Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Aere ra Meagan, he wahine ataahua, he wahine toa
It was with great sadness that Tiare Ahuriri representatives joined with the many hundreds of people who last week farewelled National President of the Maori Women's Welfare League Meagan Joe, who passed away on 27 July 2011, after a battle with breast cancer. Tiare Ahuriri members spent some time with Meagan and her whanau as she lay at Pukemokimoki Marae in Napier, the same place where we had celebrated her investiture as National President in 2008 (see earlier blog article). Tiare Ahuriri President Caren Rangi then accompanied our National President Sally Dalhousie to Meagan's funeral service at Waipapa-a-iwi Marae in Mohaka, Northern Hawkes Bay, along with Tania Thomas, Board member YWCA, and Rowena Phair, CEO, Ministry of Women's Affairs. The funeral service was a beautiful celebration of a much loved mother, daughter, nanny, partner, friend and devoted leader of the MWWL. The respect in which Meagan is held by all attending was clear to see, and was strongly reflected in the eulogy provided by current and past members of MWWL. Our love and thoughts are with Meagan's mother Te Maari (a longtime member of the HB branch of PACIFICA), her partner Mereana, and her daughter Sonya and mokopuna . Aere ra Meagan, may you rest in peace.
Friday, July 8, 2011
PACIFICA Connections in the Community
This article appeared in the July edition of Tamatea (suburb of Napier) community newsletter "Connections"
Puna and Berry Rangi both come from the Cook Islands and have lived on Westminster Avenue in Tamatea for 37 years since shifting here from Christchurch in 1974. Their two children went to Tamatea Primary, Intermediate and High Schools, and they now have grandchildren attending Wharerangi Kindergarten, Tamatea Primary and Tamatea High. They have seen a lot of changes in Tamatea over the time they have lived here, including the establishment of Park Island, the changes in the Tamatea Shopping Centre, and the development of the Parklands area. However, they have also seen the small suburb character of Tamatea maintained.“One of the things we enjoy about Tamatea is that it has always had good community spirit. We have seen it during our association with different parts of Tamatea – the schools and kindergarten, our Avon business, the Tamatea Community Church, Pirates Rugby Club and Tamatea Country Women’s Institute,” said Berry.And from Puna - “In some ways, it is similar to the villages in which we grew up in the Cook Islands – people are friendly, and you recognise the “Tamatea” faces. And our daughter and her family live six houses around the corner!”
Tamatea’s Global Connections
Puna and Berry Rangi both come from the Cook Islands and have lived on Westminster Avenue in Tamatea for 37 years since shifting here from Christchurch in 1974. Their two children went to Tamatea Primary, Intermediate and High Schools, and they now have grandchildren attending Wharerangi Kindergarten, Tamatea Primary and Tamatea High. They have seen a lot of changes in Tamatea over the time they have lived here, including the establishment of Park Island, the changes in the Tamatea Shopping Centre, and the development of the Parklands area. However, they have also seen the small suburb character of Tamatea maintained.“One of the things we enjoy about Tamatea is that it has always had good community spirit. We have seen it during our association with different parts of Tamatea – the schools and kindergarten, our Avon business, the Tamatea Community Church, Pirates Rugby Club and Tamatea Country Women’s Institute,” said Berry.And from Puna - “In some ways, it is similar to the villages in which we grew up in the Cook Islands – people are friendly, and you recognise the “Tamatea” faces. And our daughter and her family live six houses around the corner!”
Happy Birthday Diane!
PACIFICA members joined with Dr Diane Mara, her son Henry and friends recently to celebrate her 60th birthday. Much laughing, eating and reflecting took place! Diane is enjoying her new role as Academic Leader, ECE Pasifika, School of Critical Studies in Education, at University of Auckland - but no, she has not deserted the sunny Hawke's Bay for the City of Sails! Diane remains living here in Napier, and commutes to Auckland each week to undertake a job she finds both enjoyable and rewarding. Happy Birthday Diane!
2011 - a busy year so far
Branch Report Central Region Mini Conference 9 July 2011, Hastings Prepared 6 July 2011 by President, Caren Rangi
Warm Pacific Greetings ladies of the Pacific!!! Well another busy year in Hawke’s Bay, and here are some of the highlights from the activities we have been involved in with our Pacific communities and the community of Hawkes Bay.
2010 End of the year Branch Get-to-gether Tiare Ahuriri had a fun evening at Branch President Caren Rangi’s place on 21 December 2010 to celebrate another year in the life of the Napier PACIFICA branch.
2010 End of the year Branch Get-to-gether Tiare Ahuriri had a fun evening at Branch President Caren Rangi’s place on 21 December 2010 to celebrate another year in the life of the Napier PACIFICA branch.
PACIFICA AGM Due to extremely hectic lives at the beginning of 2011 Tiare Ahuriri were unable to attend the PACIFICA AGM in Tokoroa. We wish to extend our sincere apologies.
Supporting breast and cervical screening
Supporting breast and cervical screening
Member, Berry Rangi was involved in two initiatives aimed at improving the health of Pacific women in the Hawke’s Bay.
1. Putting a Colourful Welcome into having a Mammogram.
A focus on strategies to improve poor breast screening rates for Maori and Pacific women by the Hawke’s Bay screening team saw Pacific Health Promoter, Berry Rangi push for the provision of the pareu as an alternative to using a patient gown in examination rooms. Berry received strong support from local Pacific women for the introduction of this concept. This resulted in a recent gifting ceremony of korowai and pareu to local breastscreening service Hawke’s Bay Radiology. Well done to the Hawke’s Bay screening team and especially our own Berry Rangi.
