Overcoming Challenges and Developing One’s Full Potential: The Story of Joeli Bili

by Joseph Veramu
 One powerful impression I got after getting acquainted with Joeli Bili is that personal challenges are an integral part of our daily lives. However if we have a positive attitude, trust in God to deal with our problems and put our hearts and minds into succeeding, we will achieve our goals.

The Youths for Integrity Network has been an important part of Joeli’s life. He shares that, “I am a living testimony and am forever grateful for my involvement with YFI which has enabled me to come out of my comfort zone and successfully get this job. The YFI workshops are very helpful in making us articulate our views and gain confidence.”
Joeli applied for a civil service job with the Ministry of Economy and was successful. Just a week ago, he was promoted from an Information Officer to a Training Officer. He admits that with so many youths applying for fewer job opportunities, one needs to stand out in the crowd in the sense that one must exude confidence, be articulate, have self-initiative and be imbued with the values of integrity. Of course, since youths are going through their own self-journeys, they will face many personal hardships and that is where one’s spiritual life becomes very important. Alluding to his own example, he says, “We can do all things through God who strengthens us.”

Joeli hails from Lakeba, Lau, from the village of Yadrana with maternal links to Waitabu. He was raised in a very conservative Christian milieu and his family has motivated, inspired and shaped his character building him to become the person that he is today. One important lesson from his family is that one must work hard to develop one’s full potential. This is an affirming message he wants to share with all youths in Fiji and beyond. “Although my parents have raised me in a very conservative setting with very strict conditions, I am deeply grateful to them as it has allowed me to keep track of my goals in life and not being swayed away by unnecessary things.”
Joeli admits that when he was child, he always wanted to become a teacher, seeing it as very appealing especially in shaping future leaders. However, as he grew to adolescence and young adulthood, his interests changed to social science studies.
Currently, he is undertaking degree extension studies in Journalism and Political Science at USP. He says that he “enjoyed it. Last year, I got to experience studying and working at the same time. I love it and encourage young people to excel in their education and try to further their studies whenever they can. I’ve seen for myself how often people would say “I can’t study cause I’ve got full time work.”  I would challenge this thinking! When you have the will, nothing is impossible. I still even got A+ while I’m working! It all comes down to time-management and making the right choices.“
Close friends of Joeli describe him as someone who values serving others and is actively involved in community work. A normal weekly schedule for Joeli would be : Monday to Friday are work days, Saturday is attending to school work and other youth engagements and Sunday is mentoring with students at St. Christopher’s Home through the Mentor Me Fiji Foundation. He is very heavily occupied but even with these tight schedules, he still manages to have fun and have a few bottles of wine with friends!
Joeli admits that, “Life is not about making yourself busy, it’s about making yourself happy. So whatever we do, we should always be happy and know that our Heavenly Father loves us and has a plan of salvation for everyone. So be happy, for God is great and he hears our prayers.”
On the topic of Volunteering Joeli says, “People often have the perspectives that volunteering for a worthy cause is a waste of time mainly because it is unpaid work. But to get a job easily nowadays, I would highly recommend youths to grab internship and volunteering opportunities. It’s not only about serving others but getting to know the real person you are as well as keeping your CV filled with constructive experiences.
Joeli is a private student at USP which means that his studies are self-funded. He admits that, “There came the time where I had to look for a job to help in financing my studies and there were many days when I really faced a lot of challenges. Now that I have secured a job as Information Officer, I am happy as the saying goes “To get to the rose, we have to come across thorns. We should never lose hope as the road is still long to be discovered.”
Joeli says that he has had to learn to be “open-minded in getting to impart issues such as human rights to his close friends and relatives. Joeli admits that the culture of silence is indeed a social issue in itself. “To some of the people close to me, Human Rights is something like the name of Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter movies that cannot be mentioned under any circumstances. I have had to tell them that human rights issues need to be discussed honestly and openly.”

Joeli’s advice to young people, “Live your life to the fullest, be happy and never lose hope in whatever your wildest dreams are. We are too young to live sad lives! But whatever you do, remember there is a Living God and always give thanks to him even for the very little achievements you have gained.”

A Note from Dr V: “Joeli is one of our very successful youth leaders having actively taken part in YFI events and the National Youth Parliament. He is very generous and has helped to fund three workshops for disadvantaged youths (even though he only had part time work at that time).
Joeli also has a reputation as a great debater and his Oceania Arts and Culture Studies debate team was declared the champions after winning the final debating contest at the 2017 USP FALE Debate Series. One big lesson I have learnt from Joeli is that we must have a positive attitude, persevere in our goals and trust in Jehovah through the risen Christ.”
Blog piece by J Veramu