London

‘Canary Wharf is amazing’ says Vatu Raratabu. ‘It is one of my favourite places in London.’ East London’s futuristic paean to capitalism is an unlikely icon for the 26-year-old Fijian who is stationed in London with the British Army’s 16th Royal Artillery. In fact, it’s about as far from his childhood home as you could imagine.

His hometown on the tiny island of Matuku (‘eight hours by boat’ – from the Fijian capital of Suva) sounds like a fantasy. ‘When I was growing up there were no vehicles, food consisted of fresh fish and vegetables, root crops and pigs that we hunted in the jungle. Islanders need money only for basics such as sugar, oil and salt. Otherwise we grow our own veg and catch fresh fish. My house was five metres from a beach.’ Feature continues

But even tropical idylls have their downsides and in Fiji unemployment is rife – a situation which makes it a fertile recruiting ground for the British Army.

‘It sounded an exciting way of seeing what the world is about,’ says Raratabu, who already had one brother in the UK with the Northern Ireland air corps.

Colonised by Britain in 1874, Fiji has a long connection with the ‘mother country’. Fijians have served in the British Army for generations, helping combat the Japanese in World War II, and later serving in Malaya, Borneo and Oman as well as Iraq. Around 2,000 Fijians now serve with British regiments around the world.

Raratabu was accepted on to the British Army’s training scheme in Surrey. ‘The letter telling me I’d got in took four weeks to arrive,’ he says. He flew out in February 2000. ‘It was the first time I’d been in a plane. I didn’t even know how to put the seatbelt on,’ he says. But flying was the least of his problems: ‘I knew the London weather would be cold. But I didn’t realise what I was in for. When I got on the plane I was wearing my surf pants. When I got off at Heathrow it was absolutely freezing.’

His memories of the first few weeks here are of the ‘horrible cold’, and the 11-hour time difference. But there were upsides. ‘One night I was on duty at the camp but I fell asleep. While I was sleeping it started to snow. At 3am I woke up and the first thing I saw was white everywhere. I started taking pictures. My instructor said, “Are you crazy?” I said, “Sorry, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen snow.” ’