“Opportunity for Growth,” Global Histories: Fiji (2022)
“Opportunity for Growth,” Global Histories: Fiji
Opportunity for Growth
Elder Taniela Wakolo at the time of his call as a General Authority Seventy in 2017.
Around 2001, Taniela Wakolo, then the president of the Nausori Fiji Stake, visited Utah. While there, he toured some Church welfare farms. He saw how the members worked together to help others in need. He then thought about the conditions in Fiji, where there was 70 percent unemployment. Many families lived on a diet of only tapioca and taro root, and they could afford school for only some of their children. Wakolo believed his stake could establish a welfare farm where Church members could grow nutritious food for themselves and other members in need. Accordingly, Wakolo approached the Area Presidency with his idea. They agreed. Soon thereafter, service missionaries Joel and Kathryn Sperry arrived in Fiji to help.
The Sperrys noticed that even though Latter-day Saints in Fiji owned plenty of land, the constant rain and the relentless heat made it difficult for seeds to sprout. Moreover, the members were too poor to afford seeds, much less the equipment to till the ground. Wakolo met with the stake and ward leaders to discuss the welfare principle of self-reliance. The leaders responded with tears on their cheeks and a determination to work. At 6:00 the next morning, the Saints began harvesting bamboo to construct a large greenhouse.
The Church’s Humanitarian Services provided some of the necessary elements for the greenhouse as well as vegetable seeds. The Saints hired a tractor to plow the five-acre welfare farm and plots for family gardens. They raised vegetable plants in the greenhouse from seeds and transplanted the seedlings into the tilled ground. Then the members carefully tended the young plants into maturity. “You cannot understand what a miracle this was for us,” Wakolo rejoiced. “Because the land could not be worked by hand, and because hiring a tractor was so far out of the realm of possibility, the people had resigned themselves to accepting their lot. … They are grateful for the welfare program and this opportunity to better their lives.”
As a result of this program, the Saints had nutritious food to eat and to share with others. They were also able to sell some of what they grew. At that time in Fiji, for example, cabbage sold for $2 a head. This extra income allowed Church members to send their children to school, buy necessary clothing, and receive medical care. Wakolo saw an increase in the faith, spirituality, Church activity, and service of the Saints. The Nausori Saints had lifted themselves from despair to hope.