Pacific Media Network broadcaster and community activist Ernestina Maro (left) and Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group chair Rachael Mario share the microphone to talk up Rotuman Language Week events.

Cultural and social justice events feature in the eight day programme.

Last night the Titiri o Waitangi legacy and Rotuman community responses were aired at the Rotuman Community Centre and Whānau Hub in Auckland’s Mount Roskill.

Tonight Polynesian Panthers co-founder Will ‘Ilolahia spoke about the 1970s Dawn Raids era and the latest “raids’ controversy.

Among the interesting insights that ‘Ilolahia shared about the legacy of the Polynesian Panthers in education, human rights and social justice was the philosophy about the “panthers” themselves.

“The nature of the panther is that he never attacks,” ‘Ilolahia said.

“But if anyone attacks him or backs him into a corner, the panther somes up to wipe that aggressor or attacker out — absolutely, resolutely, wholly, thoroughly and completely!”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Rotuman people and communities in Aotearoa New Zealand launched their Rotuman Language Week 2023 celebrations yesterday.

The event by the NZ Rotuman Collective began with a blessing and service at the Kingsland Rotuman Methodist Church — where the congregation began more than 30 years ago — and will showcase the language and culture of Rotuma.

“Each day of the week has been allocated a different theme with the elders, youth, children, community and religious leaders hosting their days,” said chairperson Rachael Mario.

In addition to language and culture, the Rotuman Language Collective also focuses on key social justice areas that communities need more awareness about. These issues being presented at the NZ Rotuman Community Centre in Mt Roskill and other venues include:

• Te Tirirti o Waitangi presentation (Monday, May 8, 7.30am)
• Dawn Raids and Pasifika people’s advocacy for social justice (Tuesday, May 9, 7.30am)
• Health and wellbeing with Hula Fit exercise (Wednesday, May 10, 10.30am, 11.30am)
• Seniors lunch and storytelling (on Wednesday, May 10, 12 noon)
• Home ownership workshop (Wednesday, May 10, 7pm)
• Art classes for wellness (Thursday, May 11, 4pm)
• Serving our communities by continuing weekly distribution of food parcels (Friday, May, 12, 7pm)
• Education Hub launch (Friday, May 12, 7.30pm)
• Rotuman cultural show and community engagement (Saturday, May 13, Kingsland Trinity Methodist Church, 5.30pm)
• Mother’s Day acknowledging mothers and family (Sunday, May 14, 2pm)

“It is extremely important for our migrant communities to connect with Māori as people of this land, and be aware of colonisation and displacement,” Mario said.

‘Understanding colonisation‘
“This will also help Rotuman people understand our own colonisation by the British and Fiji.”

The Rotuman Language Week, a New Zealand-led initiative started in 2018 by the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group Incorporated (ARFGI), has now grown to include many groups across the world.

The feature event will be on Rotuma Day, including the Rotuman Showcase with a traditional dance and fashion show.

This will be followed by Community Engagement with chief guest MP Teanau Tuiono, Green Party spokesperson for Pacific peoples.

This year is also the continuation of the UN International Decade of Indigenous Languages, making this Language Week even more important.

The theme for this year’s Language Week is: “Vetḁkia ‘os Fäega ma Ag fak hanua” (Sustaining our language and culture).

Rotuman people are a separate ethnic group with their own distinct Polynesian language, culture, and identity.

‘Untouched paradise’
Rotuma is described by commentators as an “untouched paradise” with some of the world’s most pristine and beautiful beaches.

“Language is what makes us who we are, and is part of our culture and identity,” Mario said. “And it is our duty to preserve this invaluable taonga”.

The group hopes the week’s activities will help bring people together, and showcase Rotuman culture.

“We invite everyone to join us and celebrate being Rotuman,” Mario said.

“It has not been easy for our community to keep our language alive in Aotearoa.”

“We pay tribute to our elders and leaders, who for the last 40 years, have continued to celebrate our culture in New Zealand, and for helping keep our customs and traditions relevant.”

Rotuma consists of the island of Rotuma and its nearby islets, and is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about 500 kms north of Fiji, and 500 kms west of the French-ruled territory of Wallis and Futuna.

