Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A Very Special Fijian

Maybe, dear readers, you've figured out that our travels are made magical by the people we meet.  I am constantly thrilled and humbled by the kindness and generosity of people we've met all over the world.  Many of these people live on in my imagination, some I hope I've been able to help in some small way (writing a rave review of a restaurant run by the best cook in India struggling to recover from the death of his only son), and still others have come into our lives and remain with us, enriching us beyond measure.

One such person is Sailosi, a Savusavu native, a Fijian man of such intelligence, grace, and gentleness he continues to impress us, even 15+ years after we first met in 1999.  We came here and rented a house in the jungle, sight unseen, and Sailosi was the caretaker who lived a hundred yards or so from our back door.   He made that week memorable.  Every Christmas since we've exchanged cards, caught up on each others' lives, never dreaming that we'd be back.  When we learned that Debbie and Paul were coming to Savusavu, I immediately wrote to Sailosi and included a photo of the four of us so he'd know what Debbie and Paul looked like.

The day they arrived, Sailosi showed up at their door with two hand-made leis to welcome them to the island.  By then we'd decided to join them at bulavista and were eager to reconnect with our old friend.  His caretaking job at the house is long gone (we knew that from his Christmas updates) and he's now caretaking for his long-time employer, Denise (our landlady from 1999) in a building she owns on the main street of Savusavu.

We track him down through one of the shopkeepers and arrange to take him to lunch.  The years have not been kind to him.  Diabetes threatens his extremities, and we are stunned to learn that he is a week younger than Tim.  But the elegant, kindly gentleman is still very much there, and he is thrilled to see us again.




I so wanted him to leave his John Lennon sun glasses and beret on for this photo.  We knew that he was the son of a chief, but we learn now that it was his mother who was the chief!  She was also the one who taught him to play the piano, sent him to private school, and made sure he had tennis lessons.  Later, after retiring from the police force in Suva (on the big island of Viti Levu), he took care of an older gentleman here in Savusavu who introduced him to opera.  And a lifelong love affair began.  His one trip away from Fiji was to Sydney where all he wanted to do was go to the opera - and he did.  He saw Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

After lunch we accompany him to the hospital where he has his foot and leg dressings changed daily. We part, promising to get together again with Debbie and Paul who have fallen under his spell too.
We arrange for lunch at another of Sailosi's favorite places, the local Chinese restaurant and, again, see him home in a taxi.  Before parting, we press some money on him (he's far too gracious to refuse) as it's become quite obvious that times are hard for him.  He knows we are leaving in a couple of days and assures us he will come for a goodbye visit.

The day before our departure, he comes up to bulavista.  And, he is bearing gifts.  It appears that he has taken some, if not all, of the money we gave him and bought presents - for us!!  We each get a handmade bracelet, Fiji tee shirts, special shells (he always remembered how fascinated I was by all the shells of Fiji), and I get a necklace, with a beautiful shell.  I get all weepy just writing this . . .

I promise that as soon as we get home, I will make a photo album of our 1999 trip for him, and send along a couple of boxes of Sleepy Time tea (his favorite and not available here), something I'm sad to have forgotten in the rush of departing the US.

Sailosi, you are a dear and special man - thank you for being a part of our lives!




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