Fiji - where nature is plentiful and abundant & where worrying about tomorrow has never been part of the culture

I want to buy fruits in a village, but people explain to me that fruits had always been for free. "Can I get you one?" - and I get the most wonderful papaya.

We, tourists and locals sit around a campfire. It is quite late already and our hosts are about to put in a huge log, big enough to keep the fire going all night. I sort of suggest that a smaller log would easily be good enough. But no - "We care for today, tomorrow we worry about tomorrow. There is always enough."

The feeling of life in abundance gives me the impression of being in paradise, the South Pacific paradise as you would expect it. This now makes me understand better why the paradise feeling makes it hard for e.g. resort employees to understand the need for conserving energy or water. And why worry about climate change as this is not happening "today"?

However, looking at the country in more depth makes me see the slums emerging around the capital city Suva, get some understanding of a politically non satisfactory situation (since the recent coup the army has been ruling the country) and feel the tensions between the indigenous Fiji population and the Indo-fijians.

Indian workers who had arrived in the first quarter of this century, a time when Fiji was a British Colony, nowadays account for about half of the country's population. As they are not indigenous Fijian they have remained without land rights. About 87% of the land in Fiji is under the National Land Trust and community owned. Therefore only the remaining % of land can be bought as freehold land and indigenous land can be leased. And in times of crisis there is always the threat that leases will not be extended.

Christina Röhrer,
Fiji Islands