Sepesa Ratabakau persevered through many obstacles to fulfil his aim of becoming the first person in his family to earn a degree.

Losing his mother while in Year 12 and being raised by his older sister along with four other siblings, Mr Ratabakau was adamant about pursuing his dreams.

In addition to that, they lost their home to Tropical Cyclone Yasa in December 2020.

The 23-year-old from Dreketi in Macuata did not waste time soon after high school and moved to Suva to look for work to help support his siblings back at home.

Scoring a job at a car wash, the adamant teenager did not look back.

Fast forward to yesterday, he proudly graduated with a Bachelor of Education in Primary and also received the Best Character and Leadership Award at Fulton Adventist University College at Sabeto in Nadi.

The graduation was officiated by the Minister for Education, Aseri Radrodro.

The young man dedicated his awards to his late mother.

“I faced a lot of challenges, but I knew that God was with me. It was a struggle for us because no one was working and there was no financial support,” Mr Ratabakau said.

“But I managed to complete high school and I started to look for jobs to support my family back home.

“TC Yasa has destroyed our home and just a part of it we were able to live in it.”

“With few clothes, I brought from the village, I started looking for a job and I was able to work at a car wash in Suva to help support my family.”

Sepesa Ratabakau at Fulton Adventist University College in Sabeto.
Photo: Mereleki Nai

While working, he applied and secured a Tertiary Education Loans Scheme (TELS) scholarship to study at the university.

He did not have enough money to buy a laptop to do his studies so all his research work was usually done on his Samsung Galaxy J2 mobile phone.

According to Mr Ratabakau, the reason he received the best leadership award was because he upheld the values his parents and other family members had instilled in him growing up.

“I always encourage students in whatever way I can. Most of them testified to the very little contribution I had imparted to them,” he shared.

His message to other graduates: “Whatever things you are going through in life, don’t look down at yourselves, know that God will always carry you through.”

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