‘We met in Vanuatu in 2012 where we were best buddies and then dated a year after being friends’

It was the first time for a married couple here in Fiji to be admitted to the bar together.

Chief Justice Anthony Gates made the observation during the ceremony on Friday.

Tongan native Susana Fineanganofo Kausea and a Tuvaluan Christopher Kausea were close friends when they began their studies at the University of the South Pacific, Emalus Campus, Vanuatu in 2012.

They both started their foundation at the Laucala campus in 2010 before they moved to Vanuatu.

“We met in Vanuatu in 2012 where we were best buddies and then dated a year after being friends,” Mrs Kausea said.

“Then a year after that we got married in Fiji.”

Hailing from Nukualofa, Mrs Kausea said she knew Mr Kausea was the one as soon as she saw him.

“It was his initiative to get admitted together and I previously got admitted in Tonga before,” she said.

“I feel very happy and excited to be admitted to the bar with my husband.”

Mrs Kausea studied Bachelors in Commerce and Law while her husband studied Bachelors in Arts and Law.

“We were both on scholarship and in the beginning I was sponsored by the Tongan government all throughout my course of studies and PDLP while my husband was sponsored by the Tuvaluan Government.”

She said she never aspired to study law, but was inspired by her father who suggested that she study it with her Bachelors in Commerce.

“I was lucky enough to get a scholarship from the government and unfortunately my father passed away before I even started my Bachelors in Law,” Ms Kausea said.

“But I do not regret one bit of doing this and I am very happy that I pursued what my father aspired me to do.

“My father was a very educated man who is very smart and humble, he got himself in a legal dispute and thought it is good to have some sort of legal background in law.

“But he was a very tough father who disciplined me throughout my whole life,” she said.

Despite her parents’ divorce, her father raised her and made sure she did not fail in any of her academic work.

“All of these I dedicate it to him and also my mum,” she said.

“Half of my life I was raised up by my mother and she was a very smart educated woman as well.

“From her achievements and career, I am inspired to work to become something similar to her or bigger.”

Her mother previously worked as a Permanent Secretary for the Solomon Islands government while her father worked as an accountant in Tonga. The couple have a two-year-old daughter named Selepa.

They will both be practising in Tuvalu.

Edited by Rusiate Mataika

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