Birthday in paradise

It’s the same type of excitement I felt when I was going to the island for the first time. It’s an indescribable feeling that you will have to experience for yourself to be able to understand. Six months later I find myself by the beachside at my family home in ‘ Moaghoi ’, sipping on my cold ‘niu’, island style, and hoping for some sunshine within the next six days at least.

While some look to splurge on their birthdays, I chose to celebrate my last year in my twenties in Rotuma doing absolutely nothing. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but it’s a different kind of ‘peace’ when I’m here. It’s a mixture of the environment, nature, the communal and village life, the food, the Rotuman humor, the sand in your feet and even the most basic things like riding in the back of a pickup truck and eating ‘Fekei’ even when it’s not a special occasion. Its the language been spoken and the sound of scooters and motorbikes, the sound of the rake on the sand at 5am in the morning to even the smell of fresh lolo buns. It’s a mixture of all these things that make the 'rotuman experience' so damn unique.

For artistic people one of the most scariest things to ever experience is an 'artistic block'. For me, it's scary to the point where you're almost depressed because there is no motivation, no inspiration and no urge to carry on. When Covid hit us last year I, to some extent, experienced some sort of 'block'. I couldn't find any motivation whatsoever so I had to find other ways to sort of escape that phase because I knew that if I had carried on I would find it extremely difficult to get out of. Luckily, a trip to Rotuma made everything better. It was extremely rejuvenating and refreshing for the mind, body and soul. It opened my eyes to so many things I didn't find amusing before and it grounded me so much that I returned to Suva not wanting to have anything to do anything superficial. That's what Rotuma does to you and I hope that one day my readers will experience it for themselves.

In a few months my family home will be built directly opposite the airport in 'Elsio , Malha'a and I will then have every reason to revisit my island home to find both leisure and inspiration all for sanity's sake.