Columban Lay Missionary Evangeline Ucol (left) sharing a meal with the people of Fiji. Photo: Evangeline Ucol
Na yacamu? Na yacaqu, O Jinky mai, Philippines. What is your name? Where are you from? These are the questions I hear and the answers I give every time I meet new people in the village of Navatuyaba, Toga, Rewa Province, Fiji, where I am having my exposure to language and culture. Answering these questions is like telling the story of who I am.
I am a first-term Columban Lay Missionary from the Philippines living and working here in Fiji. As a missionary, my first ministry is to learn the language and culture of the people. Asking their names at the beginning of our encounter is my initial step in befriending them. It is often difficult for me to remember their names after just one meeting and often the same names are frequently passed on to other members of the family or the community. Sometimes I meet people with similar names and sometimes similar faces. If you are named after your aunty or uncle it is seen to be an honour and a responsibility to live up to the reputation of your aunty or uncle also comes with it.
In the village I am known as a missionary from a faraway land. I bear this title or identity wherever I go and whatever I do. It gives meaning and purpose to my experiences of living here with the people. Prior to joining the Columban Lay Mission Program, I lived and worked in Manila, Philippines, as a teacher in one of the private schools run by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.
Maybe you can imagine what life is like living and working in a city the size of Manila with its huge population. It is a congested environment where people rush to go to work or wherever, where there are frequent traffic jams and traffic noise everywhere. And where one is always trying to catch up with work and responsibilities. That was my world only a short time ago. It was moving at a very fast pace. Then, the Lord plucked me out from that life and background and put me here in a place where I must slow down, relax, be calm and just enjoy being with and listening and speaking to the people whose culture and ways of life are so new to me.
I live with one Fijian family in the village. I wake up early, about six in the morning, and join the morning prayers with the Vakavuvuli, or village catechist, and some others who start the day with prayers in the church before going to their work and duties. In the morning I hear the people greeting each other with the word “yadra!” and with a big smile on their faces. It is a shortened way of saying “Good morning!” This little gesture every morning gives me a sense of peace and joy as I welcome each new day. After a small exchange of greetings and conversation, we take our morning tea with bread and do our household chores. Sometimes I go along with my housemother to collect shells and catch fish in the river and get ota, a wild fern in the bush, for our dishes. Then, I go and join any meeting or parish youth activities that are on. My mother brings me to the various village or parish activities for me to learn and experience the culture, language and faith of the people. I have the opportunity to attend celebrations like weddings, birthday parties, welcoming a newborn child, attending funerals, family gatherings, gatherings of the youth, men and women of other faiths, and even drinking yaqona, the traditional drink. Then on Sundays I do the Sunday Gospel Catechesis with the children and the Marian Catechesis during the holidays.
In the beginning I just observed and listened to the people even though I could not understand their language. I wanted to speak and join in the conversation and laugh with them too but all I could do is smile and say “Bula!” meaning hello, “Moce!” goodbye and “Vinaka Vakalevu,” thank you very much! Hearing people speaking Bauan, the national language, I sometimes feel frustrated, not understanding and dumb and so slow learning. It is like being a child again and learning to talk, to eat, to crawl, to stand and always being told what to do and say.
Indeed, learning the language takes time and lots of humility and patience. There were times when I asked myself why am I doing this? Why I am here trying hard to say what the people are saying, eat what they eat, dress how they dress and so on? But these questions are all answered as I slowly learn to speak the language and overcome my frustrations, my judgments and prejudices. It is like gradually seeing the light in the dark!
The things I have learned to do and the words I have learned to speak and understand bring me to a deeper meaning and purpose and enable me to slowly learn and embrace this culture and way of living. New realizations slowly transform me and help me to see the beauty and wonder of the people I am privileged to engage and live with. It is exciting to understand more and more and to appreciate the values I am coming to see.
I am beginning to appreciate the beauty of the songs and prayers, the music, the food, the language, the expressions of faith and relationships. Indeed, I am beginning to feel at home!
I think that what I like most about the people in the village is their welcoming attitude. The way they greet each other with “Bula!” and a matching handshake seems very meaningful and is very attractive to me. Bula is more than just saying “hello.” It expresses life. The handshake too is a simple gesture of connection and relationship. It is like an offering of friendship and the sharing of one’s sacred life. I remember Jesus saying in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” It is the “Bula” of Jesus, His initiative in making friends with us and wanting to share His love and joy to the full.
I realize that my mission here is not only sharing my life with the people of God in Fiji but most of all it is encountering Christ Himself in the life of others, sharing life with Him and growing in faith, joy and love with Him and being vulnerable before Him in this place, this situation. It is an experience of becoming one with the people by sharing their joys and struggles every day and discovering what God has been doing in their faith-life journeys.
The big challenge that I encountered in the village which is still a challenge for me is the drinking of kava which is also known as yaqona. It comes from the root of the yaqona (piper methysticum) bush. The root is ground up and then strained with water so that when you drink, it numbs your mouth, tongue and lips and gives you a sense of relaxation. For me, it is a challenge because it looks like I am drinking bland, murky water. I told myself that I have to drink it because they say that it is the best university for learning the language. Yaqona drinking is a way for the people in the village to come together, exchange jokes and share stories. So when it is my turn to drink, I take the cup and in silence I pray, “Jesus, this cup is for you, cheers!” until I find myself enjoying not only the drinking of yaqona, but also the presence of the people around the tanoa, a round bowl used by the Fijians to mix their drink.
I thought that if Jesus would have been a Fijian, He would also have mixed and drank yaqona and told His parables around the tanoa. Sharing a drink from one cup is more than just mere drinking. It is an expression of unity and friendship. I could say that is a new form of the “table fellowship” of Jesus.
From this experience I have learnt the important meaning of the sharing of the gift of my time spent together and listening to some sacred stories and letting mutual evangelization take place. Indeed, each one has a gift to share and offer which can make a difference.
I realize that the best gift that I can offer is my gift of presence with my time and my heart and my ears to listen. Just by simply being myself and relating with others with sincerity of heart helps me to develop relationships that are built on mutual trust and respect. This kind of experience with the people gives me a glimpse of what mission is all about.
As I continue my journey, I believe that God who has called me will always surprise me with new learning experiences and continue to transform my heart. Today, I can say from my heart that I am at home in Fiji! Cheers for Christ! To Him be the glory!
Columban Lay Missionary Evangeline “Jinky” Ucol lives and works in Fiji.
Listen to "Light from the dark"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East, September 2020
