Beauty, History and Enele Ma'afu ^Featured

History tells us how things are supposed to have started. I'd heard a lot about Vanuabalavu. I had never been there, but like many Fijians, I'd heard stories about the beauty of Vanuabalavu in Lau.

It wasn't until I got there just before Christmas that I truly appreciated the beauty of the island. The famous song "Lomaloma na toba vakaloloma" is an apt description of the beauty that embraces your senses as you get your first glimpse of this island.

You've got to be there to appreciate nature at its best. As the sun sets to the west, when the Yasawas supposedly pulls it over the horizon, the fading rays sort of splatter on the surface, constantly moving to the beat of the gentle waves that roll endlessly up the white sandy beach at Vanuabalavu.

We'd left about 8pm from Port Mua-i-Walu in Suva onboard the MV Princess Civa bound for Vanuabalavu, on Tuesday, December 22. The rough seas, powerful waves and intermittent rain were companions. Sea sickness crept in as we ploughed through the Nasilai Passage.

No one said though, that at the tail end of the 24-hour journey that there would be a sort of a reprieve. That was when the beauty of Vanuabalavu rose before us. It actually hits you. You are embraced by this scene of beauty that can be overpowering.

Being a kaicolo, having lived all my life in my home province of Naitasiri, it was a long journey. My first long trip anywhere in Fiji. At the beginning I'd also heard about the association of Enele Ma'afu the Tongan prince with Vanuabalavu.

Penisimani Latu Wainiqolo, a former school teacher from the the Vavau sub clan of the yavusa Toga from Sawana, Vanuabalavu believes at the beginning, the yavusa Toga settled on Sawana, Vanuabalavu led by Ma'afu in the 1800s.

Ma'afu brought this group of Tongans as his warriors with Wainiqolo his right-hand man. The former school teacher is a direct descendent of Ma'afu's right-hand man. At 62, Wainiqolo is fit for his age. He enjoys the life on the island. He wouldn't give it up for anything, he says.

He says he enjoys fishing. "First Ma'afu settled at Tubou, Lakeba, as he was related to the Tui Nayau the paramount chief of Lakeba and Lau," he said. They later moved from Lakeba to Vanuabalavu, he said, with Ma'afu leading his Tongan people to relocate them to Lomaloma, to a village they named Sawana.

Mr Wainiqolo believes the reason Ma'afu moved to Vanuabalavu was because a chief from Cakaudrove had borrowed his double hulled canoe and gave Vanuabalavu island in exchange. Mr Wainiqolo continued with his story that over time, when Ma'afu was in Tonga, he was informed that Vanuabalavu had been taken back by the chief who had initially given it to him.

"Ma'afu heard the story and he took him to court and he won the case, and Vanuabalavu was given back to Ma'afu," Wainiqolo said. From that time after the court case was won by Ma'afu, Tongans have remained at Sawana, Vanuabalavu. There are three family units in the yavusa Toga in Sawana which is Ha'apai, Vavau, and Tongatapu.

Mr Wainiqolo said that most of Ma'afu's warriors were from Vavau in Tonga, but Ma'afu and his right-hand man Wainiqolo came from Tongatapu but stayed in Vavau, Tonga while his parents served as governor there. "About two thirds of Sawana Village is occupied by the Vavau family unit and the rest are shared by Ha'apai and Tongatapu clans."

The late president and former Tui Lau Ratu Sir Kamisese Tuimacilai Kapaiwai Mara was born and brought up in Sawana. There is history in Vanuabalavu. History tied in with beauty.

Source: Fiji Times Online