Main roundabout in Ba
Ba town is not on the Fiji tourist trail. But I enjoy shopping there because the shop assistants answer me in Hindi when I speak it to them. It seems so natural and I feel I fit in. In the capital, Suva, I am as likely to be answered in English.
I approached an Indo-Fijian seamstress in her small narrow shop. I requested her to mend the soft hat that shielded my head from the burning sun. She was friendly but was too busy before Christmas.
I was surprised the next morning as I emerged from the parish church to see her and her family also leaving. They are a Hindu family. She told me that her son, Sumit, had a job interview that morning and they had come to the church to pray for him. My offer of prayer was readily accepted and I laid my hands on Sumit’s head and prayed for him.
After Christmas I bought a new pair of ready-made trousers. The legs were too long so I went again to Priya, Sumit’s mother, to have them shortened. She told me that Sumit had got the job. When I returned to pick up the trousers she refused to accept any payment saying it was only a small job. I also gave her a blessing, which she appreciated.
There is something very human and pleasant about life in Fiji.
by Fr Frank Hoare
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