Rotuma was annexed by the British on 13 May 1881 (“Rotuma Day”). Although Rotuma is its own “nation”, it is currently administered by Fiji as a dependency.

The Rotuman language is listed on the UNESCO List of Endangered Languages as “Definitely endangered”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Rachael Mario isn’t just any woman, she is special in that she hails from the idyllic South Pacific island of Rotuma.

And it is her love for social work which she hopes will propel her and her Roskill Community Voice and City Vision team onto the Mt Roskill board.

It is also the first time a Pasifika person has decided to stand for the Puketapapa Local Board in Mt Roskill, in the current Auckland local government elections that began today.

Having lived in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland for 33 years has given her a perspective on social justice and diversity for Auckland.

Much of that comes from time spent at the Whānau Community Hub in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill where her and her team do a sterling job in running different programmes for the good folk of Roskill.

For instance, every first Wednesday of the month they host a free seniors lunch, and it not just for Rotumans but for the diverse group of seniors who reside in Mt Roskill and who yearn for company and a “good old talanoa”.

Quite apart from that, Mario and her team would be out delivering groceries to the needy, or holding health and well-being, financial literacy and language classes for children.

Community doubles
That the community doubles as the Rotuman-Fijian Centre is a testament to her 30+ plus years of marriage to Auckland Fiji human rights advocate Nik Naidu and former journalist, who she met in Fiji when he was a budding radio personality at FM96 in Suva.

When you first meet Rachael Mario she greets you with big smile and utters charming Noa’ia (the Rotuman language greeting) and then she inquires about you with an inquisitive mind just to see how things are going for you.

As Mario explains, the Hub isn’t just for Rotumans but is used by a plethora of other groups, including the Moana-Pasifika Seniors. It is also home to the recently formed Asia-Pacific Media Network (APMN), which publishes the Pacific Journalism Review at the behest of founder Professor David Robie.

With such a diverse bunch using the Whānau Community Hub it is small wonder that Mario would branch out and try to incorporate more diversity in her already busy lifestyle.

That is why the chair of the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Inc. is now standing for her local Puketapapa Local Board in Mt Roskill.

But that has not been without social injustice challenges that her community has faced for many years.

Lack of language funding
Included in those is the housing crisis in Auckland but much closer to her heart was the lack of funding provided to Rotuman language programmes which was given a cold shoulder by local boards.

“The biggest challenge, which isn’t fair, is the discrimination against the Rotuman Community. The Ministry of Pacific Peoples choose to run a different language week against our community-led Rotuman language week programme,” she says.

Other issues she lists are climate change and the environment which she says are huge for Auckland and wider New Zealand.

What also occupies her mind is the city centre, economic and cultural development, better outcomes for Māori, wastewater and storm water, transport and parks and communities.

In a nutshell, Rachael Mario is all things to all communities.

Voting ends on October 8.

• Three fellow candidates from the Fiji Collective contesting the local body elections are: Anne DEGIA-PALA (C&R – Communities and Residents) –  Whau Local Board candidate
• Ilango KRISHNAMOORTHY (Labour) – Manurewa-Papakura Ward councillor & Manurewa Local Board candidate
  Vincent NAIDU (Labour) – Waitakere Licensing Trust – Ward 4 (Henderson) candidate

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

“Noa’ia ‘e” is a greeting people hear when you meet anyone from the island of Rotuma in Fiji or when they visit the Whānau Community Hub in Auckland’s Mount Roskill.

This doubles as the Rotuman-Fijian Community Centre.

It is run by Rachel Mario and her team for a whole host of purposes — a range of different programmes and activities.

On any day they could be delivering grocery parcels, health and wellbeing classes, or training community elders (Wednesdays), language and financial literacy classes for children (Saturdays), and leadership training,

You name it and they’re probably doing it.

Mario says the centre hasn’t only been hosting the Rotuman whānau, but it’s also a “home” for other stakeholders such as Asia Pacific Media Network, government agencies, and faith communities.

As chair of the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group Inc., Mario now wants to throw in her leadership hat for the local board.

