Jofiliti Veikoso ' A Youth Leader For All Seasons

I first met Jofiliti Veikoso in 2015 at the National Youth Conference. He had made a name for himself as a fitness instructor, an entertainer and a youth training facilitator. He had a talent for making people do physical activities in a fun way with music, dance and exercise. In Fiji which has very high incidence of non communicable diseases, especially amongst youths, this is a more effective strategy, ie to encourage the public to be engaged in physical activities in all that they do. This can be through eating less fatty foods & drinking no fizzy drinks and people can have home gardens in their backyards. Instead of getting on a vehicle, people can walk for short distances!
Too often we run workshops where people sit all day listening to presentations on good health when what they should be doing is being engaged in physical activity. Jofiliti provides a shining example of this. "Even when they are going to the shop to buy the papers and bread in the morning they should consider walking rather than taking their cars!"
Jofiliti played an active role as a training facilitator for Youths For Integrity in 2016 and his message of good health through adopting healthy habits of physical activities, balanced meals and holistic living has caught on amongst many youths.

Jofiliti is becoming a national icon on fitness with a bill board past Sigatoka Town, touting the importance of healthy living. He also has a solid reputation as a very creative Zumba instructor

Jofiliti has worked in a volunteer capacity with the LGBTIQ community at the grassroots level. He is also a member of the Rainbow Pride Foundation. He believes that the public should respect people irrespective of their sexuality. "We should be judged on merit in what we do."

He has been a fixture of many workshops and programs run by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. He also volunteers for the NGOs Youths For Integrity and Youth Champs for Mental Health.

Jofiliti currently studies at USP Lautoka doing LLB and upon completion of his studies, he hopes to uphold the rights of LGBTIQ people in Fiji.

He argues that all young people go through a self journey searching for their identities.

He is concerned that there is often a fixation in Fiji for people's sexuality in social circles and this can affect creativity, work outputs and our perceptions.

His point is "why can't people respect that other people are different and treat them as human beings based on their merits rather than being preoccupied with their gender identity or sexuality?"