DONATION Kelisuia is a 24-year-old from Namoku Village, Avuavu Ward, East Guadalcanal.
Donation has eight siblings; he is the fifth born in the family.
His village, Namoku, is one of the most remote villages in Guadalcanal. It is a small village with fewer than 20 families.
Reaching Namoku is not for the fainthearted.
One can board a truck from Honiara to Aola, head inland to Veranahola, and sleep at Bubunuhu Community High School to leave before 7am the next day.
The hike involves treacherous treks up the Monga River, passing through the ancient Mavuho Gorge, paddling across Lees Lake, passing the sacred Guadalcanal Mountain, Vatupochau, and continuing for another 3 hours before arriving at Namoku Village. It’s roughly about 10 hrs hike.
Another way is to travel by truck via Numbu, Tenakonga Adventist College, Gesa, and Aroaro, walk to Lumakanji, Salamarao to Lees Lake, and continue up the Monga River.
Donation grew up surrounded by the beautiful natural environment and listening to his grandparents and parents, telling him about the importance of protecting the environment.
“I remember my grandfather always telling us about the importance of the land and rainforest and our responsibility to protect them,” he says.
He recalls that his grandfather once told him, “If you protect the forest, it will protect you in return.”
Donation said he “was too young to understand his grandfather’s words at that time.”
Donation attended Grade 1 and 2 at Bubukolo Primary School, overlooking the beautiful Lees Lake. He then attended Tamlan School, finishing his primary education there.
He then attended several high schools including, St.Joseph’s Tenaru, Waimapuru National Secondary School, Bubunuhu CHS and St.Nicholas Anglican College where he finally graduated in 2022.
In 2023, Donation was supposed to enter the University of the South Pacific (USP); however, due to a lack of school fees to pursue his university degree, he then went back to Namoku to live with his parents and took part in the community’s program.
It was then that he supported his father, Mr. John Paul, a retired primary teacher for more than 30 years to see what sorts of development aspirations are suitable for his people.
“My father told me “Land is our Mother”. He really encourages to continue the conservation project” he expresses.
Through his father, Donation found out about Ecological Solutions Solomon Islands –Ecological Solutions Foundation (ESSI-ESF), the Solomon Islands renowned environmental group, which supports communities in terms of conservation since 2012. They approached ESSI-ESF office in 2023 resulting in a conservation consultation at his village in May 2023.
Through the conservation consultation, the Namoku villagers then organized themselves and demarcated their land boundaries for the mapping. A total of 10 subtribes from two main tribes came forward to offer their primary rainforests for the conservation projects.
According to Donation, the process was easy because they knew their genealogies and migratory routes from Mt. Vatupochau, which is about 6km from Namoku Village.
In the same month, Donation, with two other Namoku boys, attended a 3-day rangers training organised by ESSI-ESF, with another international environmental team, in Honiara.
They returned with the knowledge and
skillsets to map 2000 plus hectares of primary rainforests in their Ulumate Tribal Land.
Donation is now currently engaged with the ESSI-ESF ESF conservation team to do consultation programs on Guadalcanal.
He acquired GPS land survey skills and now supports ESF staff touring other remote parts of Guadalcanal to help communities conserve their natural rainforests in the fight against climate change crisis.
Donation continues to encourage landowning tribes to protect their natural rainforests and seek alternative developments that are non-extractive.
He states that he is interested in pursuing his studies, but he’s not sure due to limited finances.
He furthers he plans to study natural resources management and environmental law.
“I want to study natural resources management and environmental law. My goal is to support my people to understand the nature of extractive industries like logging and mining, which have been operating in Guadalcanal since the ’80s. Yet, we haven’t seen any tangible developments from these extractive industries. This is because such industries only come to extract our resources and neglect the resource owners,” he says.
Donation then strongly appeals to Guadalcanal youths to seek knowledge from their elders in terms of the environment and protect their last remaining forests from extractive industries.
“I want to remind our youths that we don’t have much time left. We have to act now to protect our forests, otherwise we will loose so much invaluable knowledge about our identities, herbal remedies, cultural food, prestine rivers and our cultural identities. We the young people of Guadalcanal have a huge task ahead of us. We must protect our forests for our young siblings” he urges.
“Now, I recall my grandfather’s advice. It was more than advice; it’s a way of life to protect our land, people, environment, and the world from the existential threat of the climate crisis,” Donation Kelisuia states.
Source: GP Media