Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland joins communities across Aotearoa to celebrate Macawa ni Vosa vakaViti – Fijian Language Week, held from 5 to 11 October under the theme “Na noqu vosa me na tekivu mai vale – My language starts at home.”
The celebration honours the heritage of almost 70,000 Fijians who call Aotearoa home. For Sainimere Boladuadua, a public health physician and PhD candidate at the University’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, the theme carries deep personal meaning. From Somosomo, Taveuni, and maternally linked to Levuka, Yale, Kadavu, she describes language as the vessel of cultural values that shape identity and community.
“Our language carries our values. Words like veirokorokovi (mutual respect), veirogorogoci (listening), and solesolevaki (communal work) are more than terms – they are ways of living that hold our families, communities, and villages together,” she says.
These values are expressed in daily life:
- Veirokorokovi (Respect): For elders, peers, visitors, and the environment.
- Veirogorogoci (Listening): Humble listening that encourages consensus and patience.
- Solesolevaki (Communal Work): Working together for the collective good.
- Lotu (Faith): Christianity woven into Fijian identity, reinforcing humility, gratitude and service.
Sainimere’s doctoral research examines how worldviews influence healthcare access for children with acute respiratory infections in Fiji, a leading cause of childhood illness and mortality. Her work explores how Indigenous Fijian, faith-based, and western biomedical worldviews intersect in shaping healthcare decisions.
She recently completed a Fulbright research fellowship with the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health in the United States, collaborating with Navajo and White Mountain Apache communities on integrating Indigenous knowledge with western public health systems. Her contributions included work on RSV Surveillance in Native American Children and Adults (SuNA), a five-year study on respiratory infections among American Indian and Alaska Native populations.
Sainimere describes herself as “a woman of many worlds — Indigenous Fijian, raised in an urban setting, connected to traditional society, while working in academic and professional spaces shaped by Western health systems.” This perspective shapes her research and reminds her to ask, listen and learn.
Fijian Language Week is both a celebration and a commitment to ensuring that language and values thrive for future generations.
“Language starts at home, but its impact reaches far beyond—it shapes how we live, learn and care for one another,” she says.
Fun Facts about Fiji
- Fiji has 333 islands, of which only about 110 are inhabited.
- Taveuni Island straddles the International Date Line, allowing you to stand with one foot in “today” and the other in “yesterday.”
- Taveuni is home to the rare Tagimoucia flower, Fiji’s national flower, which doesn’t grow anywhere else in the world.
- Fiji is known as the “Soft Coral Capital of the World,” hosting over 390 coral species.
- Two native frog species are found only in Fiji: the tree frog and the wrinkled ground frog.
- Fiji has three official languages — English, Fijian, and Fiji Hindi.
- 90% of Fiji’s land is owned communally by Indigenous Fijians (iTaukei).
- Fiji won its first Olympic gold medal in Rugby Sevens at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
