Humans of the Islands - Anne Christine Dunn

Anne Christine Dunn

Paralegal preparing to pass the bar & reigning Miss Hibiscus, Miss Fiji & Miss Pacific Islands 

Fijian 

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Tell us a bit about yourself and your Pacific Island heritage.

I’m full Fijian. My Dad is from Namosi, and my mum is from Nadroga. So usually when I introduce myself, I say I’m from Namosi, vasu i Nadroga. I come from a family of two – there’s just my brother (Amos) and I, who’s 12 years older, and he has three beautiful children.

After living in the United States for so long, what brought you back to Fiji?

After elementary and high school in California, I graduated then moved to Fiji to be with my Dad. The most defining experience for me was definitely moving to Fiji. I don’t think people realise how different life is to what people perceive it to be in America. People think you have “the life” when you’re brought up overseas, but in reality, I didn’t have that, and I was raised by a single mother.

So coming to Fiji at the age of18, I was able to completely reinvent myself, because no one here knew me. In high school, I blended in with every group I was in. I was a chameleon and didn’t have a strong sense of my identity.

Since moving back, what have been the most defining experiences for you?

Being in these pageants have been an icing on the cake, but really – the most defining experience was moving to Fiji. Had God not brought me out of America and brought me to Fiji, I would’ve had a different life and I would’ve been a different person. I had the opportunity to leave all that behind, and become the person I always wanted to be.”

Even though I was always around Fijian people in America, I only know how to speak my Mum’s dialect. So being able to have that here, really made me feel like I belong, as well as just being able to look like everyone. I grew up in a predominantly white neighbourhood and while it wasn’t anything racial, I just didn’t identify with anyone beyond a certain extent.

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What led you to choose law school?  

There was no caution in studying law, and I’m glad there wasn’t, otherwise I’d probably be second guessing myself. Staying home wasn’t an option for my Dad.  When I first arrived I spent two months in my mother’s village before I was asked to come back to Suva, and that’s when I started school at USP (University of the South Pacific.

From migrating to Fiji, and studying law, how did you end in a beauty pageant?

While I recognise that I can speak well in church and smaller groups, I never saw myself standing up on stage and addressing a nation. It’s so easy to criticize the contestants and how they answer questions when you haven’t done it before, and that was what I did once too. In the end, I decided that joining the pageant would give me an opportunity to experience Miss Hibiscus from a very different perspective. I signed up, filled out all the forms… submitted them… and told absolutely no one.

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How did your family feel about your involvement?

We had just taken a photo of the Queens (of Hibiscus) and I told my dad and brother that if they saw someone who looked familiar in tomorrow’s paper… it was probably me.

My dad was so happy, and my brother hit the roof. It wasn’t until the crowning that my brother remembered a day that we had come to Miss Hibiscus many years ago, when I was 3 or 4. Apparently it was then that I’d said I wanted to be Miss Hibiscus. And for him to remember that moment is something I cherish and I adore him for. Being crowned was such a sweet moment, having the words being said by him and my Dad.

What do you feel have been the biggest misconceptions of you, since joining these pageants?  

I didn’t go into it [Miss Hibiscus] thinking, this crown is mine. The Miss Fiji pageant I was a bit more confident, only because it was in my hometown (in Sigatoka), and I got to speak in my dialect.

It was good to put all the misconceptions that I couldn’t speak my language to rest. Even though I have an American accent, I am a Fijian through and through. Because I spent my adolescence in America, my accent is something I can’t change. And that doesn’t mean I’m ashamed of being Fijian. I came back to this country because I am proud to be Fijian.

What are you most passionate about?

I love advocating for issues – I do understand in terms of speaking, I can do that somewhat well – or at least I am practicing to do that. So once I’m linked with a project that deserves our attention on any level – like a community issue that may not have the national attention – I’d love to be able to bring that out.

It’s at this time that I recognise the open-minded views that aren’t as easily constricted by cultural and religious protocols that are entrenched in the ways of life for people who are born and raised in the Pacific.

One thing that really got to me was the (Cokanauto) rape case that happened this past week in Fiji. This is something that is tragic, not only because it was a rape case – it was tragic because society won’t say anything.

I know we’re bound by legal doctrine and laws saying we can’t speak out on certain things – but to some extent we must hold people accountable. If we as a society can’t get angry at this – what will it take for us to get angry enough to say something?

What are your hopes for the future of Fiji?

I hope Fiji grows in the aspect of accountability. This tragedy happened to four women and apparently many more – and it breaks my heart to realise that for how many people who attend the different churches on Sunday – no one said anything to stand up for these women. And it took the court case for everyone to check John 4 (in the bible). It took this horrific incident for everyone to turn to the word of God, and there are countries out there in the world that don’t have the freedom to do that.

What is your biggest motivation?

A lot of people see pageants as my biggest accomplishments, but I see it as a part of my journey – and if I’m being completely honest – the only reason I won all three pageants was because of my faith.  It was all because of God.

There wasn’t any magic trick or spell, it was just coming before God and saying this is what it’s going to take (entering each pageant), and I hope to shine your light in this place. That was rewarding in itself, and then to be able to win, and to be able to answer this when people asked me how – I can answer and say that it was all God.