By Kite Pareti
Solomone Rabuli’s love for volunteerism began in his teens. Raised by his grandparents and mother, the 31-year-old said his upbringing taught him the importance of “looking out for other people”.
“Whatever small things we had, we would share it. When I was a kid and all my cousins were around, even a small portion of a snack, we would share it. I think that really contributed to who I am today,” said Rabuli, who hails from Navunisole, Tailevu.
“The values I was taught from home – kindness, compassion and all that sort of stuff, it really brought me through so many challenges in life, which led to starting Selfless Fiji.”
The non-profit organisation Rabuli founded, Selfless Fiji, was officially established last year with the aim of “empowering people through volunteerism”.
By day, Rabuli works as a securities consultant with the ANZ bank. But he noted: “I’ve always wanted to start an NGO to help people. I built my career and did a lot of networking because doing something in the non-profit sector can be very challenging, especially with funding. You require a lot of supportive people to pull a project off.”
Selfless Fiji started with 20 people and now has around 2300 active volunteers, who are based locally and abroad, said Rabuli. The group is leaving its mark, quite literally in many cases, on community projects across the country.
“We have carried out nearly 30 projects across Fiji in the past two years… [and] the credit goes to so many people who back our work.”
Rabuli believes it is necessary to create an environment where volunteers are treated like family. “The reason why we’ve grown so big is, I always believe in a personal sort of approach. With the volunteers, it doesn’t matter if it’s 100 or 300, I’d like to know who they are personally, like their names. I don’t like calling people like, ‘hey lewa’ or ‘boy’; calling people by their names means a lot. It builds that sort of connection with people like, ‘Oh, he knows me’. I’ll take you around and introduce you to everyone where it makes you want to keep coming like, ‘I belong there’.
“You’re meeting people that can potentially be long-lasting friends. Some of the volunteers see me as family because I attend their functions, like birthdays and weddings. We want to create that sort of connection because our work requires touching people’s lives. Our work needs to be genuine. You can’t fake it,” he emphasised.
Selfless Fiji has assisted a wide range of local organisations such as St. Christopher’s Home, where volunteers fixed a children’s swing set after 13 years in disrepair. “I called my friends, they brought all their equipment and with the help of a donor, they fixed it,” said Rabuli.
The striking blue picket fence at Dilkusha Home is another effort by Selfless Fiji. “It took us five weeks. Almost 300 people volunteered with us, mostly students from Adi Cakobau School. They had approached us because they wanted their students to be involved,” he said.
Rabuli is also a board member with the non-profit Foundation for the Education of Needy Children in Fiji (FENC). Through this partnership, volunteers at Selfless Fiji have provided support in vetting hundreds of educational assistance forms. “There were 30 of our volunteers helping there and seven of them were employed by FENC. Wherever we go, we want to create those sorts of opportunities,” he said.
Now, the team at Selfless Fiji is handling a new project – helping 26 senior citizens at the Valelevu Hart Nursing Home.
Rabuli, who resides in the Nasinu area where the senior home is located, noted that due to “repeatedly burglary” incidents, he and his team are working on setting up a secure fence and a new sign board.
We’re also looking at avenues with the support of donors who manufacture food where they could supply 40 dozen eggs, 20kg of sausages, 3 bags of chicken every month: that’s where I’m looking to sustain the home. It’s all about protecting the senior citizens,” he said.
There are also plans to paint a new mural at a local school in Nawaisomo village on Beqa Island.
“The school has been run by the [students’] parents for the past five years. Apart from painting the whole place, we’re hoping to provide a new mattress for their sick bay. There are 20 students at the school who are 4 to 5 years old. We’re also hoping to secure a grant so that the school can operate well,” said Rabuli.
“I want so many young people to go through our projects and see what life has to offer, and maybe along the way, they could pick up some lessons that they could take back home with them or probably shape them to be better and make a change in people’s lives,” he added.
Selfless Fiji also provides volunteers with opportunities in creative writing, sporting activities, financial literacy sessions, and more.
