Kaniamma Deo, 85, received an honorary plaque in recognition of her contribution and service to Fiji as a descendant of a girmitiya on May 13.

This was during the Girmit Day celebration at Churchill Park in Lautoka.

“This is a historical occasion and I believe we must never forget the tears and hard work our great grandparents had to endure to survive, and we the descendants are proof of their love,” she said.

She is a mother of four children and grandmother of seven.

She said her grandmother was a girmitiya.

“I cannot remember the year that she arrived here, but she came from Madras in India and she was 103 years old when she died. She had two sons and one daughter, and had settled in Lomawai, Sigatoka,” she said.

“She would speak pure Hindi and we could not really understand, but we still appreciated her for everything. My parents had nine children who were all graduates and went on to become teachers.”

She said her parents fostered the importance of education in her from a young age.

“It’s because of them that I am here, and I was able to get educated and my children are all educated with good jobs, all married and living overseas while three of my grandchildren are married and are graduates,” Mrs Deo said.

She is a retired matron and dedicated 35 years to the profession.

“I was transferred from the Labasa Hospital to the Lautoka Hospital, I was the supervisor before they moved me to Lautoka where I became the matron, I retired in 1984 back when Ratu Kamisese Mara was still the Prime Minister, and he gave me an award and a letter that said I was the longest serving civil servant,” she said.

“It was an emotional moment for me because I dedicated so many years of my life to this profession and that was during the colonial days when I first started working with mostly doctors and nurses from overseas.”

Story By: Salote Qalubau

Feedback: salote.qalubau@fijisun.com.fj