Clara had left the house by the time we got back. She had seemed a bit distracted the night before, and even a little run down. That was unusual for her, Clara being one of those enviable persons who take everything in stride, at least insofar as all of us less enviable persons can tell.

Who could blame her? The Fijian Women’s Foundation (FWF) she had volunteered to help was clearly in need of it, running her ragged. Her recent bout of mosquito-borne dengue fever, not an unusual event in Fiji, hadn’t made things any easier. While her case did not develop into its life-threatening form, it was nevertheless debilitating for a spell, with the lesser but long-lingering after-effects still a nuisance.

To top it all off, Clara had found herself on the receiving end of a “tsunami of grief”, as she put it. One of the FWF’s founding members, a legendary figure in human rights movements throughout the Pacific, had recently passed away. It fell upon Clara to arrange a simple thanksgiving and celebration of the deceased’s considerable life achievements – with two hundred of her dearest admirers.

That event was this afternoon.

“It’s nice to be needed…” Clara had said with a shrug the previous evening. Continue reading 07. It’s Nice to be Needed →