These were the words offered to me by Mare Varea of Rotuma on a recent visit. Mare is the sister of Hiagi Foreate who is closely tied with the Council of Rotuma. Rotuma is an organic, volcanic island, 460km north of Fiji and unique for attempting to be the first Certified Organic island. Why did I go to Rotuma? I have been sourcing pure ingredients from around Fiji and Samoa for some time and this trip was 3 years in planning - to a place that's been growing in my heart for sometime. I'm hoping to source tamanu and virgin coconut oil in the future for Vatéa natural and organic skin, hair and baby care. I'm also helping the island on their path to being the first ever wholly Certified Organic island. This will be a huge accomplishment for an island so small and remote and the first of it's kind.
When we first began Vatea, many discussions about the benefits of coconut oil with family and friends led me to explore the South Pacific, specifically Fiji, as a source of ingredients for a skincare range. My father (who co-founded the skincare company, Dermaveen) had instilled in me the value of key ingredients in formulating skincare products and I had been interested in coconut oil as a moisturiser for the skin long before it became popular in Australia. I researched launching a range of skincare with coconut oil as a base rather than the common mineral oil.
We launched 3 years ago and have been growing steadily ever since. I have long been fascinated by Rotuma and in my search for organic ingredients, I wondered, why go through the challenges of being certified organic when Rotuma have been farming organically for almost 10 years? There is a perfect source of organic oils on Rotuma and it will remain because they see it as a means to grow economically, sustainably and independently. Rotumans regularly refuse offers of funds from foreign investors who wish to advance their own agricultural and tourism interests. As the world races towards the investment of scarce resources, the Rotumans have chosen to preserve their island values of unity and community and maintain their lifestyle.
One of the personal reasons I want to work with these amazing people is to help instil the worthiness of their goals to their youth. The generation developing the strategy have the challenge of communicating the value of unity to their youth, to instil pride in their island and provide employment opportunities to ensure the tight knit communities survive. It's hard for younger people to understand the value of what is being build for them and it's something I'd really like to work in partnership with. On my visit, I met with the youth on the island to explain the enormous opportunities that await them should they remain on the island and focus on organic farming. It's hard for them to see this easily themselves as the limited external communication on the island is governed by a very slow internet speed and electricity that only available between the hours of 6pm and 9pm per day. Understandably, the young want to engage with the world around them, and see monetary wealth as the ultimate in success. So we are doing what we can and hope with more work, they'll see the huge potential that is beneath their feet and within their own community and build Rotuma to being an example of successful sustainable development for the future.