Pilgrimage to Viwa

TS Eliot has a line in his poem, Little Gidding: 'You are here to kneel where prayer has been valid'. That could sum up a visit to the  tiny island of Viwa, just off the coast of Viti Levu and close to the chiefly island of Bau. It's where two of the great missionaries to Fiji are buried. Joeli Bulu was a Tongan who, in the 1830s, became a missionary to the people who had been his people's traditional enemy. He once answered the question 'why do you pray to the Christian God' with 'so that I may live among the stars'. John Hunt was an English farm labourer (from the village next to the one where I grew up) who trained as a Methodist minister and was one of the first students in a Methodist theological college. He died on Viwa in 1848, aged 36, having translated the New Testament, begun a training centre for indigenous missionaries and written a book on sanctification.

My visit began at Davuilevu, the Methodist theological college, where a student, Pa'u, joined me as guide. Pa'u is from Bau and the chiefly family, so he knows the protocol. Our taxi took us to Nausori market where we bought a bundle of kava root to present as a ceremonial gift, then on to the Bau landing stage. Our boat was about 18-20ft, made of battered fibreglass and powered by a 40hp outboard. The forecast had been for strong winds and the open sea was pretty rough, with choppy waves and some white water. Spray came over us and I was was lent a tarpaulin for protection. Under skilled hands, the boat slid around the waves and slowly moved across the gap between the islands. I kept telling myself that the boatman knew his business and wouldn't be risking his life for just a few dollars! We landed in calmer waters on the leeward side of Viwa, a mere speck in the ocean, mostly bounded by mangrove swamp and with just one tiny settlement. Electricity has arrived in the last year. Here, the missionaries set up their printing press and Hunt had his headquarters, within sight of the (then) pagan chief Cacobau. We walked up the path  between the houses, with their neat gardens and blue corrugated roofs. At the top of the small hill stands the church, a simple A-frame. Behind it are the graves, some with iron railings sent over from England in the Victorian era. It was a peaceful and prayerful place, apart from the noisy bustle of modern Fiji, but with a sense of holy concern. Here, Hunt had turned to Bau, praying for its chief, for an end to the cannibal wars and for the conversion of Fiji.


We moved on to the minister's house, on the same site as Hunt's, and had 'morning tea' after Pa'u presented the kava to a representative of the chief. No kava drinking (for which I was thankful) as the island has a 'tapu' for a period and kava is replaced with prayer and fasting. That might well have been the end of the visit, but a mobile call to Pa'u (yes, even here, everyone has a mobile!) told us to stay put and wait for another boat load of visitors They (visitors from the Uniting church, Australia) arrived 2 1/2 hours later and we did the tour again before heading home in the same boat. We called on the prayer house the other side of the island - the spot where Hunt prayed for his enemies and admired the chapel that is meant to be the focus of a projected retreat centre. I had declined the suggestion that I spend the night in the chapel so that my prayer might lead to an encounter with Hunt!

The outing ended back at Davuilevu with a faikava and talanoa (conversation).