Bau of Bau

Published in the Fiji Times as Off the Wall with Padre James
Wednesday, 20 July 2016
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=363131

Bau Earle, after being accorded a traditional ceremony of welcome at the
home of Bauan chief Ratu Epenisa Cakobau, regales those in attendance
with stories of her childhood on Bau Island.

“Bula vinaka! I’m Bau Earle. I was born and baptised on Bau island.” This was my introduction to the spritely octogenarian, whose life story is intertwined with the history of Bau, the Methodist Church, and Fiji herself.

I was connected to Bau via email six months ago to assist with her plans to visit the place of her birth and the first eight years of her life. She and a number of family members, seventeen in all, were coming to Fiji for Bau’s birthday and she was hoping to take them to Bau, a place all but one, her son Alan, had only heard about through stories and in pictures.

Bau was the second of 3 daughters born to Rev. Norman and Mabel Deller during the fifteen years of missionary work in Fiji from 1921 to 1936. Writing about Deller’s life and ministry, Rev. Aubrey Baker comments that despite the difficulties of mission in the 1920’s, the fifteen years of mission in Fiji were fruitful.

“A missionary’s life in those days was not easy. Communication with home was far from satisfactory, with irregular mails. In the early months there was the frustration of communicating with people of a different language.Norman setabout the immediate task of learning the Fijian language. Within six months he was able to preach in Fijian. This contributed to the whole-hearted and loving response of the Fijians to this servant of God who had come among them. He was interested in them and gave himself wholeheartedly to the ministry.”

His first year was spent in Naduri, on Vanua Levu, followed  by  a few years on Lakeba in Lau, before being appointed to Bau in 1926  for ten years. During that time he gained an understanding of the Fijian people and their history. He read everything available, sat with the chiefs and heard their stories; all the time visiting distant villages to share the good news of the gospel; always seeking to make it relevant to the Fijians way of life and always ready to learn more of these people he came to love. In all this Mabel shared fully. Norman would travel by boat to coastal villages then walk for miles to visit the inland villages. His early love of walking had been good preparation. Mabel, meanwhile would gather the women into fellowship groups and teach them much that prepared them for the ever-increasing influence of a different civilisation. During his final year in Fiji, he organised the celebration of the centenary of Methodism in Fiji.

Their reciprocal love for Fiji is found in the names of Bau and her sisters, which indicates the degree of acceptance and respect between the Dellers and the Fijian people. Bau’s elder sister Viti and younger sister Marylou (Vueti Kuwila) were also born in Fiji. Baker writes that when the girls were born they were greeted as princesses, which helped a little bit to over come the sense of isolation from family and friends.

According to Baker, one of Rev. Deller’s major contributions to the spiritual life on Bau and the history of Fiji and the church was to transform the old “killing stone” of Ratu Seru Cakobau into a baptismal font.

“After Ratu Seru’s conversion, itself one of their great stories of the earlier missionary effort, the stone remained in the village unused, but a constant reminder of the evil of the past and the change made possible by Christ. It was Norman Deller’s vision that lead to the transformation of the stone. It became the baptism font in the new church. Even a stone could be converted. A thing that had been the agent of death became the symbol of new life in Christ. The story reflects Norman Deller’s commitment to the heart of the gospel message.”

When she and her family visited Bau Island, a few weeks ago, Bau shared that the baptismal font had seemed so big to her when she was living on the island. On an earlier visit to the island she went into the church and found the stone much smaller than she had remembered.

Rev. Deller is also credited with the introduction of Scouting to Fiji. His earlier involvement with this movement made him realise it would mean much to i-Taukei boys as well as being a vehicle of bringing boys of other ethnicities together. This involvement found fulfilment when he lead a contingent of Fijian scouts to the great Jamboree in Frankston, Victoria in the December - January holidays 1934/35. It was a great experience for the Fijian scouts.

Baker writes, “They were a multi-racial group - Fijian, Indian and European. The contingent themselves made a great impression. The family prize a letter from the Chief Scout, Lord Baden-Powell. He thanks Deller for bringing so fine a contingent to the Jamboree and goes on: “they certainly won many admirers, both among their brother scouts and among the public, by their smartness, their readiness and their cheery friendliness”. He expresses the hope they will always keep up these qualities and so help to bring about goodwill, happiness and peace in the world. BadenPowell was keenly interested in the boys and was enthralled as Norman explained the significance of the tabua, the whale’s tooth, and its place in Fijian tradition.”

I accompanied Bau and her family on their trip to Bau island. Greeted by Rev. Saimoni Namosimalua, the Divisional Superintedent or Talatala Qase  of the Bau Division we walked to the home of Ratu Epenisa Seru Cakobau to present our sevusevu and for Bau to be received by “her people” and “her home”.

There was a special bond for Bau’s family to celebrate with Ratu Epenisa and his children. Rev. Deller had arranged for Ratu Epenisa’s father, Ratu George Cakobau to be educated at Newington College in Sydney. Ratu George remained a close friend of the Dellers. Whenever he came to Australia he was
glad to renew the association.

Baker writes that Rev. Deller had realised the importance of preparing Fijians for leadership in both church and national affairs.

“He trained his people to teach and preach, encouraging them in their efforts to control their own affairs. It was for this reason he urged some to come to Australia to further their education and prepare for national responsibility.”

“Many Fijians attended Gatton College and during the years back in Australia the Dellers always provided friendship and hospitality to these students. It was an expression of their love for the people.”

When group of Fijians were shipwrecked near the Sunshine Coast, Rev. Deller arranged for their accommodation and they spent a number of evenings in the parsonage.

