The Journey Begins

On the 6^th of September, the LIU Global class took an excursion to the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park in Fiji. The day began with a two-hour bus ride across the south coast of Fiji, complete with beautiful views of the blue water and small communities, allowing me to get a sense of the Fijian landscape. When we arrived, we were prepared with a small introduction about Fijians first National Park by Simon, a park ranger who would be leading us though the sandy dunes and green walking tracks. He spoke about the national park being home to archeological sites and forests used by the local community for medicinal purposes. The park is managed by the National Trust of Fiji and has the job of protecting and preserving the cultural heritage site. In the introduction from Simon, we also learned that there had been a small forest fire that had burnt down some of the preserved area and with this, we would be planting a few trees that would soon grow to fill that area.

Our walk started slow and uphill, the sound of birds chirped in the background and green plants covered every surface. I was so content to finally be surrounded by nature… a concept I would later come to question. As I was breathing in the sweet and humid air, I started recalling the reading that was assigned for another class, “Na Vuku Ni Vanua- Wisdom of the Land: Aspects of Fijian Knowledge, Culture, and History”. In this reading the authors describe the idea of silence as knowledge and how sacred it is to not talk, but to listen. So I made a decision to take some time out of the walk to listen to what was around me and allow myself to feel the space. Each burst of cool air that hit my body as we reached a peak of a hill sent shivers down my spine, reminding me of the constant changes in our environment. Each step on the hot sand filled me with warmth and allowed me to feel comfort, reminding me a bit of home. My silence throughout the walk allowed me to feel and try to understand as well as just listening to what was going on around me, whether it be the wind or the rustle of the leaves or the conversations flowing between my classmates.

Before lunch, after planting our trees and making our way to the top of the dunes, we were all asked to write down our definition of nature. I had never really thought about the definition before, I always just had a vision of what nature looked like to me. I wrote untouched land, open environment, being able to find a connection with the earth that we came from. It seemed that simple in the moment and I was content with me answer. After that small break of refection and writing we continued with our time in the park by playing in the water like little kids, running from and jumping into the waves that crashed and rolled to our feet. We learned about the history of a ‘tree hugger’ and got to make our own in a group activity. After all of that was finished, we sat down where we started and revisited the idea of ‘nature’.

What is nature? A word I always thought I knew, a concrete image I always had in my head of tall green trees, wild flowers growing in every direction, a small stream that I can slightly hear when I pay attention, and a warm sweet smell of the plants around me, and in the best scenario, the sun beating down in my skin. In my head, that form of nature is untouched and pure, she grows at her own pace and wherever she likes, she has no path to follow other than her own. This is the nature I see in my eyes, which I learned could be very different from the nature another person is thinking or seeing in their eyes. I understood that as my classmates gave their answers, although some similar to mine, some very different, looking deeper into the word. I now find myself questioning nature and my romanticized vision of it. Nature does not need to be untouched, if anything most nature I am surrounded with and directed by the hands of humans, yet it is still green, still grows in the same way. And the use of the word can be used in different contexts, as in it is in our nature as humans to destroy and create. In that form nature is described as both biological DNA and societal pressures/ influences. In all honesty, I left the conversation being more confused about nature that I thought I could ever be, this word I found myself using all the time turned out to mean and not mean so much more.