A letter from Suva
SPASIFIK's Fiji based columnist CRAIG W. STRONG says the grass can be greener on the other side if skilled Pacific islanders were thinking of returning home.
Ni Sa Bula Vinaka from our beautiful part of the South Pacific. It was with a great amount of pride, tainted with humility that I accepted the opportunity to become SPASIFIK’s Fiji based columnist.
I am not a journalist. I am a sales and marketer. So my articles will not be political and will not promote sensationalist stories or “parachute journalism”. I could write about politics, corruption, investigations and democracy. That, however, would be too easy. The Pacific media is dominated by such stories and adding to it will not help the region grow. I will not be outside the proverbial glass house throwing stones like some of our bigger Pacific neighbours, who include our own people with comfortable 9 to 5 jobs who fuel discontent by writing letters and columns to the media riddled with rhetoric about democracy.
There is no escaping the fact that throughout the Pacific we lose qualified professionals and skilled tradespeople to the first world economies of Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Those who have worked hard to achieve in their chosen professions are a great example to our young. It is natural for people to look to spread their wings and to secure greener pastures for themselves and their families and, in doing so, seek to test their skills in larger first world economies. That is a personal choice and a choice I respect. Migrating is not an easy process and those who have established themselves overseas with grace and dignity are great role models for our young people.
The harsh reality, however, is that we need our professionals to come home. We need our young people, even Aotearoa-born, to come back and serve by applying their skills as teachers, salespeople, nurses, plumbers, engineers and businesspeople.
My choice to return home to Fiji from Aotearoa was due to a deeply held conviction of a duty to serve. Yes, you will have to take a pay cut and you will not have the luxury of corporate niceties. But you will learn more about courage, humility and the tenacity of the human spirit than anything a New Zealand or Australian corporate will teach you. Our parents made huge sacrifices leaving these shores so that we could have education and opportunity. It is my strongly held belief that we owe our ancestors and our future generations a debt to apply our skills to grow our economies to ensure the long term sustainability, economic independence and nationhood.
Our island economies are burdened with an excess of bureaucracy and administrators - a hangover from colonialism. We have, therefore, become too reliant on aid and aid-administered programs facilitated by academics, diplomats and NGOs. The reality is, like a bank loan, this funding comes at a price. Normally some type of policy dictated, too, by the donor party.
We are all extremely proud of our heritage. I had the pleasure of going to school in the heart of South Auckland. My two sons Tuveni and Zac went to Aunty Dorothy’s Childcare in Mangere East and both played for the Mangere East Hawks. The richness that the Pacific culture has bought to Aotearoa is phenomenal. Pacific Pride is a great value. But how do we do justice to the richness that this culture gives us? Turning up at Auckland’s annual Pasifika Festival or occasionally wearing a lavalava is not enough. The future depends on us. We collectively must have a vision for this region and galvanize our people by applying our skills to make a difference. 
