The Mad Doctor
Story and photos by John Penisten, U.S. Peace Corps, Fiji I Group, 1968–69
(Note: this story is adapted from the book Green Hills and Blue Lagoons: A Peace Corps Memoir which details the experiences and adventures of the writer, a member of the very first U.S. Peace Corps group to serve in the Fiji Islands in 1968–69.)
If there was such a thing as a “mad doctor” then Buca Bay had its own in the personable figure of Dr. Joe Romanu. “Doc” had won his title, “Vuniwai Lialia,” literally translated as “mad doctor,” for his notorious and wild escapades.
Doc was 26 years old, stood 5’10”, weighed 180 lbs., short hair on a muscular frame, and wore scholarly looking horn-rimmed glasses. A native of Kadavu, he was a graduate of the Fiji School of Medicine. While not exactly the same as an M.D., he was trained as a medical practitioner to help meet the needs of the local people. He was the Medical Officer for Buca Bay in charge of the clinic at Tukavesi where I was stationed.
I got to know Doc in 1968–69 when I was assigned to the Department of Agriculture station at Buca Bay, Tukavesi, on Vanua Levu Island. I conducted an agriculture census of the region. My living quarters, a traditional Fijian thatched house (bure) was just below the medical clinic and Doc’s own house up on the hill.
Doc spoke excellent English with a very strong British accent. His favorite saying upon seeing a friend was, “Hey you bugger!” He was a friendly, outgoing person with an effervescent personality.
The Medical Department had given Doc a vehicle to drive on his rounds in Buca Bay. It was a small dune buggy thing called a Mini-moke. It had a collapsible canvas top, The trouble was that Doc had it so infrequently because it was usually being repaired. Doc kept running into coconut trees or into ditches. In fact, he really couldn’t drive a motor vehicle.
When he was given the car he had never driven before, like so many Fijians. Doc, being a really macho guy, threw caution to the wind and drove like a mad man. He literally burned up the gravel roads around Buca Bay. As he roared through the villages and along the coast, all you could see was a cloud of dust. He fishtailed around curves, narrowly missing trees, ditches, drop offs, and the ocean. Doc became a different person once he got behind the wheel.
And that was why his little car ended up in the repair shop so often. Doc could not control the beast that was in him when he got behind the wheel. Inevitably, he ran into something. Luckily, he was never injured, not even his pride. For as soon as he got his wheels back, he would be out tearing up the roads again. He just never learned.
Doc had his troubles alright. He was such a wild driver that the police finally took away his driver’s license for a while to teach him a lesson. And one other time, the medical department took away the car, thinking that doing without it might teach Doc a thing or two. Wrong. Neither action seemed to have much of an effect.
But Doc was a real good friend. There were many times that he invited me up to his house, just above where I lived in Tukavesi. We would often have lunch or dinner together. Other times we would have a grog session at night, play some cards, and listen to the radio or play some records on his battery powered record player. We’d even have some of the sweet young things up from the village for dances that lasted till the early morning hours. Doc loved to have people around and enjoyed having a good time in true Fijian tradition.
One time in fact, Doc got into the beer brewing business. It was during the pineapple season when he began experimenting with making pineapple beer. He would use the medical clinic to sterilize bottles and prepare his mixture of pineapple pulp, sugar, yeast, and so on. He let the stuff ferment in the bottles for a couple of weeks or so.
The results were rather astonishing. The pineapple beer he made was really great stuff. It was pretty potent too and we spent a couple of nights up at Doc’s place getting pretty high on pineapple beer.
As all good things come to an end, Doc was eventually transferred to Viti Levu, Fiji’s main island, in mid-1969. So I lost another good buddy, a guy who probably because of his notoriety, was transferred to the middle of Viti Levu where there were no roads and no medical department cars to smash up.
Dr. Joe Romanu was truly one of those unforgettable characters of Fiji who made my entire experience a little richer, a lot more colorful, and much more meaningful.
Other stories about the Peace Corps in Fiji:
Sergeant Major Savenaca Does His Duty | by John Penisten | Hawai’i TraveLog | Medium
About the Writer
John Penisten is a photojournalist and longtime resident of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai’i. He has authored the guidebooks Hawai’i the Big Island, Kaua’i the Garden Island, Adventure Guide to Hawai’i, and Experience the Big Island: The Road to Adventure. His personal adventure book Green Hills and Blue Lagoons: A Peace Corps Memoir covers his travels and experiences as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in the Fiji Islands, South Pacific. His travel stories and photos have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.
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