Standing for Puketāpapa
So she is standing for the Roskill Community Voice team for Puketāpapa Local Board (Mount Roskill).

She loves doing social work and hopes that she and her team will be elected in the October election — and she vows to keep working hard to be the voice of the wider, diverse community in Mount Roskill.

Apart from running the busy programmes at the centre for her Rotuman community and other whānau, Mario has been advocating about issues of social injustice that her community has been facing for years.

Some of these issues include the housing crisis and alleged discrimination on distribution over resources for the Rotuman Language Week celebrations.

“The biggest challenge, which isn’t fair, is the discrimination against us, the Rotuman community. In the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, they want to run a rival language week up against ours,” she says.

“We started in 2018. In 2019, because they didn’t want to list our language week, they didn’t want to list anything we do regarding our endangered indigenous language.

In response to a question from Tagata Pasifika about the allegations of discrimination faced by Mario’s group, the Minister of the Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio denied this, saying he was disappointed to hear about it.

Successful programme
However, in spite of the challenges, the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group successfully ran the language programme in May.

Other issues include the cultural identity of children born from intercultural marriages. However, the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group has embraced all children who have Rotuman blood.

TeRito Peyroux, a member of Rotuman Congregation at Kingsland Methodist Church, says that for those who could not speak Rotuman, “we are who we are, it’s much bigger than our language fluency.”

“It is about our sense of belonging and the people that are nurturing and supporting and being with us. For me, that means that having the privilege of celebrating language and culture in this foreign land makes me very humble,” she says.

Tupou Tee Kamoe, who is also one of the executive members of the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group, cites a quote from Green MP Teanau Tuiono that he had made in his maiden speech in Parliament which she has adapted for bicultural Rotumans:

“People often ask me, ‘am I half Rotuman, half Pacific’, and I say ‘na bro, I am not half anything, I am whole, if anything I am double — if I was a beer I would be double brown, if I was a flavour at the dairy, I would be twice as nice at only half the price.”

Laurens Ikinia is a postgraduate communication studies student at Auckland University of Technology and is a frequent contributor to Asia Pacific Report.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau, Auckland came alive with music, glitz and glam for the first live Pacific Music Awards in two years last night.

The annual ceremony has been held online for the past two years due to covid-19 restrictions.

Fa’anana Jerome Grey was selected as the recipient of the Manukau Institute of Technology Te Pukenga Lifetime Achievement Award.

Grey’s iconic song We Are Samoa became the unofficial anthem of the country and his legacy was celebrated through a tribute performance by Brotherhood Musiq and Resonate.

Grey’s honour came at the end of the night, but up first was the Ministry for Pacific People’s Special Recognition Award, the three winners being Ngaire Fuata, Tagata Pasifika and Niu FM-Pacific Media Network.

PMN CEO Don Mann said that since its establishment in 2002, Niu FM has nurtured many well-known Pacific media personalities.

“It’s a radio station, it’s a multimedia platform but it’s more than that, it’s a gateway for Pacific people to realise their talent,” he said.

“You look at Sela Alo and Sandra Kailahi who’s had time at various media entities so it’s more than just a place than just a media outlet — it’s bigger than that.”

Topped the charts
Just over 30 years ago, Rotuman Ngaire Fuata topped the NZ music charts with her reindition of the 1967 Lulu hit “To Sir With Love”.

Nowadays, Fuata has carved out a successful career in television, particularly producing the flagship Pacific current affairs show Tagata Pasifika.

Futua said having a career in the music or television industry required focus and dedication.

“It takes determination, a determination to do a job and do it right and if I say I’m gonna do something I’m quite committed and driven to complete the job and that’s really important to me.”

East Auckland artist Jarna Parsons, known professionally as Jarna, was awarded the Phillip Fuemana Award for Most Promising Pacific Artist.

Jarna said she was pleased she had plucked up the courage to give music a go during her teens.

“I’ve always just loved music — with family we always did karaoke and that, and I actually didn’t start until the end of high school — I didn’t think anything of it. But then I thought, I might as well give it a go.”

‘Being different is okay’
Samoan metal band Shepherds Reign took out the Creative New Zealand Award and the band members were shocked when they were announced as the winners.