“They were delighted to have someone converse in their own language and join in their beautiful singing.”

Singing is one of Bau’s strongest connections with Fiji besides her name. As we concluded our visit to the island of Bau with a short devotion in the church, which Rev. Namosimalua graciously allowed me to conduct, Bau crossed the aisle, and leaving her family went to sit with the choir and join in the singing, harmonising as if she had never left the island.

After an emotional day for Bau’s family, Ratu Epenisa and two of his children who accompanied her throughout the visit and the community of Bau, the entourage departed. On her way to the boat to take her to the mainland she briefly visited the Rokotui Bau, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi who presented her with a gift. The family had earlier presented a book of photographs of Rev. Deller’s time on Bau, material for Sunday schools and a donation for the development of the Bau Divisional Office.

The connection between the descendants of Rev. Deller and Ratu Seru we not only rekindled but strengthened as Ratu Epinesa’s daughter was given a ride home by Bau’s grandchildren.

In an email sent on her return to Queensland, Australia, Bau wrote:

“It was a day that none of us will ever forget. It was very special for me having so many of my family with me seeing where I grew up and meeting the beautiful people I have talked about. The whole day was very special but the service you led in the Church was a perfect way to end the day. The singing and your message was very meaningful and I think my Mum and Dad were sharing it with us.”

When Life Was Cheap

Published in the Fiji Time as Off the Wall with Padre James Bhagwan
Wednesday, November 02, 2016
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?ref=archive&id=376912

A FEW weeks ago, I accompanied my daughter and her classmates on a school excursion to the Western Division. I was part of the parental support team, either following the bus, or going ahead of it depending on the needs of the teacher and the class.

It was the usual type of tour: visiting the Sigatoka Sand Dunes, Momi Bay Gun Site, CAAF compound in Nadi — along with the airport fire station, and the Lautoka sugar mill.

Having a mother born in Lautoka and a father who spent his childhood there, my daughter was familiar with a number of the landmarks of national, local and familial significance. There was daddy's first kindergarten, next to the sugar mill (FSC Kindergarten). There was the FSC compound where mummy grew up. There was daddy's old primary school (Drasa Avenue School). The government quarters in Verona St that was grandpa and grandma's home for many years and daddy's two favourite places for afterschool: the Northern Club for swimming and Churchill Park for every other activity that little boys get up to.

As we drove along Drasa Ave, we passed the Girmit Centre, a place not only of national historical significance, but personal historical significance. In 1978, as part of preparations for the centennial of the arrival of the Leonidas carrying the first of many indentured labourers from India to Fiji, the Fiji Council of Centenary Celebrations (later known as the Fiji Girmit Council) was authorised by the Fijian Government to collect funds from the public to build a fitting memorial to the girmitya.

The land that was selected as the site of the Girmit Centre and presented to the Girmit Council, by the Government was actually land given for this purpose by the Methodist Church in Fiji, under the leadership of church presidents Rev. Daniel Mastapha and Rev. Inoke Nabulivou, who was present at the groundbreaking ceremony in 1980.

In 1981, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Fiji and officiated at the opening of the Girmit Centre. For me, it was a very special day, as I was part of the group from my primary school chosen to perform a meke in honour of the occasion and the important guest. It was also special in another way. As I performed the meke, "Drau Ni Uto Butatoka," well known to many schoolchildren, I performed so enthusiastically that my leaf costume came undone and ended up on the floor. Thank goodness for black sports shorts.

As I recounted the events to the laughter of my daughter, a classmate and her father, I added, "At least I put on a show for the then Indian prime minister," wondering if current Prime Minister Mr Modhi would have tweeted it or taken a "selfie" with that cheeky young boy.

As we heard the announcement of the celebrations that would be held from the end of next week, I shifted my reflections from the not so distant past of the Girmit Centre and what the significance of the end of the girmit or indenture system meant.

It is significant that the celebrations begin on November 11, 2016, marking a century since the arrival of the S.S. Sutlej V, the last ship carrying indentured labourers from India and culminate on March 18-26, 2017, to commemorate the abolition of the Indenture System, when the British Government prohibited the transportation of debtors from India as servants. However, it must be remembered that those who came on the Sutlej V would have had to work off their five-year contract until January 1, 1920 when all remaining contracts were cancelled.

It's important that the harsh reality of the girmit experience and the indenture system itself not be glossed over or whitewashed to simply a story of how a group of people contributed to the development of our country.

The hellish experience of British colonialism as understood through the lens of the girmit was to impact almost every decision made by girmitiya and first generation of Indo-Fijians in relation their civic rights and responsibilities. This was ignored by those who used the divide and conquer concept of leadership and political control. The other side of the story is that in this day and age of global capitalism — where success and development are expressed in terms of dollars and cent. In an article published in January, 2015 in the Himal Southasian, Rajendra Prasad writes:

"In 1834, the British Slavery Abolition Act came into force, abolishing slavery throughout the Empire. Though billed as a revolutionary moment in world history, the wheels of slavery were reinvented and renamed, and the indentured labour system was instituted throughout the Empire. Under the indenture system, which lasted from 1834-1917, the British employed Indian labour for five-year terms, with some 1.2 million Indians servings we would do well to remember that the Indenture System was a replacement for slavery."

In the preface to the republication of his book The Violence of Indenture in Fiji, Professor Vijay Naidu writes:

"It is vital that those who have been born in an era when social circumstances have been kinder to them, read about Fiji's past to appreciate the nature of colonialism and the place of immigrant labour within it. The exploitation of Melanesian and Indian labourers for sugar profits was the life blood of the colonial economy… Without an understanding of this history that contributed to the enormous transformation of Fiji society, we would not be able to begin to comprehend the inter-dependence of Fiji's people."

