Coco Talanoa — Coco News / Page 8

The Healthcare Professionals Club at Brigham Young University in Hawai'i teamed up with 'Be the Match' (a US national marrow donor program) and hosted Hawai'ian actor Jason Momoa last week.

Momoa is spear heading the 'Be the Match' campaign to get people to come out, swab their cheeks, and see if they have the right blood for others who are searching for their match.  He started advocating for this after learning his close friend Travis Snyder is battling acute myeloid leukemia and is in need of a blood stem cell transplant.

Hundreds came out to the university campus for a chance to meet Jason Momoa and see if they could potentially save a life.  The Aquaman star was greeted by students and the community at a bone marrow testing site.

In the photos below, he is holding a young Hawaiian boy named Ryder who is also in need of a blood cell stem transplant.…more

Watch a wrap-up of your week in news from across the Islands, in under a minute.

A health emergency may have cost Tongan athlete Dame Valerie Adams her life, as documented in a movie about her life and career out next week.

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Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air

The premiere for five-time Olympian, Kiwi icon, and Tongan leader Dame Valerie Adams film will take place at Sky City Theatre this evening (Wednesday 12th October) and to mark the occasion and the first time for a film, the Sky Tower will light up in gold.

Nirupa George, SkyCity Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, comments “Dame Valerie Adams is a New Zealand and Tongan icon, we are proud to be hosting the premiere of her documentary and it is a delight to be able to light the sky tower in gold in her honour as she celebrates her life story and career to date.”

Competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games required all the shot-putter’s determination and courage. At 36, following two major surgeries and the birth of her children, she was considered an ‘older’ athlete. Struggling to balance her role as a mum with her job as an elite sportsperson, Dame Valerie was forced to navigate emotions every mother will identify with. Woven around observational scenes of Dame Valerie’s journey to Tokyo, is her astonishing backstory.…more

Watch a wrap-up of your week in news from across the Islands, in under a minute.

Happy Fijian Language Week - Macawa ni Vosa Vakaviti! This year's theme is "Nurture, Preserve and Sustain the Fijian language."

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Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air

From left to right: Fa'amoana John Luafutu, Daren Kamali, Kulimoe'anga Stone Maka, Joshua Pearson, Dahlia Malaeulu, Troy Tu'ua, ONZM Fatu Feu'u & Ululau Ama

From visual arts, to theatre, to the art of ngatu tā‘uli (blackened tapa cloth) - eight Pasifika artists are being recognised for their contribution to Pacific arts through the Creative NZ Arts Pasifika Awards.  

"Contemporary Pasifika art, all our art, was contemporary - Western world claimed that abstract art belonged to them but all our arts - our dance, our language, our cultures, are all abstract.  We did not paint portraits or landscapes we paint colours to represent something especially the black tapa it's an art of power" - Kulimoe’anga “Stone” Maka

"Through my arts I can connect back to the islands and that's what's kept me alive and kept my Pasifika heritage, and belief alive"  Daren Kamali

"A bit of advice to our community - is to support the God Given talents of our children as opposed to saying 'get a real job''  Fa'amoana John Luafutu

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While there are usually seven award winners, this year…more

Here is your bite sized Pacific News wrap in under 1 minute.

Presented and edited by Destiny Momoiseā

A course building money confidence with Auckland’s Pasifika workforce was the winner at last night’s Diversity Awards Impact Category.

The Diversity Awards recognise initiatives that promote equity, diversity and inclusion in workplaces around Aotearoa – and Project Ikuna’s Money Confidence does just that.  Delivered by the team at Upskills in partnership with Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, Money Confidence is a small course that delivers a life changing hit to participants. It’s financial literacy with Pacific values woven through the learning, so it’s relevant and meaningful for participants.

For Delegat employee and participant Ngāupoko Tapoki the learning takeaway was around saving. “Thank you to your team – I used to take a loan out every time I go back home.…more

Cover image:  MĀUI by Freshmans Dance Crew as part of the Measina Festival in December last year.  Photo Credit:  Pacific Arts - Creative New Zealand

Creative New Zealand have announced their support for Aotearoa’s Fringe festivals for three years to develop emerging Pasifika artists. 

The new collaboration, developed with the festival directors of the Auckland Fringe, Wellington Fringe and the Dunedin Fringe Festival sees an increase in support for Pasifika awards at each festival. For three years (2022-2024) award winners will now receive $2,000, up from $500. 

Cover photo credit:  Via Radio Australia supplied by Ellia Green 

Ellia Green came out as a transgender man in his opening address to the Bingham Cup (the 'World Cup' of gay and inclusive rugby, held biennially) International Summit on ending transphobia and homophobia in sport on August 16, 2022 in Ottawa.

The only other transgender or gender-diverse Olympic gold medallists are Caitlyn Jenner and Quinn, who goes by one name and was part of Canada's winning women's soccer team in Tokyo last year.

Seeing so few trans athletes at the elite level and so much negative commentary on social media, particularly since World Rugby's decision to bar transgender women from playing women's rugby, hastened Green's push to highlight the harm those things can cause some children.…more

by Mariner Fagaiava-Muller

The South Auckland Maths Challenge or SAMC, celebrates budding mathematicians who don’t have all the flashiest resources, but all the smarts. 

On a wintry Wednesday morning, you’ll find the De La Salle College gymnasium hissing with hyena laughs and fa’aumu.

Inside are Year 9 and 10 students from 12 schools across South Auckland - it’s the fifth time they’ve met this year, to face off against each other in mathematics.

Each school is represented by three or four students, stationed at desks where they’ll receive an equation.

Once they’ve made a calculation, a runner from the team will run a lap around all the others and get their answer marked.

The first school to answer ten equations correctly is crowned the winner.

There’s a strong sense of comradery in these competitions. Winning is the least important part.

“Here everyone cheers for you even if you don’t go to the same school,” one student says.…more