Asinate Maria Raga:The Pleasant Face of Integrity

By Ratu Sekonaia Veidovi

Asinate Maria Raga is an attractive young 24 year old lady I was assigned to interview as part of an assignment for Youths for Integrity Our names were picked out randomly and I must admit I was nervous at first. She looked like a model and I was worried she might have airs that might make the interview challenging.

It was a pleasant surprise for me to interact with someone who came across as being sincere, open minded and intelligent. She is also very witty and funny and has a stunning smile. I suspect that readers will be tittering away like mynah birds soaking in a poodle. But I have this view that if you must interview someone you don’t know at all, you must get to know the person relatively well so that the interview piece sounds genuine!

Asinate is married and is a young mother. She showed me her son’s pic on her digital camera and I saw a handsome and intelligent looking boy. I assumed that the son must have taken more of his mother’s features.

Asinate is smart and very articulate. She has adopted Integrity as an integral part of her personality. She is studying Law at the University Of the South Pacific. This is her first attendance of the Youths for Integrity camp that was held at the Coral Coast Xtian Camp in Deuba from October 8^th to the 10^th.

Asinate lives in Suva but studies in Lautoka. She also has a place in Nadi which is convenient when she goes for classes at Lautoka. Her hobbies are playing hockey and cooking lovely dishes. She loves to eat sea food and snacks. I believe that she will be a successful lawyer in the future because she always believes in herself and never loses hope. She also has plans to enter politics. She does not speak the iTaukei language fluently and is learning to be better at it.

 She was born in the beautiful island of Levuka and she has mixed ancestry. Her great great grandfather was a Scottish prisoner in the colonial days. Asinate is married to a handsome gentleman from Bau who is kind hearted and sincere. He is very supportive of her activities.