As we mark the end of the Girmit, let us remember that this is a story of people brought, not of people who came. Let us remember that this is a story of people used as cogs in the machinery of industry, treated as labour worth less than animals.

Let us acknowledge that as part of this 100-year journey, the descendants of the Girmit have been accepted as children of the vanua. Let us look beyond the simplistic history and seek to understand the deeper stories, that when understood, become the story of humankind's inhumanity. And let us never allow anyone to be so used for the sake profit, no matter how high the margin, again. Every life deserves to be lived with dignity.

"Simplicity, Serenity, Spontaneity."

* Reverend James Bhagwan is an ordained Methodist minister and a citizen journalist. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Methodist Church in Fiji or this newspaper.

The Girmit: Development vs Dignity

Published in the Fiji Times as Off The Wall with Padre James Bhagwan
Wednesday, May 04, 2016
http://www.fijitimes.com.fj/story.aspx?ref=archive&id=352319

I have followed recent discussions regarding the pros and cons on commemorating the 100th anniversary of the last Indian labourers to be brought to Fiji under the “Girmit” or Indenture system in 1916.

As much as I do not desire to join a debate which has already become politicized with the pro being voiced by the opposition and the con being voiced by government, I would seem an important point has been left out.

I remember reading and learning about “Girmit” in primary school, as how the Indian labourers were brought / or came (depending on the book and the teacher) came to Fiji to work on sugar cane plantations. Extolling the contribution to the economic development of Fiji by “Girimitiyas” and their descendants is a generic response which seems to be well recognised and well quoted. In fact that common recognition was one of the reasons why government did not support this particular motion in parliament.

A macro-economic perspective looks at Girmit as a source of labour and the creation of industry. Another perspective may see Girmit as migration, or the development of a rich pluralistic society, or even the encroachment by strangers into their own place.

What seems to be neglected in this debate is why the actual end of Girmit was important.

For all its economic and social contributions to Fiji’s development, Girmit – the Indenture System – was ended because it was an unethical, unjust and inhumane system.

In the Preface to the republication of his book “The Violence of Indenture in Fiji,” Professor Vijay Naidu writes:

“The total institution of the plantation was prison-like and gave those in power considerable scope to openly coerce the labourers in their charge. Overtasking, sexual abuse and violence, including rape and murder, violent assaults and killings as well as suicides, were common. For breaches of the labour contract, such as the failure to complete tasks, Indian labourers were prosecuted, convicted, jailed and their contracts extended.”

In “Indians in Mauritius and Fiji,” Christine Smart writes that in Fiji, “the burden of work on female workers was heavy. They not only had to work on the cane fields from the early morning to evening but also had the added responsibility of taking care of the children and preparing the family meals.”

“Endless work was not the only problem facing these women. The fact that women were so outnumbered in both colonies put a premium on a woman's body. Many were forced into situations not of their choosing, serving as "kept women".”

She quotes Sir Arthur Gordon, writing when he was the Governor of Mauritius in 1870, who noted that:

“Too generally the planters had mistresses, usually half-castes, while the overseers and managers almost invariably lived with Indian women; and I was assured that the provision of pretty girls was almost a recognized form of hospitality on a plantation when the visitors were young men. The traditions of the time of slavery were retained. The chaotic effect of this arrangement proved to be a dangerous one for women. This type of relationship sometimes provoked plantation riots. On a more personal level, the argument that women on plantations could explore sexual freedom for the first time in their lives must be tempered with the Hindu male's tradition of murder for the sake of honour. It was not unknown for a husband to “chop,” or brutally murder, a wife whom he believed to be unfaithful.”

In 1909, in a small book titled Our Indian Work in Fiji, missionary Rev. John Wear Burton, wrote plainly about the indenture system:

“The life on the plantation as an indentured labourer is not of a very inviting character. The difference between this state and absolute slavery is merely in the name and the term of years. The coolies themselves ... frankly call it (narak) hell. The wages are low and the cost of living is comparatively high … The accommodation appears to us very wretched … there are some (lines) where the coolies are herded together like so many penned cattle amid the most insanitary conditions and indescribable filth”

He restated this observation in his more widely read 1910 book “Fiji of Today.” Historian Christine Weir writes that Burton’s criticism of the indenture system was influential in other quarters.

“The Fiji of Today was read in India and formed part of the growing call there to abolish the system. Burton’s role was acknowledged by others. Before leaving India for Fiji in 1915, Gandhi’s emissary, the English Anglican clergyman C.F. Andrews had read and been impressed by the book. Once it was clear that indenture was to be abolished, he wrote to Burton:

I know what an intense joy to you it will be that the indenture system is to be utterly abolished … I do feel very strongly that your book (the ‘Fiji of Today’) was the pioneer and did the pioneer work, and it is due to that book perhaps more than to any other single cause that the whole indenture system was shown up in its proper light.”

While 2016 marks the arrival of the last victims of neo-slavery under the Indenture System, the formal abolishment of the system took place on 1st January 1920, conveniently towards the end of the last 5-year indenture contract.

Beyond the political debate, lies the ethical tension between whether ‘the ends justifies the means’ acknowledgement of the contribution of the Girimitiyas to Fiji’s development is what we remember as our collective history or whether there needs to be a deeper understanding and broader acknowledgement of the injustice and dehumanising practices inflicted on people for commercial gain. 

