Law & Lore
- Collaborator
- Jul 1
- 9 min read
Updated: Oct 2
By Zaneta Kafa
First and foremost, all Glory and Honor be to our Lord all mighty, without whom I will not be who I am today: standing, breathing and continuously seeking out my God ordained purpose.
My name is Zaneta Furioa Kafa from Solomon Islands. Oh! I am also a lawyer. But right now, I am a student at the University of Queensland pursuing my LLM. Since August 2019, I have worked with the Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission as a legal officer. Do I go to court? No (lucky me!). Do I get to have fancy arguments like the lawyers do from those American TV Shows? Unfortunately, no, but my husband would say otherwise.
I like to regard myself as a ‘special type’ of lawyer because the work we do influences the new shape of an old law might take when it is changed by Parliament. BUT! The best part of being a law reform lawyer is that I have the opportunity to travel to different parts of Solomon Islands and consult with people from all walks of life to: raise awareness, educate; have that conversation with people about what our law says; problems we have identified, or they have identified with it; then we get to hear/record what their opinions or ideas are to strengthen the law or sometimes to remove it entirely because that piece of law has become irrelevant. The team and I can have a consultation in a conference room at a hotel or an office in the city one day and then in the next consultation we might be outdoors under a mango tree or sitting in a community hall by the seaside or a leaf house in the middle of the bush.
Why I chose to become a law reform lawyer
Ever since my third year of undergrad, I had an interest in the law reform making process – more specifically the community engagement side of it after being fixated with LW305 Current Development in Pacific Law in 2017. As part of an assessment, I chose to do a presentation on a betal-nut ordinance from the Solomon Islands. During the research process I remember thinking
“how can such a law exist to control something that is a part of our culture and one of the main socio-economic activities?”.
Then when I had put together my presentation that curiosity grew because “why do we have laws like these when people do not follow them?”. In Solomon Islands betal-nut ordinances for town areas have a low compliance rate because selling of betal nut is the main source of income for a lot of people and it has not only cultural value but a high social currency. So, when I got to answering the why question curiosity led to another question, ‘if this is why people are not following the betal nut ordinance, how can we make the laws more responsive to people?’.
This never-ending curiosity fueled a need to find an answer, which in turn gave me a purpose of pursuit within my field of study.
As I write this, the memory and excitement from 8 years ago still runs fresh. That is because that curiosity born during Dr Jowitt’s class in 2017 has sustained my passion for being a law reform lawyer, which in turn drives my determination to seek out my purpose in this profession and hopefully to answer the greatest question of all, ‘why am I here?’. Since joining the Law Reform Commission August 26, 2019 I have had the opportunity to work with some of the most brilliant people from various professional backgrounds, but nothing compares to the privilege of going out in the field for our community engagements to better understand the whys and the learn to create the hows.
A peak into the adventures of a law reform lawyer.
One of my most memorable consultation trips was in March 2023. My team and I travelled to Shortland Islands and surrounding Faoro Islands and Mono Island. These group of islands are more closer 150 km to Autonomous Region of Bougainville than our capital which is about 537km away. To get there we had to travel on a twin-otter airplane to an island airport. From there we took a boat to the main island where we were based but would travel out by sea consultations in different villages.
Not only was this one of the most beautiful parts of Solomon Islands but every day while traveling it was a new adventure. Nine out of ten times I love this part of my job, the other one out of ten, this is my greatest fear in life traveling by boat. It took me a few years before I admitted to my boss and colleagues that I am not a fan of sea traveling because I get extremely seasick and I can’t swim. Thankfully everyone was super understanding and whenever we travel, I always get the fun task to look after the life jackets. So really at the end of the day we all win!
Another great part of working for the Law Reform Commission is utilizing local languages. While all our work is written in English, we can speak pidjin inglis (our common language which is more like broken English) or our own mother-tongues when we are out in the field. This is because when we go to a village sometimes most of our participants did not speak or understand pidjin. So, it will be helpful if a member of our team is from that province or speaks a common language from that area.
While this area of the legal field is a bit more relaxed, it takes a lot of preparation pre-consultation and depending on the setting my legal training for a cold and sterile adversarial environment becomes less useful when I get confronted with people’s real life everyday issues. And times like that it’s a sad realization that our laws are not as protective of the people as it should be. It gets even worse when the issues are those affecting women, young people and children – I had times when I’ve struggled to hold it together as people shared their experiences and it leaves an emotional weight during and after consultations. And this was something my four years at USP Emalus Campus did not prepare me for.
