It was a show of a brotherhood that transcends thousands of miles and crosses borders. Former students of Marist Brothers schools in Fiji showed up to Marist Primary to present a token of their bond on Monday.

The President of the Fiji Marist Old Boys Association in Samoa, Henry Valentine presented 25 desks and chairs to the school.

As an ex-Matrist scholar, he spoke on behalf of his fellow alumni residing in Samoa. 

He said that this was an initiative they were looking at in terms of how they could assist the school, so they provided desks and chairs for a class. The total amount that went into the donation was $8,000. 

"This is something to give back to the school. There are about 10 of us living here in Samoa. Some corporate sponsors were part of this good initiative. Wilson Fang of Splendid Investments, Niko Caffarelli of Sign Studios, Rakesh Singh of Powerlites, Thomas Grant of Linkpac, and Ben Lutua of Export International Freight. Not forgetting Fiji Marist Old Boys of 91-95 and Fiji Marist Old Boys Samoa," he said.

"This was something we thought was a good way of giving back to the school. And there are more initiatives to come along the way. However, we just want to thank you for being part of this journey and we hope we could contribute and do more for the school going forward. 

"We have delivered 20 and five more will be delivered tomorrrow. We thought that this would be the best to do for the school, as you can see Marist is a very good school. We would like to uphold the integrity and honour of the school by providing our students with proper equipment."

Valentine mentioned that they wanted to ensure that they get the best out of the students in terms of them being comfortable in the classroom. In response to the donation, the principal of Marist Brothers Primary School, Brother Siaosi Ioane said these donations would benefit the students greatly. 

"These desks will go straight to Year One, we are grateful to the Fiji Marist for their kind donation to our school. These will help in the development of our school, and as you've heard this is only the beginning of our great partnership with the Fiji Marist."