We don’t have to look in our history to see this. We merely have to glance over at our sister and brothers in West Papua to see the injustice and dehumanising exploitation they experience on a daily basis for the benefit of others as recorded in “We Will Lose Everything: A Report On A Human Rights Fact Finding Mission To West Papua” conducted by the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane and released this week. Perhaps this will be the report that will galvanise the world about the suffering of West Papua, just as JW Burton, Totaram Sandhya and CF Andrews writings were on indenture in Fiji.

Perhaps it comes down to what we value more, economic development or justice and dignity, because there are times we have to choose between them.

“Simplicity, Serenity, Spontaneity”

Science meets spirituality

Published in the Fiji Times as Off the Wall with Padre James Bhagwan
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=418712#

James Bhagwan(left) with Elisabeth Holland
 and Prof Derrick Armstrong at the IPCC Special Report
on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
First Lead Author Meeting at Tanoa International
in Nadi yesterday. Picture: BALJEET SINGH - Fiji Times

Last Thursday, I attended the last of the 2017 Public Lecture Series organised by the Pacific Theological College's Institute for Mission and Research, the University of the South Pacific's Faculty of Arts, Law and Education and the Pacific Regional Seminary around the theme "Churches in Conversation with Society on Issues that Matter".

The speaker was Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Suva. His topic: "Reweaving the Ecological Mat — Ecology and Development".

As a starting point, Archbishop Chong encouraged a talanoa (discussion) about what we hold sacred from our cultural identities, what is tabu for us, what our totems are.

In other words, he guided those present to engage in a process to acknowledge what we held sacred in the environment — a sacred connection to cosmology (the understanding of our relationship not just being part of the vanua/ land/ environment but with being part of the very fabric of the universe itself). The exercise was to illustrate our interconnectedness with the environment and how we express that relationship.

His thesis statement, resonating with Pope Francis' Encyclical, "Laudati Si: Care for our Common Home," was that: "In the beginning there existed a relationship of interconnectedness among all things in the whole of creation. Today we are losing our interconnectedness. Our common home, Mother Earth, is becoming a pile of filth. We have to reweave the threads of our interconnectedness. Where do we look to for resources and inspirations for interconnectedness? We look to indigenous and native cosmology and the spiritual traditions."

Pointing out that the language of domination has desacralised creation/the environment in order to exploit natural resources to a point that the world is at a state of exhaustion, Archbishop Chong argued that the sacred thread that once connected all things is lost.

The reweaving of this ecological mat begins with the renewal of our interconnectedness with the environment and continues with an understanding and acceptance of our interdependence.

Just as the task of weaving and reweaving is a community effort, the task of reweaving the ecological mat requires the effort of different communities. Each community reflects a particular strand in the mat.

A number of important strands in this mat are provided by scientific community.

This week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has brought around 100 experts from over 30 countries to Nadi to begin drafting the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.

The meeting is hosted by the Government of Fiji and USP.

"This is the first time the IPCC has undertaken a focused report on the processes that drive change and the resulting impacts to oceans and the frozen parts of our planet," said IPCC vice-chair Ko Barrett.

"There is a huge volume of scientific information for us to assess, which can help policymakers to better understand the changes we are seeing and the risks to lives and livelihoods that may occur with future change."

I was privileged to be invited to share a prayer of blessing at the official opening of this important meeting.

The making of a space for spirituality in a meeting of scientists was way of framing this gathering in the context of the Pacific.

The people of Oceania are a deeply spiritual people as I have pointed out in a previous article ("Sacredness of Creation" FT 13/9/17 http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=416179).

It was also an affirmation that in the context of climate change, spirituality and science are important stands of the ecological mat that is being rewoven.

The first time I read a report from the IPCC was in 2007, the year the IPCC and Al Gore jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".

The report was presented during the 2007 Pacific Church Leaders Meeting, organised by the World Council of Churches and Pacific Conference of Churches, as part of "evidence" in a mock court session on the reality of the human role in climate change and its impacts.

One of the authors of the 2007 IPCC report and co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize is Professor Elisabeth Holland, director of USP's Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD).

Most of my conversations with Prof Holland about climate change are not in an office or university lecture hall but standing on the shore — our feet in the sand, washed by wave after wave of the Pacific Ocean — the moana.

These "beach conferences" in which our feet connected with both the land and the sea, where the beauty and fragility of the ocean inspire the wondering mind of science and the contemplative heart of spirituality meet are a metaphor of the space in which science and spirituality can meet.

Although I am a Methodist minister, my favourite theologian is Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit Priest who was a theologian, philosopher, geologist and palaeontologist.

His writings also focused on the far distant origins, evolution and ultimate purpose of the universe (cosmology).

One day, while working on the excavation of the Peking Man he found himself alone in the desert: longing to celebrate the mass, he had neither bread nor wine but instead declared the world as an altar and the struggles and suffering of humanity the elements.

The revelation he received was that God's living and life-giving Word is present in all matter.

Once censured by the Catholic Church, Teilhard was quoted by Pope Francis in Laudato Si, the encyclical on care for our common home.

The story of Teilhard is significant as scientists gather for the IPCC meeting here in the Pacific, given that as a deeply spiritual people, our spirituality is the lens through which we understand and respond to the world around us.

I once read that science and spirituality are tools to investigate reality from two different angles. Each discipline asks a fundamentally different question.

Science asks: how does the universe work?

Spirituality asks: why is there a universe and what is its purpose, and what is our purpose of existence as human beings?

Scientists can tell us what needs to be done to address a situation. Spirituality provides an moral and ethical framework to mobilise and motivate the action.

I consider the contribution of those on the IPCC to address climate change as a prophetic task. They are today's prophets called to speak the truth of climate change to the political and economic powers.

