Kioa

Kioa is an island in Fiji, an outlier to Vanua Levu, one of Fiji's two main islands. Situated opposite Buca Bay, Kioa was purchased by settlers from Vaitupu atoll in Tuvalu, who came between 1947 and 1962.

Despite its relatively large size, Vaitupu became so overcrowded during the 1940s that a number of families migrated to live on Kioa Island. At the end of World War II, Neli Lifuka was instrumental in collecting the funds to purchase Kioa. Initially 37 people migrated from Vaitupu to live on Kioa Island; within a decade, more than 235 people followed. In 1956, Neli Lifuka joined the Kioa community and became the chairman of its council. Kioa is one of two islands in Fiji populated by migrant communities from the Pacific Islands, the other being Rabi, also in the Vanua Levu Group and home to a displaced Banaban community. Early in 2005, the Fijian government decided to grant full citizenship to the Kioa and Rabi Islanders. As a culmination of a decade-long quest for naturalization, a formal ceremony was held on 15 December 2005 to award 566 citizenship certificates to residents of the islands and their descendants (some of whom now live elsewhere in Fiji), which entitles them to provincial and national assistance for rural development. The ceremony was led by Cabinet Ministers Josefa Vosanibola and Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, who is also the Tui Cakau, or Paramount Chief of Cakaudrove, which includes the island of Kioa. Lalabalavu called on the Kioa islanders to be proud of their identity and to nurture and protect their culture. Although part of Cakaudrove Province, the island has a degree of autonomy with its own administrative body, the Kioa Island Council, although the Fijian Cabinet decided on 15 January 2006 to merge it with the Rabi Island Council. The island environment contributes to its national significance as outlined in Fiji's Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0