Girmit Day is an interesting cultural experience you can join in with - great fun!

Papatoetoe Central Rotary extends a very special invitation to all Rotarians and their partners to their first annual charity dinner event honouring Girmit.

Indo-Fijians are Fiji citizens who are fully or partially of Indian descent, which includes descendants who trace their heritage from various parts of the Indian subcontinent. They are mostly descended from indentured labourers, girmitiyas or girmit, from northern part of India brought to the islands by Fiji's British colonial rulers between 1879 and 1916 to work on Fiji's sugar cane plantations. The first indentured labour ship that brought Indians to Fiji was the Leonidas in 1879. The importance of Girmit Day is to celebrate the heritage and provide an idea of the difficulties their ancestors went through.

Proceeds from the event are going to Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation, Ronald Macdonald House Charity and St John Ambulance.