Like the ancient prophets, many do not like to hear their message.

Climate sceptics have delayed such acceptance by decades. Many do not want to deal with the problem — mitigation, which seems to have been side-stepped. Living with any consequences — adaptation, which will be infinitely more serious given that many are still not really addressing the problem.

As a Christian two key motivations for me to respond to truth of the IPCC come from Jesus's commandments to us (Mark 12:30-31 and Luke 10: 27) to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Deepak Chopra recently wrote:

"Our future depends on the concerted effort of science and spirituality working together, because separately, neither has been up to the monumental task. Science works fine in everyday affairs without dealing with spirituality.

"And on the other side, spirituality can continue serving people's spiritual needs as they go through their individual insights, crises and awakenings.

"However, unless the two views join forces, we won't be using our full human capability to solve problems.

"Such a comprehensive human effort is precisely what global solutions require.

"Beyond providing a platform for addressing humanity's problems, the joint efforts of science and spirituality promises to be the foundation for the next evolutionary leap in human potential."

* Reverend James Bhagwan is a regular contributor to this column. Views expressed are his and not of this newspaper.

Uto ni Yalo lessons

Published in the Fiji Times as Off the Wall with Padre James Bhagwan
Thursday, September 28, 2017
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=418008

SEATED on the deck of Fiji's iconic traditional voyaging canoe, the Uto ni Yalo (Heart of the Spirit), as it clears the reef surrounding Matuku Island, Reverend Dr Tevita Nawadra Banivanua turns his gaze from the island we are leaving to the horizon, where in the distance, south-westwards is our final destination, Suva.

"This journey itself is an experience for those who have never had the opportunity to sail," he reflects.

"I have sailed once before, when I was much younger, growing up on Moala. The Bible Society yacht, the Dayspring, came to the island and they needed someone to guide them safely around the island so I volunteered and spent the trip up the mast looking out for coral heads and the reef. But this is my first time to really sail outside of the reef."

The last time Mr Banivanua, president of Fiji's largest and oldest faith community the Methodist Church in Fiji, and his wife visited Matuku and Totoya which along with Moala comprise what is known as the Yasayasa Moala, it was by a two-stroke outboard powered open fiberglass boat that provided little protection from the wind or the waves during the four-hour journey from Moala.

This time, on his way to induct the divisional superintendent of the Methodist Church's Matuku Division and share with the community on stewardship of the environment and the issue of climate change as part of Pillar #12 of the church's New Exodus and in support of Fiji's presidency of COP23, Mr Banivanua is attempting to accomplish a few objectives; reduce his and his team's carbon footprint, learn about the legacy of traditional voyaging, sustainable sea transport and care for the ocean of which the Uto ni Yalo is a living example, and seek to understand better the working of a traditional voyaging canoe, the image of which forms the symbol of the church's reorientation to be a community of faith journeying to an island of hope and peace — the Kingdom of God.

Uto ni Yalo as a metaphor

During the 24-hour voyage to Suva, Mr Banivanua tries out the uli (steering oar), a metaphor perhaps of the difficult task he has had these past three years to steer the "Methodist drua".

"It's not easy at all. Especially for first-timers at my age. You have to be physically fit and mentally alert. You need to pay attention to so many things; the ocean, the wind, the sails and of course where you are headed.

"As Fijians, we think we are all good sailors, even though in reality some of us may not be. But the Uto ni Yalo connects us to that dream of traditional voyaging that is a part of our ancestral identity and provides a legacy to the future.

"Ever since becoming the president of the Methodist Church in Fiji, I've been using the imagery of the drua and of voyaging to describe our Lako Yani Vou (New Exodus)," he shares, gazing up at the two cream coloured traditional sails, with a turtle boldly painted on each.

"I thought that before I finish as the navigator of the Methodist drua, I should at least try to actually sail on one. And as our symbol is the drua sailing out beyond the reef in the winds of change, the Uto ni Yalo was the logical option. I am very grateful to the Uto ni Yalo Trust (UNYT) that we could partner for this voyage and work together on the issue of care of the environment and look at future possible partnerships."

Mr Banivanua, his wife Bale, along with social anthropologist and lecturer at the University of the South Pacific Dr Jacqueline Ryle, joined the Uto ni Yalo on Moala after it completed its first leg of 52 hours sailing from Leleuvia to Naroi Village.

While at Naroi, the crew of the Uto ni Yalo were guest presenters at Yasayasa Moala College's Climate Change Week events (held ahead of the rest of the country because of exams) and then led the students in a beach clean-up which collected around 400 kilograms of rubbish, including over 40kg of plastic waste which was loaded on the drua for transport to Suva.

It is an eight-hour sail on the Uto ni Yalo from Naroi on Moala to Yaroi Village on Matuku. During the sail we are joined for a time by a small pod of humpback whales.

The people of Yaroi tell us of the significance of the visit of another pod of whales. A few months ago, four whales entered the bay in front of the village and stayed there for four days. The event heralded something important.

The divisional superintendent of the Wasewase ko Matuku was pondering that significance when he was informed that the president of the church would be sailing on a traditional canoe to the island, the first in the history of the church's autonomy, five decades ago. The significance is confirmed when the captain of the Uto ni Yalo decides to drop anchor in the exact sport where the whales had been.

Climate Change

and COP23

I discuss climate change with Reverend Jope Navuki, talatala qase (superintendent minister) of the Matuku Division.

He tells me of extreme weather in the form of drought on the island leading to water rationing, an hour in the morning and one in the afternoon.

