Opposition Leader Inia Seruratu has expressed his condolences on the passing of a giant in Fiji’s history, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, Taufa Vakatale.
Seruiratu says late Vakatale was a woman of firsts.
He adds she was Fiji’s first female Deputy Prime Minister; the first ever Fijian woman elected as a Cabinet Minister; the first indigenous woman appointed as a Deputy High Commissioner; and the first Fijian woman to serve as a Secondary School principal.
Seruiratu adds late Vakatale rose in the era when women, especially iTaukei women, had to contend with limits placed on them by society.
He says she shattered glass ceilings and was a role model for all women and young girls in Fiji.
Meanwhile, Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry says late Vakatale will be remembered for a long and distinguished career as a civil servant, educationist, diplomat and politician.
New Acting Secretary-General Jeanette Emberson (left), with former Acting Secretary-General Viniana Namosimalua. Photo: Parliament of Fiji
The Deputy Secretary-General to Parliament Jeanette Emberson has replaced Viniana Namosimalua as Acting Secretary-General.
Ms Namosimalua confirmed yesterday that her last day of work was on Tuesday and Mrs Emberson has taken up the acting post.
In a statement, the Constitutional Offices Commission said they have decided to re-advertise the vacancy and have advised the President to appoint Mrs Emberson until a substantive appointment is made.
“Ms Emberson’s acting appointment is effective from 12 January 2021, since Ms Viniana Namosimalua’s appointment as acting Secretary-General to Parliament was not renewed,” the Commission said.
Mrs Emberson (nee Terubea) attended Adi Cakobau School (ACS) from 1996 to 2002 and was a Uci House member.
Miss Hibiscus 1977, Miss Travelodge, Florence Julian, centre, with 1st runner-up, Miss Burns Philp Litiana Duribalavu, right, and second runner-up Miss Seaborne, Kelera Domolailai. Picture: FT File
Variety, it seems, was the spice of life for Litiana Duribalavu. Since leaving school in 1975, she worked as a dental student, business management cadet, air hostess, beauty consultant and then as an educational books co-ordinator for Desai Bookshops, according to a report by The Fiji Times on January 5, 1984.
In between all that, she was also a keen part-time model.
For the coming year she had made a firm resolution to settle down.
“I am going to work hard at my job and hope to save some money,” she said.
Litiana received her primary education at Delainavesi, Ballantine Memorial School then entered Adi Cakobau School.
After completing high school she took up dental therapy course at the CWM Hospital in 1976.
She quickly found that looking into people’s mouths did not interest her greatly. She left after 18 months.
“I wanted to do something totally different and at the time Burns Philp were offering school leavers a business management cadet trainee course, I joined them in 1977.”
The same year Burns Philp sponsored her as the company’s Hibiscus contestant and that year she was crowned Charity Queen.
During her prize winning trip to Australia it was arranged for Litiana to go through a crash course in modelling.
She appeared on a poster that BPs used to launch Revlon’s Charlie cosmetics and perfume in Fiji.
Litiana worked in various departments, selling crockery cosmetics, men’s, women’s and children’s wear and attended Fiji Institute of Technology (FIT) to do a business studies course.
She discontinued her studies when she left BPs in 1979.
“I wanted to travel and see different countries and joined Air Pacific as an air hostess in 1980.”
The glamour of flying did not last long. In six months she said she needed a break from work. Later, she went to work as a beautician for Emmalines Health and Beauty Studio.
Then one day the general manager of Desai Bookshops offered her a job. Litiana said she grabbed the opportunity.
“All along I was looking for something to further my education. I started taking classes at USP in constitutional law and I am determined to make a career at Desai.
“It is a complicated and responsible post. The USP, for example, places large orders for text and reference books or its library and students’ needs. I also look after the demands of FIT, and all primary and secondary schools throughout Fiji and the region.”
The seven female officers who were commissioned in December, 1988. Picture: SUPPLIED
Part 1
The history of a national military force in Fiji goes way back to 1920 before independence. But one thing was certain then, the army was no place for women. Women worked in garment factories, were nurses, teachers, policewomen (the first joined in 1970), but most stayed home.
The concept “a woman’s place is in the kitchen” was widely embraced in Fiji and around the Pacific and women have always been considered as “soft”. This, in my opinion, was probably one of the reasons women were never recruited into the army.
It wasn’t until the incumbent Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka became the Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) in 1987 that he allowed the first batch of Fijian women to enter the RFMF in 1988.
Colonel Silipa Raradoka Druavesi Vananalagi was one of 41 woman who decided to break the stigma in 1988 by enlisting in the RFMF.
Out of the 41 women, only seven were commissioned as officers.
Originally from Taci Village, Noco in Rewa, Ms Vananalagi grew up in a family that was predominantly male to parents who also featured in Fiji’s political scene in the mid to late 1900s.
Her father, the late Atunaisa Bani Druavesi, was a banker by profession, but later joined the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) political party.
