Send ‘Tua’ Messages
ise her brother’s employment on the island. “I returned to Suva on Friday, May 29, two days before ‘Tua’ went missing.”
Last encounter
“The Friday morning, when I was about to leave, ‘Tua’ came home. He was a little intoxicated. We stayed together the whole time until I boarded the boat,” she said.
“He kept saying he was going to miss me, and that he would come after.
“I told him for us to return to Suva together, but he kept saying to wait for him, because he had to help his grandmother.
“He was happy, everything was alright. He told me ‘wait for me; I’ll bring your fish, coconuts and anything you want from the island. I will come in July’.
“I was looking forward to seeing him in July. He was going to turn 23 on July 14. Even his family was looking forward to seeing him.” Ms Tinaimakubuna said she gave ‘Tua’ a letter asking for his forgiveness.
“We exchanged phones, and he gave me a pullover. I told him, ‘I’ll take this to remind me of you. Little did I know that I was really going to remember him for good with it’.”
News of ‘Tua’ missing
Ms Tinaimakubuna lost her appetite for the whole week.
“I kept thinking that he was knocked out somewhere on the island. I felt uneasy as
time passed, worried, couldn’t sleep properly.
“I just started crying. He told me that he would call me on Sunday afternoon when the boat reaches Suva. I waited for his call all of Sunday night - nothing.
“I logged in to our Facebook accounts, thinking that he’d be online, waited, but nothing.”
She said a friend had messaged her from the island that ‘Tua’ was missing.
“I called both the landline phones in the village and the nursing station, they were both busy. “I called the weatherman. His wife answered the phone. I asked her if what I was told was true, she said yes.
“Around 4am on Monday, the phone rang. It was my brother. My mother answered the phone, and was shocked when I asked, if ‘Tua’ had been found.
“I couldn’t stop myself from crying when my brother replied no. That afternoon, I saw on Facebook that only his clothes were found.
“It was painful.”
On the week after ‘Tua’ was reported missing, a memorial service was held on Ono-i-Lau and his home in Tuirara. uncomfortable
His best friend remembers
and
I
Losing a best friend is devastating. Especially if he is someone you’ve known and grown accustomed to having around.
Esava Kobiti, Tua’s best friend was already in tears when approached for an interview.
It was obvious that he, like everyone who knew Eliki, affectionately known as ‘Tua’, wanted answers about his disappearance.
Mr Kobiti 24, grew up with ‘Tua’ at Tuirara Settlement.
“The day I heard the news about what had happened to him, I couldn’t stop my tears from falling,” he said sobbing.
“We didn’t believe it because of his lifestyle. We couldn’t believe that something like that would happen to him. Not only me, but my family, my mother couldn’t stop crying as well.”
The news of Tua’s disappearance didn’t sit well with his group of friends.
“The day he died, we video called as friends, we all couldn’t stop crying, for a long time we didn’t talk to each other.
“Most of the time, he is the topic of our conversation. The kind of person he was, we all couldn’t believe that he would just mysteriously disappear.”
Mr Kobiti said until now, they cepted Tua’s unexplained fate.
“A lot of us are still asking why has there not been any update on his case.
“All his friends are still here, and he is the first to leave us.”
Tua’s friends knew him as a happy person. “Growing up with ‘Tua’, everyone knew him, starting from Tuirara, right to Wakanisila,” Mr Kobiti said.
“Wherever he is, there will always be laughter. Even if you’re someone new to the area, you will be a visitor for just five seconds around him, that’s how he is, a very compassionate person.” Mr Kobiti was one year ahead of ‘Tua’ at Delainamasi Government School.
He was the only one who went to a Nausori secondary school, while the rest of us went to Suva. “He doesn’t even say no to anything he’s given to do in the church youth.
“He was the youth leader for our Sector Number five in 2018.
“He was a well-mannered person.”
Mr Kobiti said the last time he saw ‘Tua’ in person was last year, when he was getting ready to leave for Ono-i-Lau.
“We farewelled him and his granduncle for almost one month.
“One of our friends jokingly you don’t go and just stay.
“When we grew up, we would debate who would be the first to get married.
“He was supposed to traditionally ask for his girlfriend’s hand in marriage in July, and we had started to tease him.
“We shared a lot of good memories together.” Mr Kobiti recalled: “Last year, we extended our house, his father was the one who extended this house, and every week he would video call.
“No matter how tough the day was, as soon as he called, we would start laughing. He was supposed to return with his granduncle, but they didn’t because of COVID-19.”
TOMORROW
still hadn’t acsaid, better still
Villagers tell their story of Tua’s disappearance;
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