Paul Mitchell, Naracoorte News

From a dirt-poor, domestic violence-impacted home in Fiji, where food on the table was never guaranteed, to the Naracoorte News.

Nasik Swami’s unique journey to our town – and onto our pages every Wednesday – is an unlikely, but inspiring reminder that determination and aspiration remain the most valuable resources for anyone craving a better life.

The odds of a young boy raised on the main Fiji island of Viti Levu eventually playing a key role in making life better for the Pacific region’s LGBTQI population, then using his difficult personal experiences to create change in a women’s crisis centre, and subsequently becoming editor of the Shanti Dut at The Fiji Times would have been astronomical.

That Nasik somehow found his way to Melbourne, then Naracoorte – with his young family in tow and determined to forge a new life – is testament to his perseverance and willingness to embrace the have-a-go ethos of his adopted country.

“This place is now my home,” Nasik says.

“When I meet people and say I’m from Fiji, they immediately ask what I’m doing here.”

To answer that question, we need to go back. Way back. To Nasik’s “humble” upbringing in rural Fiji, where his father was the sole breadwinner, and his mother was a domestic worker.

“Growing up was tough, but my parents taught me to appreciate the little things in life and be grateful and thankful for whatever you had,” he says.

“We didn’t get the luxuries of life. Going to school, I didn’t have proper shoes, just one pair of flip-flops and one uniform for the whole week.

“It was so tough that at times we didn’t have food. Mum would ask our neighbours for food to cook something for our meals.”

Unfortunately, Nasik’s home life was also impacted by domestic violence – a lived experience he would ultimately use to help others.

But more on that later.

After his early schooling, Nasik attended Bhawani Dayal Arya College, professing to be “an average student”.

However, a decision to participate in debating piqued his interest in public engagement, and eventually saw him gain formal qualifications in media and journalism, plus a Masters in International Relations and Diplomacy.

He landed a key communications role for the Pacific Sexual and Gender Diversity Network (PSGDN), which is the regional network for LGBTQI groups and individuals across the Pacific region.

“It works towards ensuring that members of the LGBTQI community live healthy, happy, safe and prosperous lives in fully inclusive and just Pacific societies,” Nasik explains.

“One of my very proud achievements there was setting up a brand-new website for PSGDN – it’s like a home base for LGBTQI individuals and organisations in the Pacific.”

Core funding for Fiji-based PSGDN comes from the Australian, Netherlands and New Zealand governments, and the group lobbies for reforms in countries much less socially progressive than Australia.

“We still have many countries in the Pacific who are part of PSGDN and who criminalise same-sex marriage,” he says.

“So, it’s absolutely groundbreaking work, but there’s still a lot to do.”

Nasik then worked in another communications role, at the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, where his DV-impacted childhood experiences came to the fore.

“Gender-based violence is their core business,” he explains.

“I was working with these women and under the great leadership of the centre’s coordinator and human rights activist, Shamima Ali, to help support survivors of gender-based violence in Fiji through advocacy and strategic communications work.

“This job was very personal to me, because I came from a family where my mum was a victim of domestic violence. I grew up witnessing that – my dad would bash up my mum.

“I wanted to create change, because I’ve seen my mother suffer. It’s not been easy and it’s very personal, but it taught me great things.”

Including how to be a better husband to wife Sonnia?

“Absolutely,” he says, without hesitation.

“I feel I’m always very respectful; I respect opinions, and I respect people.

“If there’s an argument, sometimes you need to take a step back… and just don’t contribute to that argument.”

Feeling the urge to again grow professionally, Nasik landed a job at the “progressive daily”, The Fiji Times, as a cadet reporter.

Over the years he advanced to become a journalist, then team leader, acting deputy chief of staff, and eventually editor of the Shanti Dut, a publication of The Fiji Times.

“It’s the place where it all started for me,” he said.

“It led to many things in my life and I’m so grateful.

“I was hired at a time when Fiji was heading to its 2014 general election, and I was given the responsibility to strategise the political campaign for the newspaper.

“Through teamwork and mentorship from those within The Fiji Times and outside, we delivered an extremely successful, independent and balanced election campaign coverage.”

Nasik says the Fiji paper’s readership varies, but sometimes hits 250,000 on Saturdays. “It’s a daily,” he says. “It’s like the BBC of Fiji.”

Despite forging a successful career in homeland, Nasik says he and Sonnia had good reasons to leave Fiji.

“I get asked that all the time, but we considered a lot of things in making that decision,” he said.

“We have a young family, and we wanted (son) Nirvaan to be in a better place and give him a good future.

“Yes, it was a tough choice to leave my family back at home. We lived together in an extended family, so that’s my dad, my late mum, plus my wife and I, and my son.

“While I was making that decision, my mum was battling stage 4 cancer.”

Nasik eventually came to Australia on a student visa to study Leadership and Management in 2022. He arrived in Melbourne and sought employment to support his studies and livelihood, landing a job in a pet food factory.

He moved to another factory, before searching for a job that would allow him to use his professional skills.

“A few bobbed up and one was the Naracoorte News,” he recalls.

“I didn’t even read or research where Naracoorte was, I just pressed apply. I actually applied for four jobs that night.

“Then after a week or so I get a call when I was at work, but I couldn’t take it.

“Fortunately, this person left a call-back message, and it was (Naracoorte News founder) Michael Waite, who had received my application and was asking if I wanted to move further into the process.”

Soon after a formal interview, Nasik received an email from Michael that his application was successful.

“That moment changed my life,” Nasik says.

“I relocated to Naracoorte after about six months in Melbourne. My wife and son joined me after about five months.

“I had no clue what Naracoorte looked like, although when I got the job, I did search Naracoorte online. I didn’t find a lot of things, but the caves really caught my interest.”

Interestingly, the practical need for life’s necessities cemented Nasik’s love affair with Naracoorte.

“Initially when I came to Naracoorte, I stayed in a fully furnished house,” he explains.

“My family didn’t buy anything because there was no need.

“But a while ago we moved to a new place. We were starting from scratch, and we had nothing to take with us.

“I reached out to the Naracoorte community, through the community Facebook page… and said these are some of the items we need, and that we’d be very happy to buy them.

“I started receiving so many messages of help, just people telling me that this is what they have and that they’re very happy to share them with me – things like an electric kettle.

“They would say ‘We have a spare one, we’re very happy to give one to you’.

“This is the community that accepted me.”

Now firmly ensconced as editor/senior journalist at The [Naracoorte] News, Nasik is more invested in the newspaper than ever, putting his heart and soul into every edition.

“It’s something by the community, for the community,” he says.

“I believe in having a positive impact on the community and The News gives me that avenue.

“I think it’s an amazing platform and it’s an independent platform, influenced by no one.

“Great people have worked here before me, and I’ve heard of their stories and the changes they’ve brought for the community.

“I’m so proud and inspired by some of the stories written by our founding journalist, Chris Oldfield.

“We have a great team that works tirelessly behind the scenes to deliver The [Naracoorte] News.”

Nasik says The [Naracoorte] News continues to do its best – with limited resources – to cover important community issues, and says “council, community and services” are generally the most read stories.

Michael, now based in the USA, says Nasik’s professionalism and journalism have earned respect from the townsfolk.

“We’re blessed to have someone as earnest and hard-working as Nasik,” Michael says.

“Him coming to our town has been a classic win-win.”

All this from a journalist who only began speaking English in primary school.

“English is my second language, Fiji Hindi is my mother tongue,” Nasik, 34, says.

“The good news is our national language is English, because we were colonised by the British.

“I think it was a good thing when Fiji decided to have English as its national language.”

This article appeared in the Naracoorte News.