While escaping from the darkest time of the colonised British India era and ending up on Fijian shores not knowing they will be accepted or neglected, the 1st and 2nd generations of the Girmityas are still facing challenges and are looking forward to the thanksgiving and reconciliation service organized by the Methodist Church of Fiji at the Vodafone Arena at 2pm Sunday.
A member of the Girmitiyas descendants, Christal Kapoor says the move made by the Methodist Church of Fiji and the coalition government is a good start for them because they have suffered enough.
However Kapoor is asking when the British colonisers will issue an apology.
The 28 year old says the physical, mental, psychological and emotional abuse they went through in a foreign land scarred them forever where no scars were treated or healed but passed from generation to generation, and this has become their inheritance.
She says they do not wish to pass their scars on to their next generation but to give them the undying spirit, resilience, sense of camaraderie seen among the jahajibhais, determination and the strength of being able to rise from the ashes.
She adds that reconciliation is the key to finding their way out from their dark days and will give them a chance to be free Fijians and call this place home.
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