KINI Tinai is astute about her life.
She tells me she has no regrets about the life she chose growing up.
Today she works at Diverse Voices and Action for Equality or ‘DIVA for Equality’ a rapidly growing peer support group of lesbian, bisexual women and transmen, and other marginalised women including women in non-traditional employment and sports.
Looking back on her life, she says things could be different, but her past has shaped her outlook on life.
“You know that saying where if you erase all the mistakes of your past, you would erase all the wisdom of the present. It’s the lesson not the temporary disappointment,” she said.
From the age of 11, Kini was already living on the streets of Suva, eking out a living by pickpocketing or stealing food from the supermarkets. It was a life of hardship, but she “survived.
“Growing up I was angry all the time. You know from home, you watch your mom getting beaten and when you want something, but your mother can’t afford to give it to you, all those things affected me. We were not that privileged and I saw a lot of violence at home.
“That’s when I started looking at my own ways of satisfying my needs. It went on like on cycle. I used violence as a tool to survive and then it happened in relationships, where it affected me and my happiness, my mental health, my way of living. It came to a stage where I thought how I could use that as a tool to be better. I used to read quotes and learned from the meaning of reading quotes and how I could do it to change my way of living, to try and get out of that cycle of violence.”
Kini says if it wasn’t for the safe space provided by DIVA for Equality, she wouldn’t know where she would end up.
“The space has been part of the journey for me, it has helped me mentally and my way of living. The solidarity provided by DIVA helped shape my life where I can tell my stories and someone could relate to it and we share.”
Describing her life on the streets growing up, Kini said it was a life she would not wish upon anybody.
It was a world on its own as street people, sex workers and vagabonds hustled to make a living and survive.
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