Coco Talanoa — Coco News / Page 59
Happy Tuvalu Language Week!
This week we celebrate Tuvalu Language Week in New Zealand.
Providing a week of celebrations through music, song, dance, food, crafts and language, there will be events happening right across the country.
For more info on what's on, check out the Ministry website or Facebook page.
You can also familiarise yourself with Tuvalu language and culture right here
And some key phrases of the Tuvaluan Language to get you started:
Tuvalu Language Week is promoted by Auckland Tuvalu Community Trust with support from the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, community members and other organisations.
In Loving Memory of Papali'i Pita Ulitau Taouma
We would like to pay tribute to a Great man, a Pioneer, a Leader, a Father, a Mentor, a Musician, a Husband and more...
Papali'i Dr. Pita Ulitau Taouma
Papali’i Dr. Pita Taouma is the head of the Malietoa Pouesi family in Aotearoa/Niu Sila. He is most well-known as a dentist who served our community for many years, first in Samoa as the head of dentistry at the hospital in Matautu, Apia and then for many years as a dentist here in Aukilani.
Papali’i was first sent to Niu Sila to take up a scholarship at Whangarei Boys High School at the age of 14. He spent these years schooling while also traveling to Aukilani during holidays to spend time with family, mostly in and around the Ponsonby area.
Papali’i then went to Otago University to study dentistry – a profession which ran in the family as his father Tofa Fesula’i Taouma Leteletaneolevao was also one of a group of seven dentists originally trained in the craft in Samoa.…more
Kiribati community vows to fight refugee deportation
A Kiribati community leader in New Zealand was at Parliament yesterday begging the government not to deport a family who argue they are climate change refugees.
(Reverend Iosefa Suamalie, pictured above with Ioane Teitiota's wife, Angua Erika, have pleaded to keep Mr Teitota in New Zealand.)
About 70 people poured into a public meeting in West Auckland on Monday night in support of Ioane Teitiota his wife Angua Erika, and their three children.
Mr Teitiota has been fighting against deportation back to Kiribati since 2011, arguing he should be considered a refugee based on climate change, and rising sea levels.
He's been told he's booked on a flight out of New Zealand on Wednesday.
The crowd was sombre yet hopeful about the family's future. One of the people there, John Corcoran, has been a key witness in legal proceedings. Mr Corcoran says the family's outlook is grim, with many Kiribati families already struggling to survive on the island.…more
Students win global awards
Two young Samoans have been invited to New York to claim the prestigious awards they have won in the Voices of Future Generations International Children’s books series competition.
Winning the awards means that the students were invited to receive their awards in person and to attend the Children’s Summit at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Sunday.
However, they will not be making the trip because they were not given enough time to prepare and raise funds for it.
But not being there doesn’t mean that Lupe and Alexia will not celebrate their achievements from afar. With the support of their parents, the students will go with plan B, using online technology on Skype to participate in the event.…more
Tongan Fakaleiti finding their way in conservative country
While transgenders in Australia typically exist on the periphery of society, in the Kingdom of Tonga, they sit close to the king – or wait on his table, at least, writes Peter Munro.
"You've got to be strong to be a woman" â even when you're not
In Australia, transgenders are typically on the fringes of mainstream society. In Tonga, they sit close to the king â or wait on his table.
Perched within cooee of the king – at a long table topped with suckling pigs, lobsters, coconuts and big blocks of supermarket chocolate – is Joey Joleen Mataele. She's hard to find among the hundreds of nobles gathered on a grassed oval to celebrate the coronation, on a steamy day of singing, dancing and double desserts in the Kingdom of Tonga.
A local takes me to her table, past a handful of male waiters wearing white blouses and heavy make-up – their lips red, eyebrows plucked and chests waxed. "Some of them are more graceful than girls," my guide says. "They are reliable workers.…more
Let Kids Be Kids - The Icons
Watch some of New Zealand's most revered sportsman talk straight from the heart and remind us all to let kid be kids when they are playing sports #letkidsbekids
All Blacks Sonny Bill Williams and Liam Messam are some of the big names supporting this awesome cause!
Sport is an important part of life for most kiwi kids and it can have a really positive impact on a child’s self-esteem, physical health and social skills. Unfortunately most weekends our kids are being exposed to violence and aggressive behaviour from parents/ family members/ friends when they are supposed to be out there having fun. Our campaign aims to advocate the proper way to love and support children involved in contact sport and to remind adult supporters that they are role models and it is their responsibility to create a safe environment for kids to play in. Our message is simple: let kids be kids when they are participating in sport.…more
Samoan Vampires; Yes We Exist by "3bino"
Imagine being a blonde blue eyed girl with piercingly white skin walking into a Samoan Food Shop (willingly in broad daylight). You walk up to the counter and apprehensively ask the shop keeper for a LARGE plate with 2 taros, 3 povi masimas and a scoop of sapasui...
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New home for abused babies in Samoa
Samoa Victim Support Group officially open the new House of Blessings.
A state-of-the-art shelter for sexually abused and abandoned babies in Samoa has been opened, due to a large donation by Janice Bradnam, who is the Director of Bradnam Windows in Australia and New Zealand
Bradnam had visited the shelters in Samoa in 2010, and had decided to help upgrade the facilities - thus building the new shelters for the babies that need help. Tuisugaletaua Sofara Aveau, The Samoa Victim Support Group's patron, says the organisation is seeing an increasing number of sexually abused babies.
The new shelter is on the Campus of Hope at Tuanaimato, and Samoa Victim Support Group plans to secure shelter facilities for all the children survivors of violence and sexual abuse who seek support with the Group.
Mauna Kea protesters arrested in Hawaii
12 protesters have been arrested on Mauna Kea in Hawaii following a 7 hour stand off against the contruction of what will be one of the world's largest telescopes.
The protesters were arrested this Wednesday 24th June after preventing workers from accessing a construction site on what locals say is land sacred to Native Hawaiians.
Construction on the $1.4 billion Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT) was meant to continue today, but the protesters and the arrests have halted the workers from accessing the site, and so they turned around.
See more on this developing story here.
Eat My Lunch - Buy one. Give one.
Check out this new business venture that counts on Kiwis' love of food and big hearts to help fill the hungry bellies of children who need it the most.
Eat My Lunch was started by Lisa King with the help of award-winning chef Michael Meredith, and works on a "buy-one give-one" basis - Eat My Lunch will give a lunch to a child in need for every lunch that is bought from its website.
"The more we hear about children in other countries who go hungry, the easier it is to forget about children right here in New Zealand who live in poverty and go without lunch every day.
"We all know that kids struggle to concentrate and learn on an empty stomach."
It costs just $10 for both lunches, and the childrens meal is distributed by KidsCan to low decile schools - Mangere Central School is the first school to benefit from the service, but Eat My Lunch aims to expand nationwide.…more