The thought of supporting her family was one of the biggest motivations for PC Salote Naitauniyalo as she pushed herself to overcome the challenges she faced during the 16 weeks of hard training for the Fiji Police Force basic recruit training course, and she is grateful that she has now achieved her childhood dream.
Naitauniyalo was one of the 223 officers who graduated from the Fiji Police Force 16 weeks basic recruitment training on Friday.
Speaking to fijivillage News in the i-Taukei language, Naitauniyalo says she grew up in a community where a lot of youths break the law, and this pushed her as well to try and achieve her goal of becoming a Police officer so she can bring change to the community.
She says she was grateful when she was accepted to be part of batch 67 as this was her second attempt in trying to become a Police officer.
She adds she did not give up when she was dropped on her first attempt because she kept thinking of her parents, who gave their all to ensure that her dreams of being a police came true.
Naitauniyalo adds her father is a fisherman, her mother is a housewife, and her siblings do not earn well enough to support their family.
She says the 16 weeks of training were very challenging, but the thought of supporting her parents motivated her to keep moving forward. When asked about the changes she is looking to bring into the community, Naitauniyalo says she will try to ensure that youths in her community follow the law as she will be based at the Lautoka Police Station.
