Former Flight Attendant Turns to Complete Her Studies and Help Family
Mere Cava, a former Fiji Airways flight attendant, is adamant to complete her studies after receiving her termination letter.
Ms Cava worked as a cabin crew on international flights ever since she started work in 2018.
She said that before receiving her termination letter, she was on one month leave without pay and had returned to her village in Naila, Tailevu.
However, in that one month, she was still being paid 70 per cent.
The reduced pay was an alarm bell for her to expect the worst.
When the day arrived via email, informing her of about the termination from service, she told her parents.
“At first, I was shocked, but then I accepted it,” Ms Cava said.
The former head girl of Lelean
Memorial School, said that her faith as a Christian got her through the hard times.
“I was blessed join Fiji Airways at a very young age of 19 when I was selected through their recruitment drive while starting university,” Ms Cava said.
“I always believed in Jehovah Shammah who knows our future and Jehovah Jireh who is our provider and that he has been always there for me. After receiving my termination letter, I enrolled myself at the University of the South Pacific for the next semester to continue with my studies from where I had left off,” she decided.
In the meantime, she is keen on returning to university to commence her degree – Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Land Management and Management in Public Administration.
The 22-year-old finds the Barter for Better Fiji Facebook page useful during the current crisis.
“I have been trading my jambas and other clothes in exchange with gardening tools for my Ta (father).” Ms Cava has enjoyed working as a flight attendant because she has travelled to places which she always dreamt of as a kid, tasted food which she only saw pictures of, and met people with different races and status.
She added that she had created a strong bond with her work mates whom she regarded as her second family.
“We used to share our different stories and experiences together at 30,000 ft, at the same time praying and hoping that we would land safely,” she said.
Now the enthusiastic Naila native is using her time to help her Ta (father) plant vegetables like, corn, okra, bele and rootcrops like dalo and cassava for subsistence use.