Outrigger Nanny Moves On To Sell Handicraft
“When the Outrigger opened in 2000 the hotel was in search of nannies and I took up the job together with some of the other women from the village including my mom,” she said.
Thursday 03 March 2022 | 10:00
Handicraft vendor at the Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort in Sigatoka, Alena Nasiga
Alena Nasiga is a familiar face at the Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort on the Coral Coast since its opening in 2000.
Ms Nasiga, a 60-year-old mother of five children and grandmother to eight kids, was among the first group of employees at the resort.
Originally from Malevu Village in Sigatoka, Ms Nasiga began her work as a nanny looking after children from abroad who were holidaying with their families at the resort.
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“When the Outrigger opened in 2000 the hotel was in search of nannies and I took up the job together with some of the other women from the village including my mom,” she said.
“In 2005 I resigned and I went to New South Wales, Australia for a holiday with a family whose children I looked after as part of my nanny job."
“When I returned I stayed with my husband in Serua where we spent three years there following his retirement as a bank officer.”
In 2015, her mother, Amelina Voli retired from selling handicrafts at the resort and passed on the opportunity to her daughter.
“She was a 70-year-old when she was still selling here so she approached me if I could continue her work selling handicrafts at the Outrigger and I took that on to benefit the both of us,” she said.
“I sell jewelry, baskets, skirts, salusalu including small ornaments for the home.
“I work from 8.30am to 4pm every day except for Sunday and another group of women come in the evening and work from 6pm till 10.30pm.”
She said the biggest challenge faced while selling handicrafts at the resort was the low occupancy.
“If we have good occupancy we can make about $300 a day but if the occupancy is low we make about $50 a week,” Ms Nasiga said.
“When COVID happened I was at home selling my handicrafts in the village and selling mats and tapa.
At that time there were a lot of people passing away and the people needed mats, so that helped me because I wasn’t selling at the hotel.”
Ms Nasiga added being part of the Outrigger family allowed her to meet all kinds of people coming from different countries around the world.
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