Her mother Ema Druavesi was a career lab technician before joining the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC) and later the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) for the 1987 election.
Ms Vananalagi was a student at the prominent Adi Cakobau School (ACS) when the 1987 coup happened.
That, she said, was the first time she “started seeing the green uniform”. “I was still in school in 1987 when the FLP won the elections of ‘87 and then we were told that school was closed because of the coup,” Ms Vananalagi reminisced.
“One of those experiences was mum arrested for a while, and I had to collect stuff from home and take it to her while she was still in CPS (Central Police Station).
“(She) was telling me what to do, what not to do, this is what to bring and all that and being a high school student at the time and facing that crowd of people in uniform, both police and military with guns — it was something challenging, but I had to do what she tasked me to do.
“That was when I started seeing the green uniform.”
When an advertisement appeared in the dailies for women to join the RFMF, Ms Vananalagi applied. That did not go down well with her mother. She had wanted Ms Vananalagi to follow her father’s footsteps in becoming a banker.
“I saw the advertisement on the local newspapers, and I decided to apply and interestingly, my mother was against me applying for the military.
“I was one of the fortunate females that was allowed to attend the women’s WORSBY (Women Officers Regular Selection Board).
“They called it the women’s WORSBY then, where they selected a few women to go through a four-day training program through which they did assessments to see whether you’re fit to be a future officer of the RFMF.
“They see all your calibres in leadership, team bonding and everything including social activities. “On February 5, 1988, we were at the Force Training Group (FTG) for our first day of recruit training.”
Ms Vananalagi said the challenges began as early as day one. “When we started, there was no boundaries between men and women.
“So, there’s this fitness test that we do, depending on the age group, and we women at that time, we had to run the same time with men and it was like running 2.4km in nine minutes.
“And after doing the run, you do the exercises.
“The sit ups, the press ups, and we actually did chin ups during that time and we had to do seven until I think it was in early ‘89 or mid ‘89 when they phased out chin ups for women but we did that during our cadet time and when we graduated.
“We thought we couldn’t do it, but we did it and like we were just challenging men at the same time.”
Ms Vananalagi said there were times when the 41 women were ridiculed for not being able to complete a certain task that men were able to complete. They were also made fun off for being the only women in the army.
This included being called names by army wives who lived in the barracks with their husbands and families.
“To be seen wearing the green uniform and holding guns, you would hear all sorts of comments, it was endless. “But I think the comments that we got during those days, that really built us personally, especially for me and my character, to what I am today.
“It has made me strong; I accept all sorts of criticism, I take on the constructive ones and I just disregard the nonsense one and just move on.”
Another challenge the women faced was the lack of privacy as there were no “women only” facilities because the army at that time, was not structured to include female soldiers. So, when the first batch of women entered the army, they had to use the same facility as the men.
“There was no proper infrastructure in place for women only, like sometimes we just wanted our own privacy and that we didn’t have that. We didn’t get that opportunity.
“If you go into a bathroom and if somebody comes along you had to say “ei au jiko qo i loma” (Hey, I’m inside here) and then you know the boys would know that there’s someone in there.
“Sometimes it was fun when you think of it because we used to rush to see who goes in first.”
But the main challenge that these women faced was the ranking system.
According to Ms Vananalagi, when they entered the force there was a policy in place that limited their promotion.
“When we entered in 1988, we had this policy that said that women could only go up to the rank of captain and once you get married, you have to resign and reapply to the force after you’ve given birth.
“If there’s a vacancy, then they take you back. “Nobody was there to guide us; we didn’t have proper mentors.
“It was lucky if you were in a unit where you will be told this is right and this is wrong.
“Otherwise, you will just go with the flow.
“There were courses, like as an officer you start off with doing Junior Staff Officers (JSO) course and then you go to grade three, grade two, then if you’re fortunate to do joint warfare, well and good.
“Otherwise, you’d do Staff College then to Defence College.
“But for us, we were told that we could only do JSO course, that was it.
“So, I think for us, as a team, we took on the challenge and we really tried to make our way to be recognised in the military, especially since it’s a maledominated organisation. “One wrong thing you do, they really pick it out fast and they will always talk about it every now and then.
Vane Dulukorewa Nawalowalo with her family in her younger days. =
In the remote village of Drekeniwai, nestled in the famed Natewa Bay, young Vane Dulukorewa Nawalowalo’s life took shape in a world she neither chose nor resented.
Her parents were civil servants and they were posted to Vaturova in Cakaudrove, where she attended Korotasere District School.
It was at this school, where she attended class one to six, that her journey toward an illustrious career began.
“Growing up in a school like that and then attending ACS was a great advantage because I had learned a lot of things about living independently,” she reminisced, the memories of her early years in the village still vivid in her mind.
“There is a lot of things girls in town don’t do like cooking with firewood outside – vakatoka ti. It’s a good upbringing when you are raised in the village, and I was fortunate to be brought up in one.”
