Amena Khan recalls journey as RFMF’s first Indo-Fijian woman

Staff Sergeant Amena Khan did not tell her parents she had applied to join the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) until she had already cleared the first hurdle.

The teenager had responded to a newspaper advertisement in 1988 and only informed her family after receiving a call-up for the gruelling three-day fitness programme.

“They thought I was joking,” Ms Khan recalled on Monday during the 38th anniversary reunion of Fiji’s first female military recruits.

“My mum was really scared and my dad was like, ‘Why did you make that decision?’”

Ms Khan went on to become the first Indo-Fijian woman among the 42 trailblazers who marched into camp on February 5, 1988, breaking both gender and ethnic barriers in what was then a male-dominated institution.

Her biggest challenge, she said, was not physical endurance but language.

“I had a bit of language problems in the beginning,” said Ms Khan, who now lives in Canada.

“My biggest challenge was the language. I do understand a lot now.”

Despite the early difficulties, she said the RFMF became a place of acceptance beyond cultural lines during her 13 years of service, which included an eight-month deployment to Sinai.

“People don’t look at you as Indian or iTaukei, they look at you as a Fijian — you’re from Fiji,” she said.

“They don’t specify as Indo-Fijians or things like that.”

Now 56 and retired at the rank of staff sergeant, Ms Khan said cultural expectations still discouraged many Indo-Fijian women from considering careers like the military.

“It’s the culture, I guess — that’s how we’ve been brought up. Like, you’re girls, you don’t do this, you don’t do that,” she said.

“But if the girls would overcome that culture, I think there’s a lot out there for us.”

Her message to young Fijian women was simple and direct.

“Just go for it,” she said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Ms Khan travelled from Canada to attend this week’s reunion celebrations, which were also attended by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who was RFMF commander at the time the women were enlisted.