The Girmit Day commemoration provides a platform to reflect on the hardships endured by the indentured labourers’, or “Girmitiyas.

Former vernacular language newspaper editor Hemant Sharma says it is important to engage the younger generation in Girmit celebrations.

“He adds that there should be concerted efforts to implement Girmit stories and the history of the indentured labourers into the school curriculum. As you move around you see everyone on phones. The younger generation is very much involved in Facebook. It would be very good for them, like the girmit organizations to use those media to educate them, especially the schools. I have been trying hard and many people have been trying hard to put the girmit history in schools.”

Sharma, who now resides in Melbourne, Australia, says that his family was able to trace back their roots through a letter that his father received after his grandfather passed away.

Another descendant Sarojini Asha, a writer and ex-member of Ba Cultural Society, believes knowledge should be passed down to the younger generation so that they can understand the challenges and hardships faced by their ancestors.

“There are lots of stories passed on to us by our parents and our grandfathers and grandmas. I didn’t see my maternal grandfather; I did see him, but I don’t remember him, I remember my grandmother really well and my grandfather, who used to talk about the life their parents lived. My grandparents were from Barhara, Bihar”

Meanwhile,Fiji will commemorate the 145th anniversary of the arrival of Girmit indentured labourers from India with a three-day celebration from May 11th to 13th.

The official event will be held at the Lautoka Girmit Multicultural Centre, with additional commemorations taking place in Labasa on May 11th.