by Herleen Andrews herleen_andrews24@yahoo.com
“Our family is a circle of strength and love with every birth and union it grows. Every crisis faced together makes the circle stronger.”
According to my research, family history goes that the first Andrews that came to Fiji (early 1800's) was named Brent Andrews.
He was a whaler on a ship that sank off the harbor in Suva. His family later continued and still presently lives in Kasavu (approx 500 acres). The family resident is still there today made of Oregon pine.
There more than 300 Andrews families in Fiji who have constantly grown over the years.
The Andrews families have resided in Kasavu, Savusavu for hundreds of years and have regarded Kasavu their home of paradise.
There are three parts of the Andrews family clan, Solove, Lovonisikeci and Vunikavika which was divided between three brothers.
The 7TH Generation of Brent Andrews (descendents) Kai & Vasu have taken the initiative to build a seawall made up of sand bags to help prevent soil erosion.
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The 7th generation of Brent Andrews family youth group has inspired the people of Kasavu, Savusavu to take intense care of the ocean.
Founded by a group of youths of the 7th generation, the youths have soli every fortnight to contribute towards the making of the seawall at Kasavu beach.
The main motive to form this club was to connect the 1 big generation of a 1 big family, thus the idea came about at a grog session on the 26/01/16 with few cousins playing cards.
The Brent Andrews Generation is a large generation however, overtime gradually losing its connection on the family tree.
According to Darling Whippy the secretary of the club said that young people play a major role in our communities today.
Aftermath of tropical cyclone Winston, Kasavu beach was losing its beauty, those white sandy beaches were no longer shining and the crystal blue water was taking the sand away from our land.
“Knowing that we were losing connections from our family tree, we came up with the idea of building a sea wall made out of sand bags to help prevent the erosion of the sand.”
“This initiative would help bring families of all generation together.”
“We formed this group to inspire other families to also take ownership of the environment as it is god gifted.”
“Awareness needs to be created to stop the rise of sea-level which is caused by climate change and with our nation involved in COP23 it was an icing-on the cake,” said Patrick.
The group has been collecting money internally to buy sand bags and other essential items for the project. “We have faced difficulties throughout this journey but with the lords grace we were able to overcome those” said Patrick Andrews.
According to the group’s secretary Darling Whippy, “Ocean has been a major food source for the community; however, with the changes in the climatic weather patterns, there has been a rise in sea level leading to the destruction of the white sandy beaches.”
Apart from building a sandbag seawall the generation also does projects in all the three clans (Solove, Vunikavika and Lovonisikeci) like building small bridges, cleaning their fore father’s grave yards and farms, etc.
“Now through this initiative we are able to connect to the long lost families,” said Darling Whippy.
She further added that the erosion of white sandy beaches meant that the most essential part of nature was losing its presence.
The family lived there for years and regards it as a home of paradise
The group consists of 113 members.
This Family youth generation has surely caught the eyes of many people to also take such initiatives in their community. It is us who should make the move first rather than involving the government at the first place.
Surely the government is doing a marvelous work but it should all start from us. The love for our yasayasa and the place we come from. Our true identity! Yes! We are the agents of Change!
I’m proud to say that my vasu is from Vanualevu.
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