Noa’ia! Kia orana! Ni sa bula! Mālō e lelei! Faka’alofa lahi atu! Fakatalofa atu! Gude! Talofa lava! Kia ora koutou! Warm Pacific greetings!

Our Pasifika group has been busy learning and practising sasa. It’s so great to be welcoming new faces, braving the challenge, as well as our fast and enthusiastic learners from Hagley Preschool. We got a surprise when Pale, one of our dads, joined us on the Year 9 Open Night on the pake (drum) and we got a taste of the pace we’ll be at for performance – about three times as fast as we’d been practising! Just as well we’ve got a few months before Polyfest!

Since the last newsletter we have celebrated the first two of 2021’s Pacific Language weeks.

Noa’ia! We marked Rotuman Language Week in May with greetings in the daily notices and some beginner phrases – for many of us, this was a first encounter with Rotuman language. As it says on Te Kete Ipurangi website: “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. Although Rotuma is its own nation, it is currently administered by Fiji as a dependency. Rotuman people are a separate ethnic group with their own distinct language, culture, and identity. The Rotuman language is listed on the UNESCO list of endangered languages and New Zealand’s Rotuman community works hard to preserve and promote their mother tongue.” This small start will be something for us to build on next year!

Talofa lava! Last week saw Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa (Samoan Language Week), with displays and celebrations enjoyed by many students and staff. The Samoan flag was raised on Tuesday, and around the school Fa’atu put together displays of Samoan taonga for the selfie challenge. On Thursday, in spite of the rain-cancelled kirikiti (Samoan cricket), we hosted the Papanui High School Pasifika group for a ta’alogas (games) day, with a volleyball tournament and lunch, with special guests Darren and Ropeta from the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, and Daisy from Cross-Polynate. We finished the week off with a choo-hoo challenge and the best-dressed award. Prizes went to Emele and Masine for best-dressed, Masine for the choo-hoo challenge, and Chantelle’s class won the selfie challenge. We also enjoyed some koko alaisa (coco-rice pudding).

As the term rolls on through, we’re coming up to our Pasifika fono – we warmly invite aiga Pasifika to join us on Thursday, 24th June, 6pm-8pm at the cafe. As well as enjoying excellent company and yummy food, we’ll hear from our guests from the Ministry of Pacific Peoples. Please RSVP to Emma Lumb, or be in touch with either Fa’atu Tamate or Emma Lumb if you have any queries. We’d love to see you there!

In the meantime, our student group is meeting on Mondays in W1 for siva practice, and Fridays in O1 to share lunch.

We’ll leave you with the theme for this year’s Samoan Language week: “Poupou le lotoifale. Ola manuia le anofale” which means ‘strengthen the posts of your house, for all to thrive’.

Fa’afetai lava