On the 6th of November, Sharlise Barton 10LA, Roma Bowers-Fleming 10HY, Bikeni Homasi 10TO, Taria Kauvai 10BN, Angelina Middenway 10HY, Marina Pereira-Mauai 10LA, Ephesian Timoteo 10BN and myself Tevita Mafi 10 BN had the opportunity to attend the Year 10 Pacific Island Leaders of Tomorrow (PILOT)  workshop at the Massey University Albany Campus. Pasifika students from other schools around Auckland also attended including Green Bay, Long Bay, Rosemini, Westlake Girls, just to name a few.

We were fortunate to have guest speaker, Gaby Solomona, who shared her personal experiences as a Pacific woman navigating a predominantly Pākehā (Palangi) environment. Gabby shared the tales of her upbringing and the different hardships that turned her into the strong independent woman she is today. She exemplified her resilience through her challenge on the 2024 Celebrity Treasure Island Series on TVNZ where she and Former Deputy Prime Minister, Carmel Sepuloni won an endurance elimination challenge, (over 50 mins) showing the strength of Pasifika Women. Sharlise

After her talk, we were divided into groups with students from other schools, providing an opportunity to socialise and connect. In these groups, we then attended various workshops that focused on learning more about our island cultures.

Faaogogo-Tevita and Ephesian-During the workshop, we had the opportunity to reflect on and learn more about our own stories. The speaker emphasised the important message: "Don’t let others tell your story—only you can do that." We also listened to the song "This Is Me" from The Greatest Showman, which inspired us to be brave and unapologetically ourselves. The song's message encourages us to embrace who we are and not to pretend to be someone we aren’t.

Lape-Bikeni and Taria-In this workshop, we had the chance to play Lape, a traditional island game that you might play in the Pacific. The game is played with four hoops set up around the area, which serve as safe zones you need to reach. A ball is tossed to you, and you hit it with just enough power to reach at least one of the hoops. What we learned from this activity is the importance of communication, teamwork, and pacing to ensure everyone stays safe and makes it home.

This game is not only fun but also a great way to interact and communicate with your teammates. Just a word of caution: don’t hit the ball too hard, or you might end up with an injury—like the Green Bay student who broke their hand!

Kainga Ora-Angelina and Roma- Kainga Ora is a workshop that  had  a small presentation and speech about a famous Fijian writer and anthropologist Epeli Hau'ofa, a motivational quote he had said was “We must not let anybody belittle us again, and take away our freedom.” He encourages that we must be who we are and we will always be who we are no matter what people may say or do. We also learned about the Fale, which is a traditional pacific house (called differently in other languages) that represents resilience and resourcefulness. We also learnt about the Kahoa Hihi, a traditional Niuean necklace that is used to celebrate and worn by women on many occasions. Along with their distinctive yellow shells, they are also quite rare and take a long time to make. Overall Kainga Ora was a great session to attend and learn about how other cultures, and our own, live and celebrate their personal identity.

Fa’afetai lava to Mr Talamaivao for organising us to partake in this Pasifika Leadership Day

by Roma Bowers-Fleming 10HY, Bikeni Homasi 10TO, Taria Kauvai 10BN, Angelina Middenway 10HY, Ephesian Timoteo 10BN, Tevita Mafi 10 BN and Sharlise Barton 10LA