Official Fiji National Day celebrated in Hayward
APA NEWS (Asian Pacific American) Nov/Dec 2003 - Volume 2
Issue No. 1 Hayward, CA: About 250 people gathered at Mt.Eden Park in
Hayward, many in colorful authentic Fijian costumes to kick off a 3-day
celebration of the 33rd Fiji National day on Oct 10, 2003. Under the
theme of “Celebrate Our Fiji”, the guest of honor for the day was
Ambassador of Fiji Honorable.Anare Jale. The local hosts were Honorary
Consul General of Fiji-SF Bay area Dr Narayan Raju, who spoke about
celebrating unity amongst the multi cultural and multi racial Fijians.
The city of Hayward was represented by Mayor Ms Roberta Cooper who
greeted the attendees in Fijian. Also in attendance were several
official delegates and appointees of the Government of Fiji.
In a short address, Ambassador Jale gave a positive message to the
Fiji-Americans, and reminded them that the two-day event was meant to
celebrate the diverse Fijian cultures and traditions and to help in
promoting Fiji as a unique tourist destination. He added that last year
the remittances by Fiji-Americans was about $116 million, almost 20% of
the GDP of Fiji.
The opening day included a welcome ceremony, cultural presentations and
rugby, netball and volleyball competitions. This was followed by an
evening of cultural presentations under the thematic title “Island
Night”. Saturday's events included more rugby, netball and volleyball,
a health clinic and children's at Centennial Park, Hayward. Inter faith
services - Christian, Hindu and Muslim-were held in Sacramento on
Sunday to celebrate Thanksgiving.
www.fijiday.org
www.indofiji.com
Sam Rao
Contributing Writer APA NEWS (Asian
Pacific American) Nov/Dec 2003 - Volume 2 Issue No. 1
