19 January, 2026, 9:53 am Central - 30°C Rain

Former Shoeshine boy proves many people wrong after recent achievement

Former Shoeshine boy proves many people wrong after recent achievement

By Lena Reece
16/02/2019
Former Shoeshine boy Livai Koroitamana [Photo: Supplied]

Former Shoeshine boy Livai Koroitamana has proven many wrong after his recent achievement of being appointed as a Line Marking Foreman for Fulton Hogan Hiways.

Koroitamana who dropped out of school in class four had soon after become a shoeshine boy on the streets of Suva, earning a few dollars a day just to keep himself supplied with food and clothing.

He constantly reminded himself that the streets should never be the end for him and he was confident he would find a job that would get him off the streets.

After a few years working as a shoeshine boy, Koroitamana met a man who played a huge role in assisting him first becoming a wheelbarrow boy before getting his driver’s licence.

With a helping hand from a good samaritan, Koroitamana applied to Fulton Hogan Hiways with his driver’s license and hope for a better life and got his first job off the streets working with the pothole patching crew for his first three months, before being transferred to the Line Marking Department as a Line Marking Operator.

Early this year, Koroitamana who is now a father of two got promoted to being a Foreman.

The wheel barrow boy turned line marking foreman has stressed to every struggling individual out there that not everyone is bright academically, but we all have our own interests, or talents that we could use as opportunities to becoming someone better in life.

Koroitamana says that it was a hard life, but struggle sure had done him good, moulding him into becoming someone better, for himself, his wife and his two children.

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