It was an early Christmas gift for 73 year old, Mecuisela Naisogo, and 65 year old Raijeli Rokodreu from Nukulau Village, Ra as they received their civil marriage certificate and legally received the right to be called husband and wife.
Mecuisela and Raijeli took each other’s hand and exchanged their marriage vows. After more than twenty years in waiting, they were declared married in front of the REACH officials and Nukulau villagers. Their eldest son is 42 years old.
The emotional, Mr Naisogo said that they felt so emotional and are thankful to the Fijian Government because they finally knew deep down that they are now married.
Ms Rokodreu said that she faced challenges in earning money due to the geographical location of their village. She added that this was one of the reasons for their marriage to be delayed.
This marriage was made possible through the REACH Program that is providing services to the people of Ra. The REACH team has been working in the province for the past two weeks. The Rights, Empowerment and Cohesion (REACH) project has been the ambit of the Government under the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation and they work with other Government agencies in an integrated approach to reach out to communities in the rural, urban and in the maritime islands to provide a one stop shop of information and support related to government services. The mobile REACH program assists government to bring its’ services to all Fijians.
The REACH team is providing its services at the village halls and the team consists of officers of the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of I’ Taukei Affairs, Legal Aid and the Fiji Police Force.
The REACH initiative assists all Fijians to overcome various challenges in exercising their constitutional rights to public and social services. It supports the Fijian Government in increasing its accountability to the people by ensuring that no one is left behind in their public service delivery.
The REACH team has completed their tour of the district of Burewai and will be based in the district of Nalawa this week.