It was the worse news he had ever heard as a hotel worker at the Outrigger Resort during March this year, when his boss told him he couldn’t attend work anymore.
“I was lost for a moment but there was no choice because the coronavirus was here in Fiji,” he said.
Simeli Cirimaitoga, 22, said he was worried for his grandparents, who he was supporting at the time. “I was worried and the first thing that came to my mind was, who would provide food for my grandparents,” he said.
“I was a food and beverage attendant at the resort when it closed down. I was brought up by my grandparents at Vatukarasa Village in Nadroga, which is also my home.
“I took care of them like they did for me when I was a child,” he said.
Despite the odds, Cirimaitoga began looking for an alternative source of income.
The imminent risk of not providing food was at the helm, but Cirimaitoga says he never gives up easily.
It was the sea and the land that provided them with food.
He simply cast his fishing line along Vatukarasa’s coast, and every day he did, he caught fish.
The area is also known for their sweet tasty fresh corns.
In the day he sets up a stall on the roadside selling hot fresh corn.
When he saved enough money he would buy lamp chops from the butcher and sell barbecue along the Queens Highway.
“I didn’t earn much, but just enough to keep us going so far,” he said.
Now seven months later, Cirimaitoga has never given up on his little plan.
Cirimaitoga was educated at the Sigatoka Methodist Primary School and Sigatoka Methodist College before attending Lautoka Teachers College for a year and a half.
He worked at a law firm in Suva before moving back to Sigatoka to the hotel business.
“When things normalise I really hope to return to the resort, I love the work I do there and I’m not worried like I used to when I’m at my village because we also help each other here!
“My advice to others facing difficulty during this time is, always remain positive and believe that God works in mysterious ways and never give up.”
