When Patricia was a child, she wanted to become “Captain Planet” and save the world. Little did she know that living in Fiji, a country regularly stricken by extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change, she would become a humanitarian and environmental activist, championing her country’s resilience.
Patricia’s story is part of a Connecting Business initiative (CBi)’s series of profiles of humanitarians, working with the private sector and involved in disaster’s preparedness, response and recovery.
Growing up in a changing climate
Patricia Mallam grew up in a popular neighborhood of Suva, the capital city of Fiji. She has vivid memories of her grandmother teaching her to listen to the signs of nature and sharing with her traditional knowledge. “When she saw three breadfruits on a tree’s branch, she would say that it was nature’s way of giving a little extra in preparation for bad times. For her, it was a sign of an upcoming disaster.” Growing up, Patricia remembers seeing increasingly generous breadfruits in Fiji, and even more frequent disasters. Family parties and celebrations were often canceled, as Christmas in Fiji coincides with the cyclone season. “Ever since I’ve been a teenager, we haven’t been able to celebrate the holiday season normally”, she says.
Fiji is indeed one of the countries most impacted by the climate crisis, while contributing less than 1% to global emissions. The Pacific small island state is impacted by rising sea levels, ocean acidification, saltwater intrusion, droughts and the growing intensity of tropical cyclones. In 2012, the residents of Vunidogoloa became the first community to be relocated because of climate change. Since then, dozens of coastal villages had to be relocated. “Unless the world acts decisively to begin addressing the greatest challenge of our age, then the Pacific, as we know it, is doomed”, said Frank Bainimarama, COP23 President and Fijian Prime Minister.
Patricia draws her generosity from her family roots. “Every time a cyclone happened in our neighborhood, my parents would open their doors to families who had lost water or power in their house”, she recalls. “I’d see people coming together and sharing food. This taught me the value of helping others without expecting anything in return.”
Mobilizing business to improve disaster resilience in Fiji
Patricia is now the Vice Chair of the Fiji Business Disaster Resilience Council (FBDRC), a private sector organization hosted by the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) and a Member Network of the Connecting Business initiative (CBi). FBDRC supports small businesses in Fiji and provides a coordination mechanism for the private sector to engage with the Government and partners on resilience building, response and recovery activities.
The network helped respond to the recent Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasa, another category 5 cyclone, which struck the country in December 2020 and Cyclone Ana which caused extensive flooding and destruction in January 2021, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patricia and the team at FBDRC partnered with the National Disaster Management Office to support the business community.
In addition to supporting national efforts, Patricia also worked with a smaller group, the Fiji Social Media Entrepreneurs Community (FSMEC), who raised funds to support small businesses in the Northern parts of Fiji and help them kick-start their activities. The FSMEC provided ovens and farming inputs to help with recovery after the devastating impact of the severe tropical cyclone Yasa.
In the wake of the recent volcanic eruption in Tonga, Patricia worked closely with the Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management (A-PAD) to coordinate the supply of essential relief items through Fiji to Tonga. Closed borders and travel restrictions added another level of complexity to this operation, however, with timely support, a container-load of water and other relief supplies were sent to Tonga.
Dealing with a deadly cyclone
But Patricia’s most memorable experience was when she had to deal first hand with STC Winston, the first category 5 cyclone to hit the country on 20 February 2016, affecting 40% of the population, killing 42 people and displacing thousands, while causing damages worth US$ 1.4 billion, or about 31% of Fiji’s GDP.
Back then, Patricia was working as Global Public Relations Manager for Tourism Fiji. “Unlike the usual tropical cyclones, STC Winston didn’t just appear and dissipate, it hovered around in the region for at least a week before it developed into a fully-fledged cyclone and made landfall on Viti Levu, Fiji.”
“That night, I didn’t sleep, and neither did I the next night. We had recently established a crisis communications protocol, but there was no time for a test run. In the days and hours leading to the cyclone’s landfall we organized the evacuation of hundreds of tourists, working in close collaboration with the airlines and the hotels. We then set up a mechanism to assess damages in tourism properties using a very basic, yet accessible spreadsheet. We kept partners informed in real time about the situation. But at one point, I realised that those of us doing this work had to worry about our own safety. As a single mother, I had to take care of my twelve-year old daughter. I stayed at the office where I was monitoring the situation and coordinating updates closely with the Fiji Meteorological Service until the last minute, then I had to rush home. That night, the cyclone battered our house as if 100 people were banging on our door, all night long. Windows were smashed by objects flying into the shutters, and the heavy rain poured into the house. It was terrifying for both of us. In the morning, we were exhausted, but my daughter knew I wanted to get back to work. She helped me pack the car and drive around to carry out the first visual assessment of the damages. The level of devastation was terrible.”
“A humanitarian is someone who is always helping people.”
Patricia worked with local businesses to help with reconstruction and recovery. Through the Tourism Action Group, Tourism Fiji worked with airline and accommodation partners to develop a targeted sales and marketing campaign to get the tourism industry, the driver of Fiji’s economy, back on its feet. “For me, it was a critical lesson to see how the private sector could work together, act quickly and make key decisions to mobilize people and resources. I wish the humanitarian sector could work as quickly as the private sector when it comes to decision making for action.”
Woman entrepreneur and change maker
Entrepreneur, humanitarian, bodybuilder, communication specialist: there’s nothing that Patricia can’t do.
“I don’t think there are any limits to what anyone can be, and as I’ve learnt in the last few years, anyone can literally change their career path at any given moment,” she says. “I am a bit of a misfit in terms of my career progression because I have worked across sectors, especially in Fiji, where positions of authority are held by older males. But I thrive on discomfort. I think it’s important to be comfortable with change and adapt when you need to because that’s when you see the growth within yourself and become more resilient.”
In 2020, after the first wave of COVID-19 hit Fiji and devastated the tourism industry, Patricia created a green co-working space in Suva City. Everything in the space was upcycled to create a low-carbon impact business. The co-working space gathered climate finance specialists, architects, photographers, and offered psychological support and became a hub for people to gather and reconnect in a difficult time.
“The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that there is a time to act quickly to save lives, but it’s also important to slow down and foster those relationships that take time to build. So what we’ve learned from the pandemic we can apply to other disasters. Now the priority is to bring back the “human” in humanitarian action.”
As a young woman leading a business, Patricia has often faced criticism. “People who haven’t seen me often assume that I’m older, or white. They’d tell me my English is really good, while it’s my first language! As first it angered me. Now I use it as an opportunity to educate people. We are just starting to speak up in the Pacific. It’s time to reclaim and decolonize our space, and get respect for the knowledge we have.”
Her message to young Fijian women? “Be bold and unapologetic about learning and growing. Don’t just talk about it, do it.”
Patricia’s story is part of a series of humanitarian profiles we’re publishing as part of the international campaign around World Humanitarian Day, highlighting the life-saving work of humanitarian workers and volunteers around the world. You can read other profiles here.
At the Connecting Business initiative (CBi), we work with country-level business networks to mobilize businesses of all sizes to support humanitarian response in some of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, to improve communities’ resilience to climate change. If you’re interested in finding out more, you can sign up for our mailing list here or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.