The Social Democratic and Liberal Party has wished everyone an inspirational Girmit Divas 2021.
It was 142 years ago on May 14, 1874, when the first Girmitiyas arrived in Levuka on the Leonidas.
In a statement issued today, SODELPA party leader Viliame Gavoka said it was an epic voyage by many from rural settings in India, not familiar with the seas, unaware it would be a journey of some months over the ‘kalapani’ (dark waters) to a tiny island in the Pacific, Fiji.
“What awaited them was pure misery; and under the ‘Girmit’, they toiled in the fields of Fiji through sweat and tears under intolerable conditions. Yet, they overcame the hardships, they persevered, they thrived and put in place the modern economic system that has made Fiji what it is today,” Mr Gavoka said.
“I salute the ‘Girmityas’ and theirs is not an ordinary history of what may seem to be of ordinary people. Beginning with economics, they have progressed to change the fabric of Fiji’s society, proudly placing Fiji as the most cosmopolitan nation in the Pacific today.
“I also salute the iTaukei’s, the natives and first people of Fiji, who have lived side by side and shared their resources with the ‘Girmityas’, accepting them as their own.
“The bond grows stronger each day; further expounded with noble acts, such as that of the paramount chief of the Burebasaga Confederacy, Marama Bale Na Roko Tui Dreketi conferring the title of the ‘Luvedra Na Ratu’ (Children of the Chiefs) upon the descendants of the ‘Girmityas’.”