He also points out evidence of sea level rise in the form of coastal erosion. Coconut trees on the leeward side of the island, where Yaroi is, are now on the edge of the shore while on the windward side, they are now actually in the ocean.

Nurse practitioner at the Matuku Hospital (Fiji's oldest), Asenaca Rika highlights the health implications of climate change in terms of virus outbreaks coinciding with extreme and rapid weather changes.

Mr Banivanua uses the pulpit and following talanoa sessions to create more awareness on what we can do to address climate change and promote environmental stewardship. Preaching during the induction, he called for all members of the division to do their part to reduce the impact of climate change being experienced by Matuku islanders as part of their Christian responsibility.

He also called for support for Fiji's presidency of COP23 and for prayers and climate change mitigation activities by church members in the lead up to the COP23 meeting in Bonn in November.

"Fiji, as part of the crew of those voyaging to take this world to a safe port, is now preparing to hold the uli of the Conference of Parties in Bonn in November.

"The navigators and the hand on the uli will need to be in synchronicity to negotiate the potential reefs and sandbars. One eye will be on the horizon, focused on where we are headed and the other on the sails, paying attention to the direction of the wind."

The teamwork he witnessed on board led Mr Banivanua to reflect on the need for teamwork not only in the church but between the church, community and Government to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

He is heartened to hear plans from Mr Navuki to plant mangrove trees to support carbon reduction during Climate Change Week.

Back on board the Uto ni Yalo he reflects: "From the little things we do, as a faith community, as civil societies, as a voyaging community such as the Uto ni Yalo Trust, committed to care of our oceans as key to care for this planet, those on Moala, those on Matuku, all of us, in our own little ways are trying to care for this world.

"This world is the only world we have, if only we all care for it. The little we do will make a difference, small at first but as each person does what they can it will build up to something significant.

"At the heart of the problem is that we all assume that this world will be here forever and so we don't take care of it. We need to understand and help others understand that while we look to the future, our world, the only world we have, can one day go. And that is a serious matter for all of us."

Sustainable sea transport

Mr Banivanua was shocked to learn from UNYT president and voyage sailmaster, Colin Philp, that there is significant CO2 emissions from the islanders because of their reliance on fosil-fuelled outboard motors.

According to Swedish research institute KIMO International, the high emissions from traditional two-stroke engines are caused by the design of the motor.

Twenty to 30 per cent of the fuel and the added oil these two-strokes use are emitted unburned directly into the water. At low speeds, up to 40 per cent of the fuel entering a cylinder might escape unburned while at the most efficient operating range 8 per cent of the fuel is expelled as exhaust.

A one-hour ride on a boat with a 10-horsepower traditional two-stroke engine emits the same amount of hydrocarbon pollution as driving a modern automobile 40,000km (25,000 miles).

During his sermon he shared that one 40-horsepower two-stroke outboard engine has the equivalent carbon emission of 500 cars and called for the congregation to make an effort to reclaim the traditional skills of sailing and for the Yasayasa Moala to explore the benefits of sustainable sea transport along with other learnings from his time on board the the Uto ni Yalo such as electric or solar powered outboard motors.

Mr Banivanua is hopeful that one day the Methodist Church, or perhaps even the Fiji Council of Churches collaboratively, could have a boat like the Uto ni Yalo in terms of sustainable sea-transport with a low carbon footprint.

"The church has talked about boats a few times. I hope that if we do go further down that road we will use the example of the Uto ni Yalo as the ideal, because it is not only promotes low carbon sea transport, it acts it out, promoting stewardship of creation while practically providing transport and cargo services in our mission.

"Even from a business point of view as we are heading to do business through our Lako Yani Management Company to help fund the work of the church, the goal of our business is to promote the ideals of the kingdom.

"As one of the ideals of the ideals of the kingdom is the care of creation, if the church does go into providing some sort of maritime service, it should not just be profit-oriented, business as usual. It must be part and parcel of our 'gospelling'. It must be part of our care of creation, a business model designed to support and promote sustainable sea transport."

* Reverend James Bhagwan is an ordained Methodist minister and a citizen journalist. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Methodist Church in Fiji or this newspaper.

'Love your neighbour'

Published in the Fiji Times as Off the Wall with Padre James Bhagwan
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=379436

ON Monday morning, I stood on the lawn of the Federal Parliament of Australia and urged the gathering in front of me to, "Love your neighbour".

It was my last of three days in Canberra and the conclusion of the Voices for Justice national gathering, convened by Micah Australia.

Micah Australia works with churches, Christian aid organisation and individuals to gather, inspire and empower Australian Christians as advocates, sharing God's heart for justice and raising a powerful voice with and for people in poor communities around the world.

Voices for Justice is Micah Australia's annual three-day gathering in Canberra, where Christians from across Australia are inspired and equipped to be agents of change in their communities and their world.

I was invited by Micah Australia, through a member of their coalition and our church partner, Uniting World, to be the keynote speaker.

Focusing on climate change, sustainable development and Pacific partnerships, I shared my first of three messages for the weekend reflecting on the gathering's theme "How Can Australia Be A Better Neighbour," asking the message "Who is our neighbour?"

Let's start with the much broader question of neighbour. The indigenous language of Fiji, neighbour is translated as kai noqu — "Kai noqu" may be used when one Fijian is generally addressing another Fijian that they share the same blood somewhere in their lineage.

In many ways, we are as clan-oriented as those in Jesus' original audience.

Most often, we look out first for our immediate and then extended family, and then close friends, and then those who are most like us or share our values or associations.

Like the priest and Levite, we tend to overlook and avoid those who are different from us.

But Jesus calls us to love those who are different from us as if they were our own kin … our own blood.

