Picture: Marie Firomena Kaitu’u on routine check as Meat Inspector at the Fiji Meats Industry Board slaughterhouse in Nakasi
Leaving the comforts of her island home, the love of her parents, and the familiar company of friends and families, Marie Firomena Kaitu’u travelled 401 miles from Rotuma to Fiji to undertake tertiary education.
Originally from Noa’tau in Rotuma
with maternal links to Juju, the then teen-aged Marie had her sights set on
joining the nursing profession.
“My dream job was to become a
nurse but after completing my secondary education, unfortunately, the nursing 2005
intake was put on hold. Instead, I was advised by our Careers teacher to try
other fields,” she said.
However, her family encouraged her
to apply for a scholarship as it was the dream of students on the island to
come to Fiji for their tertiary studies.
“Agriculture studies was never my
option to study because farming was what we did on the island for survival but
because the nursing intake was closed I had no other option but to just choose
Agriculture,” Marie said.
Marie applied for the former Public
Service Commission scholarship while she continued to help her parents on the
island.
“Names of successful scholarship
recipients appeared in the newspapers and because paper deliveries on the
island depends on the arrival of ships and planes, we were unaware of the
selected names,” said Marie.
“Later one weekend we received a
call from one of my uncles in Suva who informed my parents that my name was in
the newspaper,” recalled Marie.
Marie vividly remembered how she
despised the news as her heart was still with nursing. Only due to the
financial burden on her parents if she continued to pursue her desires that she
reluctantly accepted the scholarship to study Diploma in Tropical Agriculture.
“I left Rotuma to start a new
path without my parents and family members and enrolled at the Fiji College of
Agriculture (FCA) in Koronivia,” she said.
“At Koronivia, I discovered that
Agriculture had more branches and I was glad I found out that there is more to
just planting and selling,” she said.
Marie graduated from FCA in 2007 and
was employed as a Farm Hand at the Dairy Farms Fiji Limited in Navua before
joining the Ministry of Agriculture in 2010.
“It has always been said that
when God closes one door he opens another one with bigger and greater things
and we may have our plans but only His prevails,” she said.
“I never made it to nursing school,
I was disheartened but God showed me another path and this path allowed me to
nurse animals,” she said.
“Most of my working career was in
Dairy, I also got to experience and visit places that while in Rotuma I never
thought I would be visiting,” she said.
“In the course of my work I had
to travel the high seas to get to islands and trek through the forests to get
to a particular village.”
Marie was a Dairy Industry
Support staff for two years before becoming a Temporary Livestock officer based
in Navua. She took up the post of a Meat Inspector and moved up the livestock
staff ladder becoming a Dairy Inspector before becoming an Agriculture Officer.
“I am mostly mistaken for a Fijian
lady so I made an effort to learn the Fijian and the Hindi languages for field
purposes.”
“There were experienced people
that coached me along the way and added to my newly acquired language. Also,
while I was in Navua, we had to walk from Naitonitoni to the PA’s office to fax
our weekly updates to the Central office,” she said with a laugh.
The trip she took to Fiji in 2005
was also the last time she saw her parents and her island home.
“The annual Rotuma Day roadshow of
2014 gave me the opportunity to return home and see my family and friends
again, this time as a representative of the Animal Health and Production
Division of the Ministry of Agriculture,” she smiled with memory.
“I was approached by the former
Director Tomasi Tunabuna and grabbed the opportunity”
Marie in her strive to equip and
educate herself secured a 3 years NZ Aid scholarship at the Massey University studying
Bachelor in Animal Science majoring in Animal Welfare.
“It is an exciting course and I
look forward to finishing it but now because of COVID-19 we are released and
will resume studies when we have the all-clear,” she said.
The Meat inspector who is also the
Agriculture Officer in charge of Sheep is now continuing her service to the
Agriculture sector.
“Learn from experience people,
don’t always think you know everything even if you are highly qualified, always
stay humble and broaden your mind to learn new things,” was the message from
Marie.
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