The funeral of a Fijian teenager who died while on holiday in New Zealand has taken place in Suva with recognition of a short life that touched on three countries. 

Representatives of the Anglican Church in New Zealand and Australia travelled to Fiji to farewell Deepika Kumar today. They knew the 18-year-old through their links with St Christopher’s Home in Suva which cared for her.

Deepika was taken into St Christopher’s Home, run by the Sisters of the Community of the Sacred Name, after her mother, grandmother and aunty died.

The 27 ‘brothers and sisters’ she lived at the home with have sung and prayed round her since her body was returned to the home yesterday 

Speakers at today's funeral said her desire to be a journalist was a way to find her father and to make things better for her community. In 2012 Deepika had won an essay competition organised by the NZ High Commission in Fiji.

The Commission's Head of Mission to Fiji, Mark Ramsden, attended the funeral and spoke of a life from adversity that had achieved so much. 

Deepika’s achievements reflected a great deal about her and about St Christopher’s care for her, he said. Her death was a tragedy but within and beyond the church there was also a story of hope in how she had achieved so much.

Deepika had been in Wellington in an Anglican parish since December and died in Waikato Hospital after being found in the pool of a Hamilton motel last Saturday. She was to return to Fiji to begin university this week.