Young Fijian Man pins walking hopes on Auckland visit

For everyone else at Auckland International Airport it was just another day … for one Fijian teenager it was the beginning of the rest of his life.

17 year-old Varayame Batini is in New Zealand for an operation that may see him walking again after many years confined to a wheelchair.

Funding for the trip, his stay in Auckland and all surgical considerations are as a result of a ROMAC/Rotary joint initiative following an approach by amateur documentary film-maker Sarah Graham Read.  Sarah spotted Varayame during a trip to Fiji, got talking to him, was moved by his story and the rest, as they say, is history.

Also at the airport to meet Varayame and his Mum was an Auckland-based Aunt who will host her nephew while he is here, a documentary crew who will be following Varayame’s journey, ROMAC representatives and a contingent from St John’s Rotary who are handling all the transportation for Varayame while he is here.

Varayame was all smiles after his first ever trip on a plane though Mum Ilsapeci was visibly moved.

Varayame will now begin a series of surgical assessments with surgery scheduled for early next month.

He is staying with his Aunt in Te Atatu while he is in New Zealand.