Coco Talanoa — Coco News / Page 44

The Cougar Boys Torrell Tafa shares a week of his life as a Long Haul Flight Attendant based out of New Zealand.

Would you become a flighty after seeing this?

Auckland hospitality and cookery school Ignite Colleges has joined forces with a group of Auckland high schools to raise money for Kiwi kids with cancer.

Students from Year 10 up to Year 13 from Mt Albert Grammar School, Papakura High School, Lynfield College, Tangaroa College, Aorere College and De La Salle College cooked up a storm at Ignite Colleges in Manukau, creating a mouth-watering feast for 85 guests, and raising more than $8000 for the Child Cancer Foundation.

Recently South Auckland exploded with the ideas, innovations and sheer bombasity of over 300 young Pasifika women connecting in one space. The SISTERS UNITED fono attracted over 13 school groups and 100 other young women from around Auckland and as far away as Tauranga to take part in workshops that ranged from ‘How to Be A Boss lady’ to Social Media, Self Love and Women Care sessions around hygiene.

The kaupapa of the day was to offer a safe space for questions that they may be too shy to ask in other environments, coming out of school workshops that Sisers United have taken.…more

Pacific Settlement Support Services, a first of its kind service in New Zealand, was set up 3 months ago by 3 Samoan women, Zeprina Fale, Laura Keil-Hall and Mandy Si'itia through a collaboration between their organisations. Zeprina and Mandy through Bluespur Charitable Trust and Laura through LKH Consulting. Laura also owns and runs The Pacific Business Hub.…more

Families and friends outside of Samoa can now receive umu baked ‘ulu (breadruit) in the frozen form, to be microwaved and ready to eat! 

Tuimaseve Kuinimeri Finau and her Food Science team in Samoa are collaborating again with Su’as Traditional Growers & Farmers to ship frozen, umu baked ‘ulu to Australia as an additional new product via sea freight, the more economical route for exporting frozen crops. Products have been prepared since the beginning of the fruiting season, packed and labelled.

Fresh and even baked breadfruit through personal consignment from Samoa has been banned by New Zealand for more than five years.  In May this year the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa collaborated with Event Polynesia Ltd (marketing) and Oasis Resources Ltd (importer) two companies based in Auckland New Zealand, allowing 243 packs of traditionally umu baked, frozen Maopo and Puou to be air freighted over.…more

Each year, more than 70 billion coconuts are consumed and their hairy shells become waste.

Dutch start up company Cocopallet decided to make pallets out of them that are stronger, cheaper and much more sustainable than the wooden alternative.

They have developed a technique to press 100% bio-based export compliant pallets for Asian exporters.

Currently, these exporters use 1.7 billion wooden pallets per year, causing 170 million trees to be harvested. CocoPallet saves millions of trees, heavily reducing our carbon footprint while paying farmers for their waste and saving costs for customers.

Check out more of the uses for Coconuts here:

Human Rights advisor-Pasifika for the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Tuiloma Lina‑Jodi Vaine Samu talks about the value of learning te reo Maori for Pacific Islanders.

Why did you think it was important to learn Te Reo in Aotearoa?

Aotearoa is the only place where the dialects of Te Reo Māori can be spoken that are attached to the land, waters and people. The indigenous languages of Kai Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Whakatōhea, Ngāti Awa, Ngai Te Rangi, Tūhoe, Tūwharetoa, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue, Taranaki, Te Ātiawa, Tainui-Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Kahu, Te Aupouri to name a few belong here!

How long did it take you to learn and how did you do it?

I’ve been learning Te Reo Māori since I was a child aged 3. I am now 50 and have therefore been on a magnificent lifelong journey of learning Te Reo. I have been speaking Māori since primary, intermediate, secondary school and then University to Master’s degree level.…more

He's the flying finisher with the flashing smile making plenty of people sit up and take notice in five games in the big time.

But for promising Panther Brian To'o, that smile masks the despair of losing his little sister to cancer a day before his 10th birthday.

The year was 2008 and To'o was forced to say goodbye to eight-year-old Dannielle, who passed away after a short battle with the dreaded disease.

"It's still fresh to us so it keeps me grounded and focused in life," To'o shares with League Life. 

Rachel Lei shares her adoption story - what it was like growing up after being placed in a permanent foster care family and then finding out specifically that she was half Samoan & half Mexican.

On top of that she was able to meet both of her biological families (Birth Mother & Fathers families) 

Video credit:  Rachel Lei & Afa 

Jason Momoa visits Mauna Kea with his extended family & shares the kupuna and protectors feelings on why they don't want the Thirty Metre Telescope built on Mauna Kea.

"It's not about the telescope, it's not about science, it's about sacred land.  It's about kanaka maoli having the right to determine for themselves how our sacred places should be protected.  Ultimately this is a human rights issue - that we are a real people, we have a real history, we have a real culture, we have a real language, we have a real religion and we need to be recognised as such ...

These are also crown lands that were never ceded to the United States of America, but they were seized, they were taken away - we've never consented to the taking of these lands ..."  - Kaho'okahe Kanuha