Page 15 - IB Dec 2020

Pacific People of the Year Pacific People of the Year

an organisation, we were not formal, the sense of community...you’d lose and if they are good and they get good
we were just an ad hoc group of people the talanoa, you’d lose all the people reviews, people request them…they
with a Facebook page so how could we who are trading one thing but write 300 become paying clients.”
have gotten this grant? And it started or 400 words around the trade, which Dutta still sees room for improve-
off with just that and then it spiralled people like. ment. She would like to see more use
into so many other things. Why do we “The other thing we’ve heard is that of vernacular languages—iTaukei and
need $10K USD when you can build a they come to our group for that mental Hindi—to educate, advocate and teach
website for $300 now and all of this.” health check, a feel good factor, and so on the page. She is still keen to explore
While the Barter for Better Fiji mod- being efficient in a really clinical way, other ways the platform can be more
erators dealt with what they say were we’d lose that and for me that is just as inclusive.
increasingly personal attacks on their important as trading.” “I keep telling people we are still in
gender, ethnicity and sexuality, it was infancy stage, we’re only seven months
the lack of response from the UNDP of- Bartering into the future out. So I am still info gathering to see
fice in Suva says Dutta, that was really Dutta says moderators are seeing a how we can refine and improve.”
disheartening. change in the types of trades as Fiji’s And what has she learnt about her-
Barter for Better Fiji asked UNDP borders, and its tourism industry, re- self?
to publicly clarify its position as the main closed. “Patience” she says, before I even
attacks escalated online, but said in “What we’ve really noticed is that finish asking that question.
response it received a one-line email, it has really come down to serve its “There are certain times where I’ve
“is it possible for you to register?” purpose now, where you can see the had to teach myself no, don’t respond
“For us, what he [the online troller] desperation in the trades, you can see yet. Go, come back, look at it in half an
was doing was irrelevant. It was how people are actively looking around their hour, an hour, when you’re in a differ-
[UNDP] they were responding that just house for something they can try and ent frame of mind or something, then
really left a bad taste in our mouth,” give to get something. Another thing is respond or find the right words.
Dutta said. “Zero, zero, zero responses that it has given people a bit more con- “It’s been the patience and inten-
to us.” fidence as well in terms of listing what tional use of words, what words lift up
Eventually, Barter for Better Fiji with- they want specifically. Before they were and what words cut down, and using the
drew from the UNDP fund. happy to accept whatever came across words that lift up. And focussing on the
“We wrote to UN, stated the reasons but now the needs are specific, so it’s issue rather than the people behind the
why; lack of care, lack of response, ‘we need three tinned fish or two pack- issue. Those simple things, that’s not
all of these types of things, two weeks ets of milk or this size diapers.’” just for me that’s for all of us.”
later they responded to say we accept Localised barter pages have also pro- Dutta has been backed by a close-
your withdrawal. That was it. Just one liferated, while others have morphed knit team from the start—Veena Singh,
line. That was it, case closed.” into buy and sell pages. A number of Tavai Bale, Lisa Savu, Talei Tora and
Islands Business contacted the UNDP pages have been established in other Liku Raduva—and she is quick to ac-
for comment for this article, but there Pacific islands including Vanuatu, PNG knowledge her fellow volunteers. But
was no response before we went to and Samoa, often by the Fiji diaspora in it is ultimately her vision, one she has
print. those communities. sustained through personal attacks and
“It has probably been our biggest les- Dutta says an unexpected, but heart- the mental and emotional exhaustion
son,” Dutta said. warming development has been the way that has wrought, despite disappoint-
Many other organisations have wanted traders have turned their talents into ment in partners, and in the face of
to partner with Barter for Better Fiji, small and micro businesses. endless unpaid hours moderating the
both locally and overseas, and the UNDP “A lot of people have actually started page. Barter for Better Fiji has created
experience has made the group’s due businesses after initially bartering. unexpected benefits beyond meeting a
diligence process even more rigor- And it’s part of the confidence I think. need to trade in the face of job losses
ous. Dutta intends to poll members on So the bakers, the piemakers and the including the building of new relation-
potential future models, although posts donut makers, because they were so ships, the birth of new micro business-
testing the waters in this discussion popular on it, and it gave them the es, and a master class in how to manage
show a strong preference from members confidence to know, ‘hey, actually my online communities in Fiji. But perhaps
to keep things as they are. product is good, maybe I can start sell- most important of these benefits is the
“We could still move to a website, ing,’” she said. power of kindness and generosity at the
it would make management of it a lot “We’ve also got these really good hardest of times.
simpler because you wouldn’t need electricians and plumbers and stuff who It is for all these reasons that Marlene
this heavy monitoring, but of course operated on their own, all of a sudden Dutta is our Pacific Community cham-
the downsides are too high. We’d lose their customer base has just exploded pion of 2020.

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