A six-day show was held in Wellington celebrating the legacy of Girmitiyas and reflecting on 100 years of legal abolishment of Indian indenture system in Fiji.
Taking the lead for the event, a Girmitiyas descendant herself, Kashmir Kaur in association and support from few community leaders, Ekta NZ, Fiji Girmit Foundation, High Commission of India and NZ India Research Institute organised the exhibition that included picture display, panel discussions, youth forums, artefacts belonging to the Girmit era, music and poetry nights, and movie screenings.
Sir Anand Satyanand's virtual keynote address
The exhibition from 3-8 October at St Peter's Church in Wellington was undertaken to commemorate the evolution of the Girmitiyas and the timeline of those 100 years since the abolishment of the indenture system in Fiji.
High Commissioner of India and visitors viewing the collection of books at the exhibition
There were stand-alone panels displaying images of birth certificates of our ancestors, emigration passes of their trip from India to Fiji, photos of Girmitiyas, lineage and family trees developed by young NZ born Fiji Indians, and some pictures of the post-Girmit era.
Girmit objects displayed at the exhibition
The exhibition also had display cabinets of actual objects that belonged to our Girmitiya ancestors, including jewellery, clothes, accessories, copper trays etc. and a display cabinet of books written on Girmit.
Girmit descendant Kashmir Kaur
What made this exhibition one of a kind was the involvement of the younger generation of Fiji Indian community who enthusiastically helped collaborate all the audio-visuals, event plan, films, and artefacts that narrated the harrowing history of the Girmitiyas, their lives and struggles in those years.
Commemoratory cake at the exhibition
Kashmir Kaur commended on the critical role of younger members of the community who challenged the status quo in making the event appealing to the younger generation of Fiji Indians to know more about the legacy or Girmitiyas.
“Our young ambassadors created panel discussions, interactive sessions, social media pages on Instagram and Facebook, publicised hashtags such as #FijiGirmit100 to amplify the message about Girmitiyas, wrote blogs and published podcasts and invited people to involve themselves in the discussion of their ancestry history.
Younger members of the hosting panel discussion and emceeing
“The more experienced members of the project team have been the backbone of this exhibition in terms of providing mentoring, advice, intellectual stimuli/collateral and actual Girmit related materials,” Kashmir Kaur told the Indian Weekender.
Indian High Commissioner Muktesh Pardeshi keynote address
The event also had keynote speakers such as former Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand, Indian High Commissioner Muktesh Pardeshi and present at the inaugural day of the event were National list MP Brett Hudson, Labour list candidate Dr Ayesha Varrell and Second secretary to Fiji High Commission Josua Tuwere.
Members of the project organising the exhibition
Through the exhibition, the hosts were able to garner massive interest from different sectors of the community, young and old alike about Girmit history and visitors included dignitaries as guests and speakers at the event gave positive feedbacks calling the exhibition ‘well thought out’, and ‘intellectually stimulating with the youth leading the way’.
Painting by Michelle Readdy from Dunedin
“2020 year also marks 50 years of Fiji’s independence on 10 October, and the Girmitiyas played a critical role in shaping Fiji. Having this event the weekend before the 50th Fiji Day was a fitting platform to celebrating Fiji’s milestone independence anniversary,” Kashmir Kaur added.
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