Jesus' answer, which is also based in the Torah:

Leviticus 19:18, 33-34 "… you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord… When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

The reason we should love our neighbour, the alien, and the stranger is always the same: "I am the Lord your God."

Love others because God. Not "because God said so," but because God loves them.

So how do we expand our concept of neighbour to include others into our household?

I know that to speak of refugees in Australia was to touch a raw nerve. But in the face of climate change, as we already witnessing the first climate refugees — where will our neighbours go when the land has disappeared?

Where do our neighbours go when extractive industries reduce the places we envision as paradise into wastelands?

Our neighbours in Kiribati, Tuvalu are on the verge of become climate refugees.

Our neighbours in West Papua are suffering human rights abuses and loss of their way of life as their natural environment is being exploited. People who seek refuge are being turned away.

From a point of justice — be it climate justice or development justice — let us ask the question to ourselves, if we are the good Samaritan how long are we willing to care for those we find stripped of dignity, robbed of everything they have, lying bleeding and dying?

What is the good Samaritan found another man along that road the next day? And the next?

Would he begin to look at why that area was beset with violence?

Would he try to stir the powers that be to do something about the crime and poverty in the area?

Or would he just keep fixing the wounds, keep giving money to the inn keepers and allowing the thieves to prosper?

"While the parable of the good Samaritan provides a wonderful lesson in response to a specific question ("Who is my neighbour?"), we are left wondering how to advance life-giving communities alongside our neighbours.

Often as people of faith, we are often spectacular at following the Good Samaritan model of providing relief in times of crisis.

Yet we too often fail at the long-term work that is necessary for lasting social justice.

On Monday, 180 Christian advocates from Australia and the Pacific gathered at Federal Parliament to call on our leaders to make stronger commitments to ending global poverty and take greater action on climate change.

Micah Australia has negotiated more than 105 meetings with Members of Parliament throughout the day, where they heard from a diverse group of advocates including students, professionals, families, faith leaders; and Pacific ambassadors from Fiji, Kiribati and Tonga.

Before heading inside, advocates gathered on the front lawn to hear from Pacific leaders and pray for the day's meetings.

It has been an honour to join with fellow like-hearted, like-spirited and like-minded human beings for prayer, reflection, envisioning, speaking and acting for the compassion-filled humble justice that is loving your neighbour in the context of sustainable development and climate change... thanks Micah Australia, Uniting World and our gathering host, Hughes Baptist Church, for letting me share my Voice for Justice.

Our small nation, Fiji, was the first to ratify the Paris Agreement and almost immediately, as if to underline the importance of the convention on climate change, we were faced with Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston — a symbol of the earth's groaning and crying to the rising temperatures and sea-levels.

Battered and bruised, our leaders went to sign the Paris Treaty which is now enforced — but already in peril as those who have ears but cannot hear the groaning of creation either refuse to sign or plot to withdraw from the agreement.

Now, we prepare to lead discussions in 2017 at COP23.

At the same time how the Paris Agreement translates to our communities, how the mechanisms such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals translate into our responses to the continuous exploitation of our common home is still to be discovered.

"Simplicity, Serenity, Spontaneity"

* Reverend James Bhagwan is an ordained Methodist minister and a citizen journalist. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Methodist Church in Fiji or this newspaper.

Take action for the planet

Published in the Fiji Times as Off the Wall with Padre James Bhagwan
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=408198

Last week I had the privilege to be a Fiji Council of Churches representative at the Climate Action Pacific Partnership (CAPP) meeting in Suva.

The meeting was part of the preparation for Fiji's presidency of the 2017 UN Climate Change Conference, which will take place from November 6-17 in Bonn, Germany, the seat of the Climate Change Secretariat.

The presence of faith-based organisations at the CAPP event was an affirmation of the statement by climate change champion and Minister for Agriculture, Inia Seruratu, that partnership and the empowerment of non-state stakeholders was essential in addressing climate change.

It was also an acknowledgement that sustainable development in the Pacific necessarily includes spiritual and religious dimensions. Spirituality is integral to the world views of peoples across the Global South, the Pacific included. It underpins the moral and social frameworks in which decision making and day to day life take place.

Faith communities are key in informing these world views, including the way we understand our own relationship with the natural world and our responsibilities to this planet we call home.

Integrating this understanding with scientific and technological understanding regarding our world and its natural and human systems is key to engaging faith community members at the grassroots level in both mitigation and adaptation strategies with regard to climate change.

Our strengths are in the area of spiritual knowledge regarding environmental stewardship, but access to information on scientific expertise, accessing appropriate government and other structures, services and education materials is frequently a challenge.

At the end of the CAPP event, the general secretary of the Fiji Council of Churches, Rev Simione Tugi, along with representatives of Interfaith Search Fiji, and representing the diverse regional and local faith communities who work within and on behalf of local communities across the Pacific echoed the statement made at the conclusion of the National Faith Based Environment Stewardship Summit organised by the Ministry of the Environment in 2013.

They called for faith-based organisations to fulfil their rightful collective role in reminding people that we have a duty to restore and maintain the ecological balance of our shared home, and on faith community leaders to take active leadership in facilitating environmental stewardship at the community level and in prioritising environmental stewardship in religious education and mainstreaming it into religious structures.

The group also recommended the establishment of regional and local platforms for inter-faith collaboration on the deepening of our commitment to, and active participation in, our care for our common home.

I had the opportunity to join the roundtable thematic discussion on oceans and present a statement of outcomes to the CAPP plenary.

