Your chicken soup

[Stacey King]

Fiji Times Online Fay Volatabu Monday, August 01, 2011

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Teri (second from left) with members of the Banaban Women's Group.Picture: FAY VOLATABU.

 

THERE is never a better weather than the current cold spell to have warm chicken soup.

It got me thinking not just about delicious, tasty chicken soup with huge chunks of nutritious vegetables but also about venturing into having my very own chicken shed - the kind I can actually do at home so that I can have chicken whenever I want. I mean, have you checked the latest chicken price?

It was this thought that led me to the fabulous agriculture show last week.

I heard that there were a lot of chicken there so off I went and yes, I saw the little chicks, the hens, the roosters and even eggs and egg sausages - the first of its kind in the region, if not in the world!

But after my two hours walkabout and a reality check, I sheepishly realised that chickens were handy to have but you need to have a lot of space and patience to deal with them, and yes you also need money to set up.

Since I did not have much of that, I thought, why not look for ways to make money so that I could set up my chicken shed.

I was still thinking as I wandered around the show and stumbled on Terikano Takisau.

Teri, a mother of three, had retired from Telecom some time ago and with the little she had, decided to go back home to give back to her community. She went to Rabi Island and in the past year, managed to get the Banaban Women's group functional with her attachment to Vodafone's Make a World of Difference program.

Through the program she revived old connections with the Soqosoqo Vakamarama, the Ministry of Women, Ministry of Agriculture and early this year she made connections with UN Women and the National Council of Women Fiji.

Teri shared that from nothing, the Banaban Women's group now have something, and that got my attention.

I needed some tips on how to make something out of nothing and here my friend was telling me her trade secret. As I leaned over to hear her share her pearls of wisdom she flashed me a smile and said "here, have a look".

What I saw amazed me as she showed off an assortment of jewelry, bags, bottles of oil, lotion, soap and as I spoke to her a man interrupted our conversation to ask for a bottle of fermented drink (toddy).

I was being shown a variety of coconut by-products. I thought to myself - wow, God does have a sense of humour because he knows that is where I come from.

Coconuts were a dime a dozen and yes, I could certainly make something out of nothing if these were all the goods that could be produced from coconuts. I thought of all the coconut trees in my village on the coast of Tailevu. Even more, I thought about all the coconut trees lining the villages and beaches in Fiji and leading straight to the door of all the banks in Fiji!

Wow, I could be a millionaire! We could all be coconut millionaires given that coconuts are literally everywhere and just waiting to be picked.

I asked Teri where she learnt to do so much with coconuts and she said she was trained by the Soqosoqo Vakamarama and she got helped from Vodafone and some other organisations.

I was impressed that a retired woman from Telecom, instead of going home to retire, was doing so much for her women folk and not just sitting and waiting for handouts but going out there, looking for avenues in which to help her women folk.

She said that Banaban women were now invited to showcase their products at festivals and shows such as the agriculture show and at the Hibiscus Festival next month followed by the Northern Festival. They were also connecting with the women around her area and had been invited to be part of women's forums at the Cakaudrove province, the tikina of Tunuloa and to be part of shows in villages such as Karoko.

On the home front the women now had money to buy home needs and pay school fees.

Talking to Teri got me excited and I knew what I needed to do to start my project but before I left, I asked her if there was anything she still wanted to do for Banaban women as it seemed she had basically covered everything and her answer was candid.

"I am looking for more connections and currently am looking for some market access and getting to know more business women.

"I hope we will have a market for all our products. I hope that we will be instrumental in bringing about more positive changes not only in Rabi but for the women in communities around us."

I thanked Teri for her vision and her candidness in sharing that networking was the best way to get results but more so I was happy that the plans for my chicken shed would now start.

I know it is still a thousand coconuts away but I was warmed by the thought that soon I would not need to go to Joji's for my chicken soup.

I could have my own shed, my own chicken and cook my own soup all through Teri's and now my vision for coconuts.

* Fay Volatabu is the General Secretary for the National Council of Women, Fiji.