Radio Bula Namaste FM

Bula Namaste is a result of Bula Namaste Diaspora multi-media team’s persistent endeavor to develop a media network for the benefit of the people living in the Fijian diaspora. The team notes that Fijian community has irreversibly changed from and because of the events of the 1987 coups.



It is estimated that from 1987 approximately 150,000 Fiji citizens have left Fiji permanently to live mainly in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and UK. Because of the natural growth this community has increased to approximately 250,000. Because of the suddenness of the initial flight from Fiji after the 1987 and 2000 coups, the migration was unplanned and haphazard in nature. This resulted in severe fragmentation of families, relatives, friends and villagers who shared a close and symbiotic relationship for many years. Almost every family has members living in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and UK and same applies to close-knit villagers and long established friends.



For the first decade or so these far-flung communities lived in forced isolation, communicating with each other by letters, phones and later on via emails. Once inseparable loved ones now met rarely, maybe only for funerals, and if lucky, for weddings and other important family events. They obtained news from Fiji through internet and where available, newspapers. Recently Facebook has become an important social networking for families and friends. However facebook has many limitations as a serious media.



Last year the Bula Namaste multi-media team had come up with a Fijian Diaspora multi-media project to provide opportunity to engage the diaspora with Fiji and each other. The starting point was the Bula Namaste radio, which is already operational in Fiji and is available to the diaspora and beyond via internet. The expansion of Bula Namaste as a fully-fledged Fijian diaspora service hit a setback when Fiji Media decree was announced on the eve of its launch in Fiji.



This setback forced the team to rethink its diaspora multi-media strategy and after a lot of work, Bula Namaste Web TV has been developed as the lynchpin of its strategy to engage the Fijian diaspora constructively for the first time. The launch of Bula Namaste Web TV marks the beginning of a new dimension the way people in the Fijian diaspora will engage with Fiji and the diaspora.