By Etuate Tubuka

Etuate, known as ‘Etu’, is Columban seminarian from Fiji studying in Quezon City.

I woke up in the morning of Saturday 11 October last year with a feeling of great delight and cheerfulness for it was the day we Fijians here in the Philippines were going to celebrate Fiji’s Independence from Great Britain. The actual date of independence is 10 October but since it fell on Friday, a working day, we decided to have the celebration the following day.

By Rowena Cuanico

Since 1 June the author has been Lay Mission Coordinator  in the Philippines.

This Filipina grew up around Muslims, but only learned about the people and their faith as a Columban lay missionary.

As a child in the Philippines, there were about 30 Muslim families, mostly traders, who lived in my hometown. Two of these families were family friends, but I never had the courage to learn more about Islam and the lives of my Muslim neighbors.

I had uneasy feelings about Muslims, largely because of the ongoing conflict between Christians and Muslims on the island of Mindanao, the Philippines’ large southern island where about four million Muslims live.

By Rowena Dato Cuanico

Rowena ‘Weng’ Dato Cuanico, who has written in these pages before, is one of three lay missionaries from the Philippines currently in Fiji.

Rowena Dato Cuanico

After waiting for nearly eight months for our first mission assignment, I heaved a sigh of relief and excitement as the plane touched down at Nadi International Airport, Fiji, on 29 October 2000. ‘Lord, this is it,’ were the only words that I could muster and say to myself as everything that I wished, hoped and prayed for was finally becoming real. I hardly slept on the ten-hour flight from Seoul since during the night. I was awakened at least four times by the captain’s voice telling us to fasten our seatbelts because of turbulence. My drowsiness, fatigue and anxieties vanished quickly as I and five other lay missionaries from thePhilippines were greeted by the bright and glorious splendor of that Sunday morning and by the smiles of friendly faces. Perhaps, the big smile on Father Charlie Duster’s face and his warm handshake said it all in his Bula, Welcome to Fiji!

By Rowena ‘Weng’ Dato Cuanico

Rowena Dato Cuanico is a Columban Lay Missionary from the Philippines on her second term in Fiji.

When Beth Briones, another Columban lay missionary from the Philippines, and I arrived in Holy Family Parish, Labasa, on our first term, we spent our first six weeks at Holy Cross Catholic Community (Sector 11) in Naleba. This was to help us understand better the culture of the Indo-Fijians as well as improve our fluency in Fiji-Hindi. Being new, I felt very excited in getting to know the community. Since their names were foreign to me, remembering them and pronouncing them correctly became a challenge.