< Magazine Index > < Index For This Edition > < Subscribe >

The year is 1988.  I'm sitting under the stars in Walnut Creek, California, with my husband and an old friend.  We start fantasizing about building a small boutique resort -- an "artist's colony" -- in New Zealand. It didn't take long to discover that the Kiwis weren't hospitable to emigrants over the age of 35, so backburner that idea.....  Fast forward to 1994......the idea never died but the venue changed. We'd moved to Cincinnati (thanks to an executive recruiter who painted a far rosier picture to me than the reality!) and the Escape From Corporate America was really starting to appeal to me. Retirement -- gold watch at age 65 -- did not appeal!  We started wandering the Caribbean & Bahamas on vacation trips, checking out islands with "stable governments", looking at small existing properties as well as vacant land. We found a gorgeous small island off Cat Island, but on the third trip, the mosquitoes were the size of helicopters -- so much for the Bahamas! We found a samll resort for sale on St.

. Collin McKenny first had dreams of getting out of corporate America in 1988. The idea of a gold watch to send her off into an unwelcomed retirement, someday, didn't appeal to her. She and her husband wandered the South Pacific, then the Caribbean, then decided Fiji would be their paradise found.  That was 1997 and the year they said good by to the rat race and set about to achieve their dreams. Now, they have a tropical retreat on that beautiful island. Their retreat is called Lomalagi, which means "Heaven" in the Fijian language. Lomalagi has six bungalows, swimming pools with waterfalls, a "playhouse" with pool table & games, a dining pavilion with bar, and a coconut plantation where locals harvest the coconuts. They're living the good life. Additional Resources Living Overseas  The Lomagali website  Contact Collin McKenny  . .

In 1996, I spotted a small ad in Hideaways for land in Fiji. Where's Fiji? We knew it was in the South Pacific but that's about all. We did some research (thanks to the head of International Banking at the bank where I worked) and it sounded pretty good. Unspoiled, great weather, low incidence of hurricanes, attractive to investors, good tourism opportunities. So in May, we headed for Fiji to take a look -- a long way from Cincinnati!!  The property was (is) absolutely magnificent. 25 acres of freehold land (important in Fiji), part of a once vast coconut plantation that the owners had divided up many years before. With 1,650 feet of beachfront, it's set on Natewa Bay, the largest (and deepest at over 3,000 feet) bay in the South Pacific. The owner was another American who, with 4 small kids, couldn't make use of the property in the foreseeable future and it was dragging her down as an occasional rental. "Get rid of it", said her accountant. In fact, she'd had two previous sales that had fallen through so, third time's the charm!

We conditioned our purchase on approval of a small resort project by the Fiji Trade & Investment Board, the government's "one stop shop" for investors. After about six months (normal), approval was granted. We flew back to Fiji for a couple of weeks to organize things prior to our permanent arrival. This was going to be a "from scratch" building project -- all that was there was the old multi-roomed plantation house and a beat up garage -- and thousands of coconut palms. 

The nearest village -- Nasinu -- was hired to clear the brush before our arrival in March of 1997. They would be our primary source of Indigenous Fijian staff -- the chief thought all of the staff should be from his village but they are largely uneducated and couldn't provide many of the skills we would need.
 

A bit of history....... Fiji is in Melanesia and the indigenous folks clearly have ancient roots going back to Africa. The country was once known as The Cannibal Islands -- Captain Bligh barely escaped! It became a British Crown Colony in the mid-1800's, about the same time that the missionaries arrived and put clothes (lots of clothes) on the natives. The Brits decided to cultivate sugar but the Fijians weren't interested in the back-breaking labor so workers were "imported" from India. The Indians signed 7 year "contracts", after which they would be provided free passage back to India. Who'd want to leave Paradise??? Few did and their numbers grew until today, the "Indo-Fijians" represent about 45% of the population -- and own most of the businesses. The Fijians, however, own 88% of the land either as Crown (Government) land or native land. So, freehold land is precious!  The Melanesian and Polynesian languages have no past or future tense -- which very much governs the indigenous lifestyle here. With land ownership guaranteed, there are no worries. If the modern world ended tomorrow, their lives wouldn't change -- except they wouldn't have a generator in the village so no more TV (one channel) or movies. They would continue to fish and farm as they've done for eons. Because of this lack of interest in the "future", the indigenous Fijians are perceived as lazy.

The Indo-Fijians' stereotype is "greedy". This "greed" is in their culture -- plan ahead, get that first sale, educate the children -- gold chains for the wife. So, the two cultures have never "blended", for religious reasons as well. The Fijians are Christian (mostly Methodist) and the Indians mostly Hindu. 
The village culture is very "socialistic" and no one goes hungry. They also have no sense of materialism which means they don't consider stealing to be "stealing". We've found this hard to deal with. And, they can't really explain it...... 

We arrived in March 1997 to begin the dream project.......what a nightmare! The "one stop shop" wasn't that at all -- we had to run all over to various government agencies getting everything "approved" all over again -- thousands of dollars in unanticipated accountant's fees.....a huge hassle. 40% of the working adults in Fiji are employed by the government and they have to keep all of those people busy. Busy losing paperwork, or passing it on to the next person in line..... What was expected to take weeks, took months to accomplish. Permits for this, licenses for that, duty and value added tax on imported items we'd been assured would be waived..... Like all small countries looking for investors, they paint a far rosier picture before you arrive than reality. 

Our contractor cheated us -- and stole property. Some of his workers sabotaged parts of the project
a fairly normal practice when unemployment is very high. If it has to be "fixed", that means more work! We fired him after about 9 months -- and many thousands in unanticipated costs. My husband (now my ex) also refused to stick by the original plans and spent money like there was no end in sight. One rule of thumb for projects like this: "Everything will take twice as long and cost three times as much as you planned." If you manage otherwise, you're incredibly lucky -- or you've done it before!
 

In Heaven, there are no rules.

Lomalagi means "Heaven" in the Fijian language, and it it truly a heavenly setting. 40 miles to open ocean means a very protected location and, with mountain ranges on both sides, it's absolutely gorgeous. The project took about 21 months to complete although, nothing in the tropics is ever "done". There's always something.....  There are only six Villas, all of which are self-contained. Occasional long-term guests do some of their own meal preparation but most have their meals prepared by our chef. We built a 100,000 gallon salt-water pool with two waterfalls, a "playhouse" with pool table & games, a dining pavilion with bar -- and all of the infrastructure buildings -- workshop, staff housing, kitchen & laundry. The property is still a working coconut plantation and about once a week (when they remember to show up), the villagers come and collect the coconuts. The deal we have with them is if they pick them up, they get the income.

One of the greatest benefits of living in "Paradise" is being far away from many of the negative aspects of life in the U.S. As I write this, it's been 3 weeks since the horrible terrorist attacks in New York and DC -- our news is composed of "sound bites" from BBC News -- 30 minutes, 5 days a week. Fiji had an attempted "coup" almost 18 months ago in which 3 people were killed. For a short time, it got almost as much press as the U.S. terrorism -- it must have been a "slow news day". If we hadn't heard about it on the local news, we would have never known about the "coup". A lot of political pressure was put on the Fijians, especially by Australia and New Zealand -- many other countries also imposed "travel advisories". Believe me, it's a lot safer here than just about anywhere else in the world.
.

.