However, Shepherds Reign’s Filivaa James and Oliver Leupolu said that although the majority of Pacific people did not gravitate towards metal or rock, being different was okay.

“There’s always room to do crazy things no one’s done before. I think that’s the biggest message is just don’t be afraid — do whatever you want to do, just like what we did, even our parents were against us but we still went against it, so do what you want to do.”

The inaugural Arch Angel Independent Artist Award was presented to lilbubblegum.

The 18-year-old released his debut single “af1” in 2019, and it quickly became an online sensation during New Zealand’s first covid lockdown in the autumn of 2020.

The viral hitmaker said that pursuing your dreams as a new music artist came at a cost.

“I think the biggest challenge is definitely the tall poppy syndrome, especially in New Zealand, because when you’re doing something different people want to pull you down. You might not be bothering them but they just don’t know — that’s just the way it is in New Zealand.

“I feel like it’s slowly shifting with the newer generation but there’s a few people that feel that way and it’s the hardest thing coming through as a new artist.”

Several first-time finalists won their respective categories including Anthem who were recognised with 531pi Best Pacific Gospel Artist, while Sam V and Lisi were awarded Best Pacific Soul/RnB Artist and Niu FM Best International Pacific Artist respectively.

Passion the driver for rapper
Rapper Lisi, who was born in New Zealand before moving to Australia at the age of three, said having a music career was never part of his plan.

“My dreams weren’t to be a rapper, but I always loved rapping and I guess it just shows passion gets you a lot far in life — the passion for rapping that I had it made me want to start making music and now I’m reaching heights that I’d never thought I’d reach. So yeah it’s massive,” said Lisi — real name Talisi Poasa.

For their work on The Panthers soundtrack, Diggy Dupé, choicevaughan & P. Smith were recognised with the MPG/SAE Best Producer award.

Fellow artist Kings was named for NZ Music Commission Best Pacific Male Artist, and received both the NZ On Air Radio Airplay Award and NZ On Air Streaming Award for his track “Help Me Out” featuring Sons of Zion.

Kingdon Chapple-Wilson, aka Kings, said the awards were an opportunity for him to reconnect with his both his Māori and Samoan identity.

“I think for us, especially for me, my mum was a solo mum, so for her the culture aspect – she was adopted into a Pakeha family so it was really hard for us to identify and so it’s awards like these — its events like these that help to ground somebody to ground me to ground myself into Pasifika, into Māori into who we are.”

Melodownz & Summer Vaha’akolo won NZ On Air Best Pacific Music Video directed by Tom Hern and Timēna Apa, while Kas Futialo received the award for SunPix Best Pacific Language for the album Grandmasta Kas.

Onehunga-based hip hop crew SWIDT took out three awards for Flava Best Pacific Group, Base FM & Island Base Best Pacific Hip Hop Artist and APRA Best Pacific Song for “Kelz Garage”.

Tomorrow People were honoured with One Love Best Pacific Roots/Reggae Artist as well as the Recorded Music Te Pukaemi Toa o Te Moana Nui a Kiwa Best Pacific Music Album for their album 21.

Group member Tana Tupai said that throughout the 10 years of its existence the band had had its fair share of ups and downs.

“Everyone says they don’t do the music thing for awards which is true but just like anything we just worked really really hard. I’m so proud of our team, we sacrificed so much. When I mentioned before about internal struggles they were real. We’re just really proud of the music we’ve put out there.”

Lockdown challenges overcome
Soul and RnB singer Emily Muli, who won Best Pacific Female Artist for her track “Break”, said she did not expect to win the award, despite coming from a strong musical background.

“I came from a Tongan family, I grew up in a Tongan church so it’s not like I had a choice to sing.”

Cook Islands sibling group Samson Squad took home the SunPix People’s Choice Award for Best Pacific Artist.

Tautape Samson said trying to create music during lockdown was a challenge.

“We didn’t expect anything this time around. During covid it was a very hard time for us to produce new music so with the award, with all our friends, fans and supporters really backing us despite covid and everything, I guess we’re for the people and with the people, and we just want to thank the people as well.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz