Mr. Misiwaini Qereqeretabua and Ms. Salesia Ikaniwai

Misiwaini Qereqeretabua was the Director of the National Archives of Fiji. Misiwaini’s vision for the National Archives of Fiji was to provide leadership capacity to further enhance the preservation and accessibility of Fiji’s documentary heritage.

Prior to joining the National Archives, Misiwaini worked at the Institution for Fijian Language and Culture where he was instrumental in putting together the first ever Fijian monolingual dictionary and expanding the Institute’s documentation and archival section for its researchers and a cultural mapping program with aims to register the “traditional knowledge” and “cultural expressions” in all villages in Fiji.
Misiwaini had recently joined the PARBICA bureau and we were looking forward to the excellent contribution he would have made to PARBICA.

Salesia Ikaniwai was the Librarian at the National Archives of Fiji. Salesia was a strong advocate for the work of PARBICA and had been heavily involved in both the administration of the PARBICA Bureau, through time spent as Secretary-General for the branch, and in the development of the PARBICA Recordkeeping for Good Governance Toolkit products.
Salesia contributed a great deal to archiving in Fiji. Recently she had been involved in the establishment of a Memory of the World Committee for Fiji. Salesia had also undertaken study in the area of audiovisual archiving, she was always looking to build and develop her knowledge. Salesia still had much to offer to archiving in Fiji and the wider Pacific region. We will miss her knowledge, her smile and her kind words at future PARBICA meetings.

The PARBICA family’s thoughts and prayers are with the families of Misiwaini and Salesia and the staff at the National Archives of Fiji during this sad time.

Tena koutou i o tatou tini mate Greetings to our many dead
Koutou kua wheturangitia You who have been adorned as stars
Ki te korowai o Ranginui In the heavens
Koutou kua wehe atu ki te po You who have departed to the night
Ki te tua o Te Arai To beyond Te Arai
Ki te okiokinga To the resting place
I o tatou tupuna Of our ancestors
Haere, haere, haere. Farewell, farewell, farewell.

May you rest in peace Misiwaini and Salesia