Coco Talanoa — Coco News / Page 29

Carmel Sepuloni made some big steps up the rankings of cabinet today to number 6, making her the highest ranking Pacific MP with her new roles as Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, and also Employment, alongside her portfolios in Social Development, Disability Issues and ACC. 

Christchurch East MP Poto Williams adds a Kuki Airani flavor to cabinet, having been promoted from outside cabinet to number 10. Poto is in charge of the Building and Construction portfolio as well as Minister for Police. Formerly the Minister for Community and Voluntary sector. 

Tokelauan minister Kris Faafoi, has also moved up the ranks from number 17 to 13 holding on to Broadcasting and Media, and Immigration portfolios as well as the new role of Minister for Justice. 

Aupito Su’a William Sio maintains Minister for Pacific Peoples as well Courts. 

Also of note - there is now more tangata whenua in cabinet then ever before and we have our first female Maori Minister of Foreign Affairs - Nanaia Mahuta.

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Tai 'Bambam' Tuivasa talks to ESPN sports commentator Ariel Helwani on his MMA show.

He talks training with Daniel Cormier at AKA in San Jose, Covid interruptions, fighting for his job and what he's done to prepare, Justin Willis beef and much more ... 

Congratulations to all of our amazing Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika awards recipients this year.  These awards recognise innovation and excellence in Pacific Arts and their contribution to the rich diversity of Aotearoa as a multi-cultural Pacific nation.

Eight Pasifika artists have been acknowledged today across seven categories. 

“It’s a great honour for us to celebrate and recognise the amazing work our Pasifika artists continue to achieve in our communities, in Aotearoa and globally,” says Arts Council of New Zealand Deputy Chair Caren Rangi.

“The eight award recipients this year are artistic and cultural experts in their fields, and the high calibre of applicants demonstrates the diversity of Pasifika talent here in our country and their valuable contribution to our national identity.”

This year’s recipients range from award winning interdisciplinary artists who challenge and innovate, an internationally acclaimed visual artist, to an artist reviving the traditional art of Niuean hiapo.

This year there are two recipients of the Pacific Toa Artist Award, Pelenakeke Brown and Lusi Faiva.…more

Story collated and written by Haitelenisia Afemui ‘Uhila Angilau for her 'Ordinary Tongan Lives' facebook page

“Sometimes my husband would ask me, ‘What’s your childhood memory?’ And you know, the first thing I remember is violence.

I was about 3 or 4 when Mom was attacked by Dad’s brother. My Dad was away for further studies. Mom said to go hide in a bathroom. To this day, I can still hear him attacking my mother while we cried from the bathroom. On another day, my Mom just missed a flying machete by seconds. It was ugly. Then it was just a rough road for my family from there. Mom resigned and worked in the U.S to help repay a family loan. She came back and found Dad had affairs. Then one Sāpate Ako, we came back home and Dad’s clothes were all gone. When they finally divorced, I read the divorce papers.

For years I watched my Mom cry. I don’t know how she managed to get money for us during those years.…more

There are now more Moana MPs in parliament in Aotearoa then ever before! 

The landslide victory of the Labour Party sees the return of four existing Labour MPs, Carmel Sepuloni, Jenny Salesa, Aupito Sua Wlliam Sio and Poto Williams.

Now there are 5 more Labour MPs to add to that list and our first Pasifika Green MP in parliament. 

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Carmel Sepuloni - Labour MP for Kelston

Jenny Salesa - Labour MP for Panmure/Otahuhu 

Aupito Su'a William Sio - Labour MP for Mangere 

Poto Williams - Labour MP for Christchurch East 

Barbara Edmonds - new Labour MP for MANA

Barbara Edmonds is a mother of eight, a specialist tax lawyer, and community fanatic. Titahi Bay, Porirua has been home to Barbara, her husband Chris (Nga Puhi) and their eight children for the last 12 years

Terisa Ngobi- New Labour MP for Otaki

Born, raised and educated in Levin, Terisa Ngobi is a proud Horowhenua local of Samoan and Scottish descent. Terisa’s key focus is for our most needy children, families and elderly to have good access to social services.…more

It has been a year since Samoan mother Vaioleti Tongi experienced the  traumatic stillbirth of her baby son, who died in her womb eight days before she delivered him. 

Grieving the loss of a child who Vaioleti (28) describes as a “gift from God” is  one of the hardest experiences that her and her husband, Tom Tongi (28), have  had to endure.  

Although it is painful for Vaioleti to talk about her experience, she opens up  about her pregnancy to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week and to be an  inspiration to other Pacific mothers who are mourning the loss of a baby. 

“This is an opportunity for bereaved parents to commemorate the brief lives of  their babies, knowing that thousands of other families around the world  understand how they feel and will be doing the same.” 

Vaioleti and her Tongan husband met in 2011 when Vaioleti moved to New  Zealand from Samoa.…more

In the past 10 years, Aotearoa have had record high drowning fatalities. With 320 from 2009-2019, a devastating 89% of these were all Male. 

As summer approaches, it is important for our families and Pacific communities to be safe at NZ beaches and bodies of water such as rivers and lakes.  

New Zealand’s fatal drownings are a shocking 70% higher per capita than Australias. This is very concerning and they are expected to rise if we don’t practice beach safety. 

In the past 10 years, Pasifika had the highest fatal drowning rate. Our brothers, fathers, uncles, grandfathers and sons are being lost to the harsh oceans. 

Surf Lifesavers have tried to raise awareness of the appalling fatal drowning stats for our males across Aotearoa's (NZ's) beaches & coastline . . . including the disproportionately high number of fatal drownings for our Māori & Pasifika males.

Recent reports have shown that Adults have a higher probability of Drowning Fatalities at our beaches. With 35-44 year olds being the age bracket with the highest numbers of Fatal Drownings.…more

2020 has been a rough year for Kiwi’s, with one Level 4 lockdown back in March and another Level 3 lockdown more recently, many jobs were lost.

In September economist Brad Olsen stated “Over the last four weeks, just over 5800 additional Jobseeker Support recipients have commenced, with additions to just Jobseeker Support now at levels last seen in mid-May 2020,” 

Companies have struggled to keep their employees employed, with large corporations such as AIR NZ seeing over 4,000 jobs lost due to Covid-19.

But one Pasifika owned contracting company had a contrasting issue due to the pandemic. Instead of struggling to keep their employees employed, they struggled to HIRE enough people.

Momoisea Horticulture Services Ltd (MHSL) is a family owned orchard contracting company with 30+ years of experience in the field. MHSL offers their services to private and commercial growers in Hawkes Bay, by providing orchard owners and growers with orchard workers/teams to prune, thin and help with harvesting fruit. 

Currently New Zealand is in a 10,000 deficet of RSE workers.…more

New Podcast alert! 

Cousins Jules and Mary talk about life as Samoans being raised outside of Samoan customs and traditions.  Join them as they chat, laugh and cry through their stories and experiences.

Prior to this episode, Jules and Mary sent out a list of questions to their non-Samoan partners to find out what their perception of Samoan women were before dating one, what it's like to date a Samoan, and many more juicy questions .... Check out this episode to find out what their responses were.

And click here to listen to their full podcast playlist on Youtube.

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Find them on social media here:

Facebook: @IndieFaithPodcast

Instagram: @indiefaithpodcast

Hosted by Māni Dunlop.

Taking part were Dr Kelly Feng, the director of Asian Family Health Services; Dr Huhana Hickey, a human rights lawyer and disability advocate; Richard Pamatatau, a journalism lecturer at AUT who specialises in human rights and ethics; and Dr Collin Tukuitonga, associate dean Pacific at Auckland University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.