Pacific Panel at Auckland Council...

Attending Pacific Panel's open meeting Oct 26, 2017
(Photo credits: Faanana Efeso Collins)

  It's been a good learning to curve in being a part of the Pacific Advisory Panel for the Auckland Council as there are many groups involved and for me, it's about finding ways of supporting/promoting our Pasifika communities within Council and informing of views that would be beneficial for our communities.

In that although "we" as Pasifika are diverse communities and there is no one Pasifika voice, there are many shared values and in some case, shared histories that allow our voices to be united in similar causes and with the close proximity of Island nations to each other, there are sometimes language similarities of numbers, staple foods and other nouns etc. that sound very similar.

However, it is still important to also allow for the differences to be known and in many of our meetings these different experiences and cultural practices are apparent in rituals or special events/occasions like traditional tattoo, dance, rituals, rites of passage etc.

It was also interesting to learn that perhaps Port Moresby can boast having the most Pacific people in a city but Auckland is still able to boast that it has the most diverse Pacific populations in the world something that I still believe, as do many panel members, of the potential that hasn't been fully realised.

I still like the idea of having a PCC Pacific Cultural Centre near the airport, similar to the Oahu, near Brigham Young University partnership, in Hawaii that allows for students to work as tour guides, dancers, in hospitality etc. whilst still being able to study in a supportive environment. This was definitely a highlight for me and my two eldest when we visited Hawaii in 2015 as we spent a whole day at the PCC viewing with our Samoan tour guide, visiting the various villages, sampling the food and having an overall neat time.

With much more to share over the next year, watch this space...