Druku had a purpose led life and in the end a peaceful death.
Born Ratu Sakiusa Nadruku Lalabalavu on 23rd July 1952 in the village of Yako, he spent his childhood in Nabila where his father was a copra farmer. Originally from Cuvu, the chiefly village of the province of Nadroga to which both Yako and Nabila belong, his father had been assigned to care for the island of Tavarua, fortuitously the major local source of coconuts.
Coconut collecting on Tavarua would entail hitchhiking a lift on the then Indian owned fishing boats, staying for several days in a makeshift hut, climbing coconut trees and making the return journey with the harvest. As he grew older Druku would accompany his father on this enterprise.
The first public mention of surf in the area of Tavarua Island came from an article written by touring yachties, presumably with surfers aboard, in a mid 1970’S article in the Australian publication Pacific Islands Monthly. By 1978, surfers came by land, climbed the hills behind Nabila and excitedly peered with binoculars at the perfect barrelling left. It was then that Druku and his fellow villagers first saw surfboards and realised that waves could be ridden.
With the secret out it wasn’t long before Dave Clark and Scott Funk arrived with thoughts of creating a surf camp. In 1982 they approached Big John, spokesperson for the chief of Malolo province, itself a part of Nadroga one of the 14 Fijian provinces, to ascertain who owned Tavarua. Tavarua had been gifted to Cuvu district as a sign of respect for Druku’s ancestor, his great-great grandfather Na Ka Levu Ratu Taqele Nayaravoro, a Nadrogan chief and Ka Levu (Paramount Chief) of South west Fiji who had died on Tavarua Island after swimming to Tavarua mortally wounded from Mololo Island after an aborted battle. By the fortuitous coincident of this accident of history and the unique natural phenomenon that is Tavarua, Druku and his father came to represent the interests of Tavarua as the fledgling camp was built.
For Scott and Dave there could have been no better person than the ebullient Druku to be local ambassador to Tavarua. As his leadership skills and selfless desire to serve his community became evident, early guests of the island granted him, the title “Chief of Tavarua”. Although this bemused his elders in Cuvu it was the unassuming way in which Druku took on the role for the benefit of all that led to the universal acceptance of his title. Indeed, as each of us took turns to throw a handful of dirt into his grave the common refrain was “Goodbye Chief”. Druku had true royal blood in his veins and was an elder of one of the three royal families of Nadroga.
In December 1984 the news of Tavarua broke to the world with a cover story in Surfer magazine and advertising inviting the first guests to the island camp. In 1986 Mark Renneker with a band of surfing doctors arrived. Sunia, a Nabilan local, who was employed to build one of the tree houses on Tavarua, was suffering with an abscess of his hand. Rather than travelling to the mainland, he had been advised by Dave Clark to wait for the imminent arrival of the doctors who promptly performed the first operation on Tavarua. Two of the doctors travelled the next day to Nabila to check on Sunia’s progress and it was there that they were confronted by the pressing health needs of the village. The Surfers Medical Association, from then on inextricably linked with Druku and his people, was born.
The combination of love for all, a smiling irrepressible enthusiasm and yet a supreme respect for the Fijian way were what made Druku great. As Jon Roseman, an owner of Tavarua resort, so succinctly eulogised, Druku took life, but not himself, seriously. Druku’s abilities to resolve disputes and heal rifts between villages during some of the darker days of the Tavarua Resort’s early days, and to deal with the politics of the Nadrogan Rugby club as Vice- President were stories of local legend. It was said that in the face of the feared eight-day bogiwalu (a 35 knot trade that relentlessly prevents access to the sea and destroys crops) Druku could stand and calm the seas.
It was not only metaphorically that Druku could do this. Mark Renneker relates what he describes as his greatest adventure with Druku. “Druku accompanied me, Jessica, Craig Wilson and his son Aca on a trip to the southwest corner of Kandavu to look at a surf spot set up by a village that we were told was interested in some way giving land/access to the SMA. It was a hair-ball, hours long open-ocean skiff ride around the western end of Kandavu, during which we were slammed by a White Squall with lightning bolts striking all around us and the darkness of night setting in. Druku dramatically rose and commanded the terrified local boat man to head straight to shore, despite giant waves breaking all around such a heavily-reefed area, and he guided us in through a maelstrom into a calm lagoon. A local village there took us in for the night, and the next day the weather was fine and we continued on our journey.”
Although known to be fiercely competitive on the ping-pong table, Kelly Slater, in his heart-felt eulogy described Druku’s magnanimous nature, reflecting on the love so clearly evident between all Fijians. Druku teed off on the first hole of one of their golf games with an enormous swing yet the ball dribbled off the tee to the side. Druku’s response with no hint of sarcasm: “I love golf!”. Druku delighted in practical jokes. After one particularly wild water bomb fight between guests on the island he told a young and earnest first time guest that because she had shown such disrespect by “trashing” his island she had to leave on the afternoon boat. He waited until she was fully packed before he told her “I was only joking.”
It was 1982 when Druku became the first Fijian surfer; no mean feat as he learned despite a cruciate deficient knee, on two of the most critical waves on the planet. The pinnacle of his surfing career came with his crowning as Fijian champion, something he obviously held proud. When being interviewed on international television about his son Aca surfing as a wildcard entrant in the WSL event at Cloudbreak, he prefaced his comments by saying, “Don’t forget, I was the first Fijian surfer”.
Druku’s final surf was at Restaurants in 2013 at the age of 61. He had accepted a bet that if Kelly won the Volcom pro that they would share a wave at restaurants. Kelly put him on an 8-foot board coached him into a wave and took off behind him surfing down the line before they wiped out together. Surfing could not have given Druku a more fitting tribute.
It was in the same year of his last surf that Druku became ill. The silent development of jaundice heralded a diagnosis of biliary cancer, a rare and largely incurable disease. With no expense spared the owners of Tavarua organised care in the Scripps Green clinic in the USA where a complex operation to excise the tumour and re-plumb the obstructed bile duct was performed. A warrior to the end he faced his disease with the bravery of one who had taken off on big Cloudbreak.
In August 2015 his cancer returned with fluid collecting around his lungs and further obstruction of his biliary system. Again he had surgery, this time for palliation, with a tube diverting bile externally from his body. Understanding his time was short and suffering (without complaint) from the disconnection from his family, community and the Fiji that he loved he chose to reject the options of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to return to Cuvu in Fiji. There he was surrounded by his wife, 6 children and 14 grandchildren. He faced death with equanimity maintaining his good humour and care for others to the end.
On Monday, knowing his time was near he gathered all his children and counselled them on the good life, reinforcing the need for them to stay close and to respect and care for each other. At 4:00PM on Wednesday the time when it was his habit to pray, he again called his children and said his final goodbyes. He told them he could hear a voice calling him to a higher place.
Druku died late on the Wednesday afternoon of 18th November 2015 in the company of his family. Druku is survived by his wife Aseri and their six children, his two sons, Apakuki and Aca, and his daughters Salote, Sera, Arieta, and Seini.
He had been provided with excellent palliative care and if he had suffered he had given no sign. Towards the end he adopted traditional Fijian medicine and faced his last days, clear in mind and spirit.
The SMA is proud to have been a part of Druku’s life and honoured to have gained so much from its association with his family and community for the past 29 years. Druku’s legacy will be a permanent part of the SMA story.