Coronavirus and racism
IT’S almost a week now since my son and I tested positive for COVID-19.
We’ve been in self-isolation ever since and still awaiting word from the team at the Ministry of Health. Sometime soon would be great guys. FULORI TURAGA
Tacirua, Nasinu
A fair call
I DON’T think it is fair to urge farmers to harvest their cane without addressing their concerns.
At least their grievances should be given a fair hearing.
Such indifferent stand does not auger well for promoting harmony and goodwill among all the key stakeholders.
The farmers have explained their reasons behind their refusal. They claim that $54.36 a tonne will not provide a fair return for their hard work as a large chunk will be absorbed by harvesting and transportation costs.
So how would they meet their loan and mortgage repayments?
Let’s be realistic and put our self in their shoes. Then only one will have a better understanding of their plight.
All they are asking for is a fair treatment.
Nothing more.
SELWA NANDAN
Lautoka
COVID-19 crisis
MY definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result.
Our plan of action isn’t achieving its goal yet we still persist with the same strategy.
How much longer shall the Fijian people endure unemployment, financial hardship, hunger and families separated?
The numbers don’t lie. I believe our hospitals are overwhelmed and the health care workers are burned out, to the extent that we are flying in overseas doctors and nurses to help with the burnout. If I may directly ask the honourable PM, Kemuni saka sa sega ni lomani keimami na nomuni tamata?
WISE MUAVONO
Balawa, Lautoka
No place for racism
I AM alarmed by at least three incidents online and publicly being told by a few men and women to “go back where I came from?”
Each time, I was part of a sharing conversation about how each of us were staying safe from COVID-19 in Suva. I simply shared that as an asthmatic, I had already had both AstraZeneca jabs as advised, and I take high daily doses of Vit C for ongoing lung health, after having pneumonia last June in Suva hospital.
I’ve then been advised twice online, to “put the vaccine up where the sun don’t shine” and “to go back where you come from too”.
I was wondering if that means go back to Kubuna, in Tailevu, to RKS, where I taught iTaukei boys in the 1990s, or tutored many Fijian students freely, “vaka vanua” from local settlements currently, right up until this current outbreak in 2021?
This kind of malice has no place anywhere, least of all in a multiracial Fiji.
Surely the colour of our skin, or any obvious differences we might have, does not mean we are not a Fijian now — does it?
Where is this ugly racism coming from?
The assumption that skin colour makes us somehow different with our needs from every other Fijian right now in a pandemic, or at anytime, is totally bizarre.
Sadly, such attitudes are probably worse than getting COVID-19, and just as deadly.
I believe a despicable kind of bullying and racism comes from evil hearts.
Think about this please. And stop it!
JEAN H HATCH
Sawau St, Nabua, Suva