Mosese Raqio 
[Photo: FILE]
Stories shared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are forcing Fiji to confront painful chapters of its history.
Commissioner Ana Laqeretabua says some testimonies over the past year have made her, even as a citizen of this country, stop and wonder how Fiji could have inflicted such pain on itself.
She says the hearings have not been easy, but they are necessary.
One of the most powerful accounts came from the Malani family, who shared their trauma together. The children spoke about their father’s imprisonment and later death — in some cases, hearing each other’s pain for the first time.
Laqeretabua recalls the youngest son speaking about how much he still misses his father. “That was quite a difficult one,” she says.
In another hearing held during a workshop organised by FemLINKpacific, a rural woman described fleeing into the bush with her six-week-old baby during political unrest, hiding for hours in fear.
Laqeretabua says that image — a mother clutching her infant in silence — remains with her.
She believes many would never have spoken publicly if the Commission had not created a safe space.
TRC Chairperson Joaquim Da Fonseca says while some experiences appear more extreme than others, every story matters.
He says each testimony acts as a mirror for society — allowing families who have stayed silent to see their own pain reflected.
As hearings continue, the Commission maintains that confronting the truth, however difficult, is key to national reconciliation.
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