Nauru was a fantastic place for us to live. In the five years we lived on Nauru we were able to finally encounter peace and stability to our lives after we left Angola.

Professionally, the jobs I undertook were not very demanding once I learnt sufficient English to make communication easier. With my "training" in Angola in dealing with people under duress the politics of Nauru were very tamed and caused no sweat to handle. I could concentrate on diving and photography.

The Republic of Nauru in one shot

We lived a quiet and enjoyable life in Nauru; we started there our lives in English speaking environments and for the large majority of people on the island English was a second language. It made learning so much easy because we did not have to feel embarrassed for not speaking it very well.

Being a small island and with so few people it provided a safe place to bring up our daughters. They started school there and Nauru primary education system provided them good foundations for the education they continue in Australia.

Diving was fabulous and we did it more than 500 times. I started underwater photography in Nauru and the beauty of the coral reef finally convinced Filomena to take the plunge despite the stories about sharks, deep diving and difficult entry and exit the reef.

The family enjoyed the quiet lifestyle and Erica and Rita roamed free on the Island and on the "free bus" the company provided.

We will try to provide a picture of the life on Nauru by telling some stories about the times we lived there. Click on the title to go to he story.