THE last time American Embassy Charge d'affaires Jeff Robertson was in Dakuinuku Village, he was a young American Peace Corps volunteer with the world at his feet.
It was during his brief two-week stay in the village he forged bonds that would guide him for the rest of his life.
And he even had the honour of having a child in the village named after him.
That was 28 years ago, and much transpired in that time — but the American never forgot his Dakuinuku family.
He would carry all the lessons he learned in his stay at the village and after all those years, finally got the chance to meet his namesake — Tomasi Jeff Kulinitai Robertson.
The meeting happened by chance, when on a trip to pick up his daughter from a sightseeing trip, he would stumble across his namesake — a full grown 27-year-old working in a rock quarry near the village.
And on Friday Mr Robertson finally got the chance to return to Dakuinuku Village and meet his surrogate family.
"Of course my heart was beating faster, just imagine being away from home for 28 years and coming home and seeing people you love dearly and who have always been good to you," Mr Robertson said.
"So yes I walked back in and there was a flood of memories because it made me feel young again because that's what I was 28 years ago."
His namesake Tomasi Jeff Robertson was equally emotional when describing his first meeting with Mr Robertson saying he was so humbled in their first meeting that he barely said a word.
"The first time we met I just couldn't say anything, I just looked down the whole time he was speaking to me," he said.
Mr Robertson even took his namesake and his mother Nainasa Motulobo on a tour of the American Embassy, a trip that was a highlight for him, having never expected he would see such a place.
Tomasi Jeff Robertson's father said he thanked God for all that had been made possible in Jeff Robertson, adding that he knew Mr Robertson had never forgotten Dakuinuku, and that Dakuinuku had never forgotten their adopted son.