SINCE he was discharged from the Colonial War Memorial Hospital after the polio epidemic in 1958, Ratu Sela Rayawa had always aimed to achieve the best in life.
For Ratu Sela, nothing under the sun is impossible — if one is willing to take up the challenge — through faith and God's blessings.
Now at 56, the wheelchair-bound man from Nabudrau, Noco in Rewa is in charge of a significant part of our history — the Fiji Museum's Collection Department, where he is both the Librarian and Registrar.
He is responsible for the collection of books on history, anthropology, archaeology and primitive arts as well as keeping records of all the artifacts exhibited in the museum.
"I spent five years at the CWMH and was unfortunate to have a spinal polio which is the most common form, characterised by asymmetric paralysis that most often involve the legs," he said.
Ratu Sela said the impact of the disease was huge because at the time his mind had never even had a chance to understand the possibility of success, especially with a paralysed leg.
"But for me, everything that happened was normal, even when I was appointed first head boy of the Suva Crippled Children's School and then when I became the first school graduate to get employment.
"Deep within me, I knew that nothing was really impossible. And that is what continues to push me through," he said.
Ratu Sela said he represented Fiji three times in swimming - at the Paralympics in 1976 in Toronto, and the Far East Pacific International in Parramatta in 1977 as well as in 1982 competition in Hong Kong.
"It was really an eye-opener to compete at that level with a paralysed leg and to see people from throughout the world with similar physical challenges.
"By then I knew that nothing was impossible if the heart was willing," he said.
Ratu Sela, who is married with five children, said that most handicapped men did not even have the guts to ask women out for a date, or to get married.
"This is a common mental handicap because most of them have been defeated from the start and have never tried to approach women.
"I have learnt that nothing in this world is impossible if you are willing to do it with God's blessings," he said.
Ratu Sela has visited Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the United States and Canada and has been working all his life since he left school in the 1970s.
"The big heroes of my life are Bruce Palmer and Fergus Clunie — they are the people who taught me the basics of working in a museum.
"Apart from a number of overseas attachments, most of the things I learnt were from what I saw here," he said. Ratu Sela said in order to live life to the fullest one must know his or her priorities and how to manage their time well.