In the statement, the ocean thematic group affirmed that the Pacific Ocean, covering one-third of the earth's surface is intricately linked to the heart, soul, identity, culture, resilience, economy and way of life of Pacific Islanders while playing a major role in regulating climate.

With the adverse impacts of climate change on the ocean, including the rise in ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, loss of marine biodiversity, sea-level rise, amplifying the threats caused by marine and land-based activities the group stressed that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our times and its widespread, unprecedented impacts disproportionately burden the poorest and most vulnerable and the need for a full, effective and progressive implementation of the Paris Agreement.

With the CAPP meeting's focus on accelerating climate action in the Pacific, the oceans group recognised the synergies between the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Sustainable Agenda, including SDG14 on "Life Below Water" which further contributes to SDG7 "Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all", and, SDG13 "Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts".

We noted that the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services including urgently halting and reversing the decline in the health and productivity of our ocean and its ecosystems is an integral part of climate change mitigation and adaptation and can galvanise climate action and vice versa.

The outcome of the UN Oceans Conference to Support the Implementation of SDG14 and call on all stakeholders, inter alia, to integrate the "Call for Action" adopted during the conference and the registered voluntary commitments as necessary to further accelerate climate action in the Pacific is welcome news as are Pacific leaders commitments in the Suva Declaration, the SAMOA Pathway, Palau Forum Declaration, the FSM Forum Declaration and the Pacific Oceanscape Framework.

The Ocean Thematic group shared examples from the Pacific Ecosystem Based Adaptation to protect important natural infrastructure such as mangroves, seagrasses, coral reefs and offshore marine spaces through community lead locally managed marine areas; country and regionally lead large seascape networks of MPAs and MMAs, which integrates traditional knowledge and cultural practices.

Community-led initiatives, such as the recent declaration of part of the Rewa River to be tabu as a marine protected area, to protect the nursery of scalloped hammerhead sharks, was an example of a bottom-up approach which empowers communities to take decisive action to manage their land and oceans resource using the ecosystem based management/ridge to reef as a tool to protect important habitats and natural infrastructure to build community resilience/disaster risk reduction and integrating the important value of traditional knowledge and culture.

Sustainable land use practices (agriculture, forestry, coastal development, tourism, waste management) are prerequisites for healthy oceans and climate adaptation and mitigation. In all this, the ocean is the co-factor that can galvanise the collective efforts of all these sectors in accelerating climate action.

Rapid urban expansion and unsustainable development contributing to waste water runoff affecting health of the oceans and also contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Addressing oceans pollutions from plastics and waste water runoffs and ensuring that urban expansion and development does not compromise important natural infrastructure such as mangroves, coastal habitats such as beaches and shores that can play an important role in adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk reduction.

As we discussed the above issues in our roundtable dialogue, I recalled my recent paddle down the Navua River with the Viti SUP and Va'a group and how much plastics and other waste we had collected in our short river clean-up (663 kilograms) and the issue of plastic bags, bottles and styrofoam containers callously discarded and the struggle of rural communities because of the lack of proper waste management systems.

The oceans group also highlighted the importance of traditional knowledge guiding transformative technology in areas such as sustainable sea transport, as modelled by the Uto Ni Yalo; and role of mangroves and seagrasses in blue carbon sequestration and their link to the health of coral reefs and oceans economy.

Following the CAPP event, in an attempt to work off my carbon footprint from attending that meeting, I boarded the Uto Ni Yalo, as a crew member, as it sailed to Nairai in the Lomaiviti Group. The voyage was to support the Rotary Pacific Water Foundation as it inspected its projects in the area.

As I did my best to hold the uli (steering oar) and guide this symbol of climate mitigation and adaptation that has sailed the equivalent of twice around the world, I reflected on how affirming it would be for our maritime provinces to adapt our renown traditional maritime technology.

As he joined us for lunch on board the Uto Ni Yalo, the turaga ni yavusa in Tovulailai Village on Nairai, sadly recalled that it was more than half a century since he had seen a traditionally sailed canoe in these parts.

"Imagine what an improvement to maritime safety it would be if all the outboard-powered fibreglass boats in our waters had a sail, even just for emergencies," reflected Colin Philp, president of the Uto Ni Yalo Trust.

"That's just one small step which would make a huge difference in changing the current maritime transport culture and have a positive mitigating impact on climate change."

While the Rotary Pacific Water Foundation team went about their inspections and consultations, I volunteered to survey the mangroves in the area, and also collect some fresh nama (seagrapes) for lunch.

Listening to the sounds of life emanating from the mangroves, I marvelled at how important mangroves are to the future of our planet.

Mangroves ecosystems play multiple roles in mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk reduction roles, and are important nursery grounds and habitats for marine organisms and source of food for coastal communities.

Mangroves are an important part of Pacific culture and tradition. Mangrove ecosystems are not only good carbon sinks but also acts as buffers against ocean acidification.

Mangrove forests are among the most carbon-rich habitats on the planet and although they occupy just a fraction of the world's surface, they pack a punch in terms of carbon sequestration accounting for about 14 per cent of global ocean carbon. Mangroves and coastal wetlands store 50 times more carbon than tropical forests by area.

Mangroves are also important in buffering ocean acidification and prevent disease outbreaks in coral reefs.

This year International Mangrove Day (formally known as International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystems) is Wednesday, July 26.

If you'd like to take a small step in reducing your carbon footprint, join up with some friends, youth or church groups or your family and plant some mangroves.

Our planet will thank you for it.

"Simplicity, Serenity, Spontaneity"

* Reverend James Bhagwan is an ordained Methodist minister and a citizen journalist. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Methodist Church in Fiji or this newspaper.