"You know, Kamila, what we have, is each other. The power is in inside. We can not expect that someone from outside will care about us. You are the first to come and ask about our needs."
Biausevu, Fiji. December 2022.
Talks were around education, health and wellbeing.
When being there, we organised community sessions where we went through series of discussions about challenges, opportunities and needs of the village and its people. I was introduced to their way of life. We farmed, fish and cooked together.
The poem is a try to express what I have seen.
•Movement of the village•
Looking for the origins of our journey
Wondering what’s their shape
Asking if directions lead right
Moving
Waking up in the morning
Walking the path of harvest
Planting seeds of the future
Moving
Being lost in the bushes
Creating sounds of the warrior
Staying still for the birds to reply
Moving
Barefoot feeling stones
Rivers getting through the body
In search of lives
Moving
Sunset ceremonies bring all
Together voices to be heard
Sharing daily thoughts of the night
Moving
Not mine, not yours but ours
Connecting by the next day
Giving shoulder with understanding
Keeping still