Words of Light and Hope from Muriel Rogers

As the sun sank slowly down to meet the sea I was seated in my usual place on the sea- wall, but today wasn’t an ordinary day. As the sky darkened, lights slowly started to twinkle on the lower slopes of the mountains. Above the silence of the sea the fruit bats began slowly circling until the sky was dark with the sheer number of them. What was not usual was the flotilla of boats using the red and green lights of the marker buoys to find safe passage out of Suva harbour in Fiji on their way to Lebaka in the Lau group. The lead ship was carrying a very precious cargo, the body of Ratu Mara who was being taken home to his tribal lands where he belonged. (Ratu Mara was a paramount chief, the founding father of modern independent Fiji and would be sorely missed). And there was the word – ‘belonged’. I was on my own at the other side of the world far from where I belonged. I was a white woman in a very strongly patriarchal society but this week grief turned the world on its head. During the week-long state funeral, I had represented the South Pacific Association of Theological Schools and Colleges and been told I was also to represent the Pacific Conference of Churches. I had sat in prayer sessions respecting Ratu Mara and presented gifts. I had also visited with the Queen of Tonga who had come over to Fiji as she was a close friend of Ratu Mara. I had not been the white foreigner, I had been told I belonged, I was part of all the grief. Today I had sat on the ground in the street, one among many thousands lining the roads from the Government buildings to the park where the funeral took place. No-one is permitted to stand higher than a high chief hence everyone sitting on the ground – in total silence! Club-carrying tribal warriors with black painted faces guarded the coffin as it was pulled on a gun carriage. Now, on my own on the sea-wall I watched as the last of the boats slid into the darkness and the final fruit bat disappeared. I was left on my own at the other side of the world contemplating the word ‘belonging’.