A study of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme has raised questions of how Pacific workers are portrayed in New Zealand regional media.

Dr Angie Enoka’s PhD in Media Studies examined media coverage of the New Zealand government’s RSE scheme, a policy which allows the horticulture and viticulture industries to recruit workers from overseas for seasonal work.

The RSE scheme began in 2007 with a cap of 5,000 workers from five eligible Pacific nations, and despite fluctuations in local unemployment, has grown every year since. Today, that annual number as almost tripled to a current cap of 14,400 workers from nine Pacific nations.

 Dr Enoka studied newspaper coverage of the scheme during its first five years while Pacific RSE workers were living in regional communities.…more

Twenty-eight-year-old Mosana Evagelia grew up in Samoa and recalls her experience volunteering in the hospitals that peaked her interest in a career in medicine.

“I would have been16-years-old at the time and I volunteered in our local hospital during the holidays. I remember realising that most of the doctors working there weren’t even Samoan, they were American or Filipino. I would usually have to translate between the doctors and patients.”

Evagelia says she witnessed a lot of health disparities in children and when her younger sister got sick with rheumatic fever which progressed as rheumatic heart disease she knew a career in medicine would allow her to work and improve health care for Pacific people.  Before coming to New Zealand, Evagelia completed a degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Chaminade University of Honolulu. However, given the expense of education in the USA she decided to further her study and pursue her dream in New Zealand.

In 2019, Evagelia was a recipient of the Pasifika Medical Association’s Papali’i Dr Semisi Ma’ia’i University of Otago Scholarship.…more

On June 24, Angie Enoka will become the first Samoan fa’afafine to graduate with a Doctor of Philosophy in Media Studies at Massey University. Ms Enoka hopes that her academic success will encourage other fa’afafine to look at education as a career option and hopes more Pacific people take on postgraduate studies.

“When you grow up in the Islands, there's such limited opportunity with lots of competition because it's your only window to the world. When you’ve finally made it, it's a never-ending world of learning and you feel that it's never enough,” she says of her lengthy academic journey.

Ms Enoka, whose research focused on the portrayal of Pacific Island seasonal workers by the New Zealand media, will be among a few that will be ratified as a PhD ‘In Council’ at a meeting of the Massey University Council.…more

As a 13-year-old, Simione Tagicakibau helped care for his fragile and ill grandmother in his homeland of Fiji. Now at 35, that experience as a teenager continues to inspire Simione in his nursing career and fuels his passion to care for the Pasifika community.

“During my experience with my grandmother, I saw how the nurses did their jobs and had a passion for caring for others. This is why I pursued nursing and had the motivation to work in health.”

A recipient of a Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) medical scholarship, Simione initially studied nursing in Fiji and worked as a nurse in his home country and the Cook Islands. He moved to New Zealand in 2015 and settled in Christchurch for better opportunities.

“New Zealand provided me with greener pastures and has allowed me to further develop my nursing knowledge and skills.”

Simione had been working in the Pacific Islands for five years.…more

The killing by police of unarmed black man George Floyd in the US has galvanised activism around the world including an outpouring of support from the Pasifika community in New Zealand and around the world.  

Advocates say Pacific people can relate to the targeting and harassment by police that the Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted.  Past protests by Pacific people, including Samoa's independence movement The Mau and The Polynesian Panthers against the Dawn Raids of the 1970's have also inspired many of today's Pasifika generation. 

Pacific Islanders from New Zealand, Australia and the US who attended Black Lives Matter marches last week and more recently over this weekend share why it was important for them as Pasifika to support our black aiga both in the USA and here in our own communities.

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AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND 

Anonymouz aka Faiumu Matthew Salapu 

I love to create art & content that documents events and causes that spotlight where our society currently is, and more importantly, could be.…more

Pasifika young women in New Zealand will benefit from the latest government initiative which will see girls and young women from the ages of 9 - 18yrs old have access to free period products in schools.

"Young people in Waikato will be the first to have free access to period products in schools in another step to support children and young people in poverty,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

 During term 3, the Ministry of Education will begin providing free period products to schools following the Government’s $2.6 million investment. The roll-out will begin at 15 Waikato schools and be expanded to all state and state-integrated schools on an opt-in basis in 2021.

 “We know that nearly 95,000 9-to-18 year olds may stay at home during their periods due to not being able to afford period products. By making them freely available, we support these young people to continue learning at school,” Jacinda Ardern said.…more

• The Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) will pay costs of learners of all ages to undertake vocational education and training
• The fund will target support for areas of study and training that will give learners better employment prospects as New Zealand recovers from COVID-19
• Apprentices working in all industries will have costs paid
• High demand areas, including in regional New Zealand, targeted
• In many cases apprentices, trainees and learners at tertiary providers will save between $2500 and $6500 per year.

The Government has made it easier for New Zealanders who want to train in industries where demand is expected to grow as the country recovers from COVID-19.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the fund, announced as part of Budget 2020, will encourage and support New Zealanders to undertake vocational education and training in these high-demand industries.…more

Ruby Satele tells Coconet TV about how these two samoan Selu are particularly unique. 

What is so unique about Samoan selu? 

These particular sets of selu are tall and elongated in form, making it visible even from front view. Each of the combs are significantly decorated and no two combs are the exact same. They are unique from other Samoan selu as these are purely decorative hair adornments and perhaps the only practical element it may have is to secure a hair style in place. The selu la’au (wooden comb) is a special one and also unique, even in the Pacific, for its level of detail and intricacies embedded in a thin, wooden comb.

Can you describe the dfiferent types of selu that are in the collection? Did they have different ornamental uses and what are each one made of? 

There are two types of selu in the collection; selu tuāniu and selu la’au. The selu tuāniu is made from multiple midribs of the coconut leaflet and held together by lashings, often sennit lashings.…more