Get to Know Fiji Through the Eyes of Somebody who Loves Fiji

I know Minal in many capacities, as the author of Leaving India: My Family’s Journey from Five Villages, and I was delighted to be able to attend her book release party in Pleasanton, California.

Minal’s presentation was like a hot bath for my soul.

There was a slideshow. I thought I might nap. But I didn’t.

Minal’s grandparents, as well as uncles, aunts, and their children, emigrated to Fiji, and she has visited often since the age of four. Minal spoke with passion about how in Fiji, unlike many tourist destinations, over 90% of the land is owned by tribes and government. How even the big name resorts are on 99 year leases. How, as such, fair treatment of local workers is guaranteed, and how tourist money is going to the local population not just to the corporations.

Local indigenous rites and dancing have been threatened in Fiji due to problems in cultural passage between generations. VOU, Fiji’s internationally acclaimed dance school, is working to solve these problems by integrating traditional dances with educational pathways. Minal told us about award-winning artist and inmate Aisake Amoe at the Tagimoucia Art Gallery. The Suva Prison is home to the Tagimoucia Art Gallery and features and sells artwork created by prisoners taking rehabilitative workshops. Minal spoke about the beauty pageant fandom in Fiji and, in particular, how their was a pageant for trans folks that’s particularly well-attended.

Minal also discussed the environment. In her book, she writes of turtle callers and the declining shark presentation. How Fiji has more than 800 species of coral. “‘Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau marveled at Fiji’s undersea variety, calling it ‘the soft coral capital of the world.’ More than 800 species of coral make their home in the Pacific (compared to only 48 in the Caribbean).” She mentioned the fact that on the big island of Suva there’s places that are only about 2 meters above water. “So you can imagine how even only a 2 mm of sea level rise can devastate this place,” Minal pointed out.

I used to work closely with climate and environmental justice advocates. As she spoke about climate awareness and climate change, she spoke with such respect toward the people of Fiji that I was moved. Is this really a powerpoint about a travel guide? I wondered. This is so, so fantastic, I thought.

It’s really about how people are adapting. How they survived massive, traumatic changes.

She’s writing about a place she loves, I realized. This isn’t just a guidebook. This is personal.

I could’ve listened to Minal talk for another hour. I didn’t want my time in Fiji to end.

The way Minal talks about Fiji is the way I want to talk about the people in my life. With such love and care that you will want to visit. You will respect and admire them. She’s written the Moon Fiji the way she might write a novel. Readable and enjoyable in every way.

Also, honest.

It isn’t all blue skies and blue lagoons in Fiji.

As her finale, Minal said she wanted to tell us about the Humpback whales. Whales have been hunted for centuries. Fiji was the breeding grounds of a tribe of humpback whales that made an annual migration north from New Zealand. The whaling industry on the island massacred the whales until there were only 35 survivors in the 1970’s. The survivors stopped traveling through Fiji.

Instead, they completely changed their route and began to swim through Tonga, where they were protected. Tongans had declared whales off-limits for hunting. Through partnerships between indigenous peoples and environmentalists, Fiji also banned whale and dolphin hunting in 2003, but by then it was too late. The whales were gone.

“Seven years ago,” Minal said, pausing and raising her head to meet our eyes, “the whales came back to Fiji. It worked. The woman who told me the story was a marine ecologist named Helen Sykes. Helen teared up as she talked about the Humpbacks. ‘It’s very special to me, you know. What happened. It tells me that forgiveness is possible — no matter what we’ve done as a species.”

Minal and I shared our misty eyes.

We were thinking about our Fiji Shaped Lives.

Get this wonderful book. I've purchased it, and it gives you an insider's view into Fiji that will leave you aching to go. If you've already got tickets, I'm jealous, and let Minal help you plan your trip.

(BTW - this review was actually part of a larger blog journal project about fasting for Ramadan -- you can read along at drunkenwhispers.wordpress.com)

Brand	N/A
Rating	4.7 (68 ratings)
Price	$17.15
Category	Australia & South Pacific

Moon Fiji (Travel Guide)