – Marika Vunibaka. To walk here on to Lekanai the smallest village in Gau takes two hours and another 45 minutes to Vanuaso. A rest is unavoidable at Nacavanadi. It is one of the most advanced villages in Gau. Like many Suva households, the never-ending TV show Shortland Street is also a no miss for the people here. A punt right is advisable to reach Malawai as a three-hour walks up and down hills would spoil you day. The road here has been weathered and has lost it graveled surface two years ago. The villagers here are awaiting the construction of a foot crossing that is essential to have to get to Lamiti for postal and banking services. The concrete and wooden structure of the second foot crossing on to Lamiti is sufficient and the village is one of the better-organised and planned in Gau. For an hour the punt hovers from here to Yadua a village nested away from the other villages in Western Gau. Nairai Island floats prominently from the village’s shore. Yadua is one of the least developed community on the island, due mainly to its poor accessibility. The now defunct road does not reach the people here. Its school children walk for two hours to reach school. "If I wake up at 4.30 in the morning, my son would be late for school and when he returns in the evening, he does his homework first after shower before he gets sleepy and he has to be forced to have his dinner," said Salome Bale of his son Esala. Mr Kaitani was surprised to know of this sorry state and is working on the delivery of four units of flush toilets and bathrooms for the Narocake District School dormitory. He was pleased to encounter a meeting between villagers and the schoolteachers who versed him with the problem. "This is why we need to strengthen the planning capacity of village committees because if the villagers were good planners and good communicators this long lasting problem would have been solved years ago, I would help these kids," he told the gathering. Getting to school near the airstrip means enduring the over a 100 kilometer white sandy beach. Although scenery it is tiring to even reach Vadravadra that is half way to school. The hardship faced by the people of Gau is rooted in the poor shipping service. It has reversed and then slowed development to a point where the machinery of government that is geared to push it forward is rusting to a point where the sense of security a project must emanate is fading. The Rural Fisheries Service Centre in Qarani next year would certainly change this. Hope lingers in the air.
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