Looking back at Levuka

What was life in the Fijian town of Levuka like for two young girls from the Indo-Fijian community? Two elders reflect in a casual conversation switching effortlessly between Hindi, Fijian and English. Produced by Kadambari Raghukumar Two elderly Auckland-based Indo-Fijian ladies, Hajira Khan,78, and Shamsun Naidu, 83, have been having their casual conversations recorded for posterity as they reflect on their early lives in the historic port town of Levuka, Fiji. "If this generation passes, where will we get these stories from? That's why we decided to do this" says Hajira's daughter, Jennifer Khan, a community creative. The casual conversation between them aired on Auckland's local Hindi radio station and channel, APNA. VOICES spoke them about their lives and what recording these oral stories meant for them. "We sort of grew up listening to these oral traditions. But most of the stories that are told (of the Indo-Fijian community) are from the two bigger islands, very hardly do you hear stories from the first captial, Levuka" says Jennifer. The two 'elderly superstars' as Jennifer Khan calls them, share fragments of their memories from a childhood spent in Levuka, Fiji's first capital until 1877, in Lomaiviti province. In 2013, Levuka became Fiji's first and only UNESCO World Heritage site. They chat about all sorts - from memories of the Masonic lodge that was across the road from Hajira Khan's home - the oldest Masonic Lodge in the south Pacific, to memories of the Queen's coronation in 1953 and their identity as children of mixed Solomon Island, Indian, Afghani and Fijian heritage. "It was a good life" Aunty Hajira says wistfully. Aunty Hajira has her henna-coloured hair covered in a green cloth; she takes her tea with no sugar. Aunty Shamsun is a tall lady with immaculate posture and dark, curly hair; she likes her tea with two spoons of sugar. Sugar - that's where their families' history began. In the 1800s, colonial ships carrying blackbirded people from around the Pacific and indentured workers from India docked in Levuka before they got sold and assigned to work the sugarcane plantations. Blackbirding, the practice of enslaving by coercion and deception, was prevalent until 1904 around the South Pacific islands while indentured labour was practiced in Fiji till 1916. One of Aunty Hajira's ancestors on her mother's side was blackbirded from the Solomon Islands, and others on indentured contracts from India. Her father was Fiji-born Afghani. Aunty Shamsun's ancestry is indigenous Fijian on her mother's side, and Indian and Afghani on her father's… Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details