Thank you to Fijian newspapers and magazine publications

Taitusi Sokiveta, Phoenix, Arizona

I totally agree with retired Fijian school teacher Mr Ali who now resides in New Zealand on his reference to Fijian newspapers.

It's holding and reading the newspaper that brings that feeling of being home compared to reading it on a computer or mobile device.

I am an old-fashioned person and grew up during the Colonia era. I only learnt how to get online after my son and grandchildren taught me how.

In my school days, we didn't have computers. And whenever I visit Fiji I used to load a whole suitcase full of newspapers and magazines and read every page including the advertisements on the back.

In Arizona in March every year, we have the Arizona Aloha festival at Tempe Town Lake, Phoenix. I would take all the Fijian newspapers to a booth or tent where passersby or interested people would stop by and read them. They included Polynesians, Australians, Kiwis, who had shown their appreciation of the newspapers. It's so funny watching them read as if they had read it fresh off the press.

Today, the feeling of being home lingers at the sight of these publications. I always let those who come and read the newspapers during the festival take the copies home to their families in the hope that they too will feel the sense of being home.

So to Fijians, I say to you, newspapers are special to us. Thank you to all those who make Fijian newspapers and magazines possible and not forgetting the other Pacific island dailies and magazines too. It surely brings us closer to home, no matter what part of the world we live in.