Because of the school’s distance from home young Nawalowalo did not enjoy going o the village during the school holidays.
“We stayed in school because our parents were in Vanua Levu,” she said.
Her father was a teacher and her mother a nurse.
Their dedication to their professions meant that their young daughter’s education would be spent away from the comfort of the home.
It was a lesson in resilience that would serve her well in the years to come.
After completing her education at Adi Cakobau School (ACS), Nawalowalo transitioned directly into the workforce, beginning her career in 1968.
“We were prepared from school towards the end of the year,” she said, with the sound of youthful determination in her voice.
“We sat exams, and I was lucky to go to ACS.”
At work, she enjoyed the support of her school mates who also grew up in the village and were also former pupils of ACS.
“Ulamila Toroki and Ulamila Laisa made it easier for those of us who just joined,” she said.
The transition from the rural tranquility of Vanua Levu to the bustling world of Sawani was indeed a leap, but Nawalowalo’s village upbringing had prepared her well for the challenges of city life.
As a commercial studies student, she was part of a group that was eventually absorbed into the workforce straight after school.
Their journey into the civil service marked the beginning of remarkable careers.
“With family already serving the country, it was natural for me to join the government,” Nawalowalo said.
“It was safer for us girls at the time to join government because there were rules established, and coming from boarding school into a government department — for me, I would rather make that my career choice than the private sector.”
Her first job was working as a typist in the Department of Social Welfare, where she worked under the guidance of an expatriate deputy director.
It was a humble beginning for a young woman determined to make her mark in the world.
“Initially, I wanted to work as a social welfare officer,” she said.
“I loved the idea of going to serve the people and going to see the needy. But my career panned out differently. I was to be a typist, so my work experience began.”
At this stage, she was still single and faced the rigours of a demanding job.
“When I started work, sometimes I would cry,” she admitted.
Her boss, an expatriate, had high expectations of those under him, and young Nawalowalo had to adapt to the demands of her role quickly.
“I had to go through that, and I was determined to get through all the hardships in my work. I had to concentrate and do things better.”
Born in 1949, she said she was probably just 18 or 19 years old when she embarked on her career.
The challenges were many but they only fueled her determination to succeed.
Over the years, Nawalowalo’s career took her through various government departments.
She worked in the Public Service Commission, the Cabinet Office, and eventually became the Prime Minister’s Secretary.
“I was mostly working for the Secretary to Cabinet because he was the most senior of all permanent secretaries,” she explained.
As she rose through the ranks, her work encompassed more than just typing.
She progressed to typing of legal documents which required a deep understanding of the intricacies of the law.
“My job taught me so much more than what I learned in the classroom.
“I had to work hard in all the positions I was assigned.”
Her days often stretched late into the night. But she took pride in her ability to deliver work promptly.
“My regular day would end at 9pm,” she said.
“The day’s work should be finished on the day it is given.”
In 1971, Nawalowalo got married, and her husband worked in the private sector.
The demands of her career, which often included late-night work and 24/7 availability, posed challenges to her personal life.
“Family life was difficult then,” she said, “but you had to have some sort of rhythm, especially when you are newly married.
“You have to stay together; you have to be good to him, and all would be okay. And then, you go and do your job.”
The couple also looked after other children, extending their nurturing care beyond their own family.
Despite the demands of her work, Nawalowalo flourished.
She balanced her career and family life with remarkable grace.
“I had to concentrate and do things better,” she said.
“I suppose that’s how I balanced my career. I got help from my parents, and his (husband’s) parents were also helpful – I used to take my children to them when I needed their help.”
In 2017 and 2018, after a career spanning 38 years, Nawalowalo retired from the civil service, a welldeserved respite after a lifetime of service to the country.
Throughout her career, Nawalowalo served under a number of prime ministers, including Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Sitiveni Rabuka, and Laisenia Qarase.
Her roles ranged from working in Parliament and the Prime Minister’s Office to regional development.
She recalled her time in the Fiji Intelligence Service, where she underwent training to become an intelligence officer, driven by a desire to better understand human behaviour.
“I wanted to work hard and do what I wanted to do when people needed me,” she said.
In her illustrious career, Nawalowalo embodied dedication, resilience, and the spirit of service.
She learned to understand and adapt to the personalities of her various bosses, emphasising the importance of respecting their needs and requirements.
“You have to work out what your boss is all about.
“You have to know what he wants, you have to study what kind of person he is. Whatever he wants, it must be done, and in a quicker time.”
Now in retirement, Mrs Nawalowalo reflects on a lifetime of challenges and triumphs, and how she overcame adversity to leave an indelible mark on Fiji’s civil service.
Her story serves as a testament to the power of determination, resilience, and unwavering dedication to one’s career and responsibilities.
It is a tale that persists in igniting inspiration for future generations, a lasting legacy of service that will forever be engraved in the pages of Fiji’s history.