So why have I stayed at this job? The best answer is curiosity, passion and purpose. The curiosity of the why and the how keeps the passion I have for the work I do, and it fuels my sense of purpose with my professional qualifications. At the end of the day, I cannot picture myself in a courtroom, but I can in a community hall. With this short summary, if you or someone you know is interested in pursuing a legal career, I hope this shows that there is more to being a lawyer than just going to Court.
So how does my career relate to leadership.
After leaving University and during that ‘in-between’ period before I secured a job, I started mapping out my five to ten years goals; how can I achieve these goals and what I need to invest on myself to do that. Through that process I realised if I would need to invest in my skill and knowledge in leadership if I would like to go up the ranks in my career. So, I applied and got into several leadership programs. Through each program and with each mentor I began to develop not only my leadership skills, but I was able to discover my core values and principles. I call these my anchors because these not only keep me rooted to the ground but also guides me whenever I face a leadership challenge.
What I’ve learnt about leadership so far and what it means to be a ‘leader’
My Zaneta definition of a leader is that this is a person who is not always at the front ‘leading everyone’. This type of leader is always amongst his or her people, in the middle, the sides or even at the back, making sure everyone is progressing along, and no one gets left behind. But he or she will always stay prepared to recognise when the occasion calls to step forward and take the helm. However, once the occasion has passed, this leader also knows when to step back amongst the people and continue the walk with them.
And the marker of what makes a good leader is their core principles – what they stand for, and their ability to lead themselves on the inside and outside, in public and in private. Because at the end of the day what affects us in our personal life will determine how we operate as a professional in public. How we navigate through will determine our leadership style through the type of leader we are.
Have I achieved this? ABSOLUTELY Not. Or at least not yet because I am always learning in this space.
Is this idealistic or can it be real?
Everything at some point started out as an idea until someone courageous enough comes along and turns it into a reality.
It takes courage to step up and be a leader, yes, some people are just born leaders, but I believe leadership is an individual craft, uniquely made by the individual who embodies it. The leadership quality in a leader is made because they were curious enough to take that bold step that others would not. That curiosity then allows them to start charting and navigating their own cause, using their creativity. Creativity means more than art. A person’s ability to create and be creative is the result of the culmination of their exposure, their core values and principles, their faith and beliefs, the influence of their upbringing, their learnings from life and overall culture.
From the time our people arrived on the shores we now call home; our people have learnt to utilise and enhance the resources around them and build from it – it then becomes knowledge which becomes tradition in turn develops into a culture. In an average Pasifika home, we are fortunate to have living generations of shared knowledge and tradition of resilience, ingenuity and faith that has created the bedrock for a culture that has cultivated not only our present leaders, but our emerging leaders and the leaders to come.
In the ideal world that is how all great leaders are made, and we can all collectively work for world peace because we value humanity and want to leave this world a better place. Sadly, that is not true and real life works differently.
BUT! You and I can make a difference in our own lives and to those around us, by leading ourselves with the guidance of our non-negotiable principles and stay courageous with a never-ending curiosity on how we can address problems we encounter (one at a time) in new creative and innovative ways, “with great power comes great[er] responsibilities”.
So dearest reader, if you’ve made it to the end – thank you. Thank you for allowing me to take up some of your most precious asset in this world – your time. If you will take anything from this jumble of words, remember this scripture:
Jeremiah 29: 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
We will only die once - so let’s aim to live a purposeful life, not only for ourselves but also our loved ones.
Wishing you all the very best in your journey,
Zaneta.
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About the Collaborator
My name is Zaneta Furioa Kafa, and I am a proud daughter of the Solomon Islands.I come from a home built by a Tobaitan woman and a Zabana man, and I am the eldest of three siblings. I am also the wife of a kind-hearted man from Are'are/Sikaiana and the mother of two beautiful little girls. Though I am currently on study leave and living in Brisbane, Australia, my heart will always belong to the Solomon Islands—my true home. My educational journey has been eclectic, shaped not only by formal schooling across different countries but also by the rich tapestry of culture, tradition, and religion that surrounded me. Growing up, I dreamed of becoming a historian. Life, however, led me to law. I graduated from the University of the South Pacific in 2018 and began serving as a Government Lawyer for the Solomon Islands in mid-2019.
While I hold aspirations beyond my current role, I believe my purpose—for now—is to serve the people of the Solomon Islands through both my official duties and voluntary work.
If you’re reading this, my prayer for you is simple: may you find your purpose—and live in it.
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