No one knows the real-life challenges of a family struggling to put food on the table more than someone who has been through it and lived to tell the tale.
Amitesh Awen Jeet knows what living a hand-to-mouth existence means.
The 35-year-old is a provisional National Federation Party candidate for the 2022 General Election.
But just over 21 years ago, his life was a reflection of the gritty tales shared by many who came from disadvantaged families.
In 2000, with just a pair of trousers, one uniform, and stationery, Mr Jeet left his home in Madhuvani, Rakiraki, and headed for Natabua High School in Lautoka.
He had one goal in mind – to study hard and get himself out of poverty.
Mr Jeet said he was brought up in a “poor family”.
His parents were sugarcane farmers and they had seven children to take care of.
Apart from growing up in poverty, he said another setback in his life was when he lost his older sister Vandhana Jeet.
She went missing in 2002 in Naria, Rakiraki, three years before the three Lata sisters disappeared in 2005, and has never been found.
“If I get into Parliament, I will also make an effort to find my sister,” Mr Jeet said.
Mr Jeet did his primary studies at Madhuvani Primary School.
In 2006, he was awarded a scholarship under the then-Public Service Commission (PSC) and he managed to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce in Management, Public Administration and Economics.
He graduated from a regional university in 2009 and prior to graduation, began working for the National Planning Office as an economic planning officer.
Within a span of two years, he was promoted to senior economic planning officer and acting principal economic officer.
He was then seconded to the Commissioner Centrals’ Office to oversee integral rural management projects.
In 2017, after he completed his Masters in New Zealand, he applied for a job at the Economy Ministry and when he was unsuccessful, he applied and then worked for the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development as a project officer overseeing rural government projects in the interior and maritime islands of Fiji.
He then resigned to start his own business after working for nine years for the government.
Growing up, he said he did not have many of the opportunities more privileged children enjoyed but did not let that keep him from gaining success through education.
“When I was at Natabua High School, I used to ask for clothes and even shoes from students who were from wealthy families and when I go back home for breaks, I would have lots of clothes.
“I would tell my parents not to visit me in school because I was boarding, not because I was ashamed of them, I didn’t want to burden them with a lot of things because I knew the struggles we faced at home.
“When I was in school, I used to get financial assistance from my teachers.
“I only had one pair of uniforms to wear throughout the year and I even went barefoot to school.”
He said he would meet with his high school friends and they would reminisce about the days while boarding at Natabua High School.
“Even though I was brought up in a poor family, we were content and happy.
“Everything you see here, my big house and car parking outside, it was through hard work and perseverance.”
He said if he gets into Parliament, he would change the approach in which developments are made around the country.
“You can’t give people resources, and then let them use it without any knowledge of how it should be used; we need to teach them how to use it so it could sustain them in the long run.
“We cannot be sitting on the top office, giving out orders and expect the job to be done, we need to come down to the grass root level, only then we will understand the problem.”
He is now happily married to Radhika Goundar who has accounting background.
They live with their three children in Koronivia where they also run a family business.
