Humans of the Islands

Humans of the Islands - Anne Christine Dunn

Anne Christine Dunn

Paralegal preparing to pass the bar & reigning Miss Hibiscus, Miss Fiji & Miss Pacific Islands 

Fijian 

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Tell us a bit about yourself and your Pacific Island heritage.

I’m full Fijian. My Dad is from Namosi, and my mum is from Nadroga. So usually when I introduce myself, I say I’m from Namosi, vasu i Nadroga. I come from a family of two – there’s just my brother (Amos) and I, who’s 12 years older, and he has three beautiful children.

After living in the United States for so long, what brought you back to Fiji?

After elementary and high school in California, I graduated then moved to Fiji to be with my Dad. The most defining experience for me was definitely moving to Fiji. I don’t think people realise how different life is to what people perceive it to be in America. People think you have “the life” when you’re brought up overseas, but in reality, I didn’t have that, and I was raised by a single mother.more


Humans of the Islands

Humans of the Islands - Ben Ioasa Tuimaseve

BEN IOASA TUIMASEVE

Freight Forwarding 

Niuean/Cook Island/Samoan 

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Tell us a bit about yourself - What you do / Where you're from / Your Pacific heritage.

Depending on the day i'll either say I work in Freight Forwarding or that I am a Rug Cutter…yeah can you put Rug Cutter/Singer if you need a title lol

Born and bred in South Auckland. My mum is Niuean/Cook Island and Dad is full Samoan. My parents split when I was young and I was brought up with mums side mostly but I have been lucky enough to still have a healthy relationship with my Dad and know the family from both sides pretty well which is awesome. 

What has been the biggest struggle growing up with a disability?

My disability is Hemiplegia, a form of Cerebral Palsy and affects one side of my brain (mostly physical but also mental) so I pretty much use only one side of my entire body.…more


Pacific Blog

FROM HIGH HEELS TO THE VILLAGE HILLS

By Floris Niu

Leaving the corporate world of NZ for my village Cacao farm in Samoa is a journey into nature, customary land, village life, organic Cacao growing plus re-discovering & re-inventing my island diet…

I had been stuck in a corporate job in NZ, making good money, for almost 2 decades yet my life was going nowhere. I worked so hard and for long hours that my body broke. Yes, your body can break and it warns you about this break-down through sudden and unexplained illness.

Sometimes life tricks you into thinking that everything is going so well…you’re becoming a success and achieving all the goals you thought were important in your life.

Then BOOM! In a split second, you end up in emergency surgery fighting for your life. You end up having serious conversations with God about giving you another chance because you had so many plans…and much more to live for.

I’m almost certain that I am not the first person to bargain with God during a “near-death-experience” episode.…more


Sports

Ultimate Waterman 2016

The Ultimate Waterman is a New Zealand based global surfing event to find the world’s best all-round waterman across multiple surfing disciplines.

The world’s finest watermen will come together in New Zealand in 2016 to compete in eight different surfing disciplines over nine days. 


The eight disciplines will include:
• Shortboard surfing
• Longboard surfing
• Stand Up Paddle (SUP) surfing
• Stand Up Paddle (SUP) endurance (16km race)
• Big Wave Paddle in surfing
• Waka-Ama endurance (16km race)
• Prone Paddleboard race (technical short course through waves)
• Underwater strength run and swim race (25m underwater run and 25m swim)

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Director: Olly Coddington


Sports

NRL PACIFIC LEADERSHIP CAMP

We're keepin it fresh with our Pasifika boys in the NRL Pacific Leadership camp.

The NRL run a Pacific Leadership camp and bring in 2 or 3 players from each club who've been identified by their clubs as guys with leadership potential.  

The aim is to challenge and upskill them to enable them to help our Pacific communities a bit more.

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CREDITS:

Directors:  Shimpal Lelisi & Danny Aumua

Camera Operators:  Danny Aumua & Penina Momoiseā

Sound Operator:  Marty Cox 

Producer:  Lisa Taouma

Production Coordinator:  Elizabeth Koroivulaono

 

Thank you 

Nigel Vagana, NRL Australia, NRL Welfare & Education, Pasifika Film Fest & University of New South Wales 


Events

ONE LOVE FESTIVAL 2017

Highlights from One Love Festival 2017 in Tauranga ...

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Director/Editor:  Mario Faumui 

Camera Operators:  Darryl Laumua, Jared Leith & Lizie Koroivulaono 

Sound:  Nate Leith & Marcus Lawson 

Researcher:  Olly Coddington 

Production Manager:  Natasha Panui-Morris 

Producer:  Lisa Taouma 

Thank You:

Pato Alvarez 

Bernadette Talanoa 

Shantelle Mahia 


Events

Keepin it Fresh at Villa Maria

Daz finds out what everyones festival essentials are & helps them with a bit of Jandal DIY

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Director:  Shimpal Lelisi 
Editor:  Jared Leith 
Camera Operators:  Adrian McBirney 
Sound:  David Green 
Sound Assistant:  Sefa Taouma 
Talent:  Darryl Laumua 
Researcher:  Olly Coddington 


Sports

KEEPIN IT FRESH AT CANTEEN FIGHT NIGHT

Fight night for a great cause! 

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Director:  Crystal Earley 

Camera Operators:  Lizie Koroivulaono & Darryl Laumua 

Sound Operator:  David Green 


Sports

South Pacific Volleyball Challenge

The South Pacific Volleyball challenge went down at the Otara Rec - see who was holding it down at the games.


Humans of the Islands

SUNDAY FUN DAY / DIANNA FUEMANA

By Victor Rodger 

Dianna Fuemana used to be a single parent on the DPB, watching soap operas like The Young and the Restless, dreaming of a better life.

Did she ever envisage the soap opera like turns her own life would take after she burst onto the theatre scene in 1999 with her critically acclaimed one woman show, Mapaki, elbowing her way through the male dominated Pacific theatre field to put female Pacific characters front and centre?

Since then her plays have been performed in Los Angeles, Toronto, Pago Pago, Athens, Niue and Edinburgh as well as throughout New Zealand.

In 2O12 she spent three months in New York as an intern with Killer Films who produced such Oscar winning hits as Boys Don’t Cry and Still Alice.

And as the partner of Kiwi actor Jay Ryan (best known for Beauty at the Beast and Go Girls) she has found herself in the pages of the very magazines she herself used to flick through back in her DPB days.…more