‘We owe it to our parents’
WHILE some women are cut out for having a family and being a stay-at-home mum, there are others who are not that way inclined.
They prefer to prioritise looking after their parents and the pursuit of academia or career ahead of getting hitched and having little ones.
Lavinia Logadraudrau is one of those.
After observing her parents’ age over the years and concerned about their future welfare and care, she decided to get an education at the Fiji National University.
The 29-year-old, who graduated last week with a Bachelor in Education, is single and believes that flying solo has helped her achieve her dreams.
“Because I am not married, I wasn’t occupied with other things like having a family or taking care of a husband —things which require a whole different level of commitment and my time,” she said.
“Being single allowed me to do things I may not have been able to do — I lived with my parents in Labasa and while looking after them, I attended to my studies too — so single life made things very easy for me.
“I have older siblings who have their own families and the support of my family helped me achieve my dreams but I also saw how challenging life was for them.”
Ms Logadraudrau said her older sister, who was also a school teacher, encouraged her to pursue further studies.
“I saw how life has become difficult and I needed to find a good job so we could afford to survive and meet the increasing cost of living.
“Day by day the cost of essential items keep going up, the cost of food is expensive and seeing my parents getting old, I thought educating myself further and getting a good job would help .
“With this qualification, I will become a school teacher and I will support my parents.”
Ms Logadraudrau said she did not expect too much from her older siblings because they had their own families to look after and on top of that there was the commitment to children and other family matters.
However, whenever they were able to provide support, she was very grateful because it was all for the benefit of their parents.
“Sometimes when I have a lot of reading to do for my assignments, my mum takes over the kitchen duties allowing me to study.
“For four years I kept reminding myself that nothing is impossible and that I could achieve my dreams no matter how difficult life may be.
“Now that I have graduated, I am just so happy. When I completed my secondary education, I thought that I won’t be able to come this far.
“That was wrong because I now have a Bachelors in Education and I thank God for seeing me through the challenges.”
Now that she has graduated, Ms Logadraudrau said her focus was to better look after her parents.
“We all owe it to our parents and I believe we should find better opportunities in life to support them when they grow old.
“Let’s not take our parents to aged care facilities or old people’s home because they don’t deserve to be there. It is our role to look after them and we should do so.”
Let’s not take our parents to aged care facilities or old people’s home because they don’t deserve to be there. It is our role to look after them and we should do so Lavinia Logadraudrau
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