2 Health Promotion
In consultation with the Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints Church Women’s group and the Tongan Catholic church in Flaxmere, Berry Rangi planned and ran a health promotion event for breast and cervical screening on Friday 10 June 2011. It focused on Pacific women in Hawke’s Bay and included healthy lifestyle activities like healthy and economic cooking demonstration, hand massages, heart foundation health promotion and preparing for disaster and emergency survival kits. The event was attended by 41 Pacific women and resulted in 2 women enrolling for breast screening, and 13 women requesting appointments to have cervical smears.
In consultation with the Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints Church Women’s group and the Tongan Catholic church in Flaxmere, Berry Rangi planned and ran a health promotion event for breast and cervical screening on Friday 10 June 2011. It focused on Pacific women in Hawke’s Bay and included healthy lifestyle activities like healthy and economic cooking demonstration, hand massages, heart foundation health promotion and preparing for disaster and emergency survival kits. The event was attended by 41 Pacific women and resulted in 2 women enrolling for breast screening, and 13 women requesting appointments to have cervical smears.
Pacific Health in the Hawke’s Bay
Tiare Ahuriri President Caren Rangi has been given the opportunity to collect information and prepare a report for the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board on the views of Pacific Peoples in the Hawke’s Bay on good health, and actions to increase the health of our Pacific communities. Caren has been assisted by fellow branch member Maryanne Marsters, as well as Samoan Community Leader Talalelei Taufale . This work is an important step in the continuing effort to get a coordinated focus on improving Pacific health here in the Bay.
Tiare Ahuriri President Caren Rangi has been given the opportunity to collect information and prepare a report for the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board on the views of Pacific Peoples in the Hawke’s Bay on good health, and actions to increase the health of our Pacific communities. Caren has been assisted by fellow branch member Maryanne Marsters, as well as Samoan Community Leader Talalelei Taufale . This work is an important step in the continuing effort to get a coordinated focus on improving Pacific health here in the Bay.
Introduction to Pacific Island Language – Adult Community Education (ACE course)
In 2010 Tiare Ahuriri in collaboration with Te Manga Maori, Eastern Institute of Technology, delivered an ACE programme ‘Working with Pacific Communities’. As a result of this course, discussions with local Tongan women, and Te Manga Maori, Tiare Ahuriri are working on delivering two language ACE programmes. An Introduction to the Kuki Airani Language and an Introduction to the Tongan Language.
Pacific Cultural Training, Support staff at EIT
Last year one of the spinoffs from our successful WPC course was a request to contribute to the Pacific Cultural Training for the NZ Police. Spinoffs have continued and 2011 have resulted in two 3 hour WPC sessions delivered to EIT students. A 3 hour WPC session was recently requested for EIT support staff to be delivered in October 2011.
New Members
Next month we will welcome two new members – one is Ligi Talagi, Niuean who is shifting to HB from Auckland to work at CYFS, and the other is Gese Talaga, Samoan, wife of our new EFKS Minister Rev Afa Talaga.
Josephine Tiro
On 17 June 2011, we (Caren Rangi, Berry Rangi, Diane Mara, and Maryanne Marsters) of Tiare Ahuriri travelled to Wellington and joined with our PACIFICA sisters from other branches to celebrate the life of our friend and staunch PACIFICA member Josephine Tiro (Newtown Vahine Orama branch). We were all moved by what family and friends shared about Josephine. Our Central Vice President Loau Seinia Fruean spoke at the family service of Josephine's time in PACIFICA. including her term as Loau's predecessor. The love for Josephine, and from Josephine shone through all who spoke during the family service and the funeral. We love Josephine and will keep her in our hearts and mind always. Aere ra e maine, na te Atua koe e tiaki mai.
Friday, August 20, 2010
PACIFICA Hawkes Bay Activities 2010
Report to Central Region MiniConference, Wellington, 21 August 2010
Warm Pacific Greetings lovely ladies of the Pacific!!! Well 2010 has been a crazily busy year for us all, but here are some of the highlights from the activities we have been involved in with our Pacific communities and the community of Hawkes Bay.
Continuing our working relationship with Tangiia Nui Branch
During this year, we have continued working with one of our sister branches in Hawkes Bay, Tangiia Nui by keeping each other informed on activities of relevance to our communities, and working together on joint events. This enables us to make sure that we can all work alongside our communities in both Napier and Hastings.
Working with Pacific Communities Adult Community Education Course, EIT, April - August 2010
At our planning session at the end of 2009, we talked about how our wider Hawkes Bay community generally does not understand the many dynamics of our Pacific communities. We decided that one of our roles is to contribute to building that understanding. At the same time we were approached by Te Manga Maori, the Maori faculty at EIT if we were interested in running any Adult Community Education courses for/with our Pacific communities.
So we embarked on our big project for 2010 which was to develop and deliver an 18 week "Working with Pacific Communities" Adult Community Education course that focused on providing students with a range of views and experiences from people from different Pacific communities, on a whole range of topics of relevance to our people.
We were delighted that within weeks of advertising the course that we had 22 enquiries, then 17 students enrolled. The students came from the health and social service sector, and were all people who were working with or wanting to work closer with Pacific people and wanted to understand our people better.
During the 18 weeks we covered topics such as:
Pacific journeys - migration stories, including why people came to Hawkes Bay
Pacific "flavours" - our humour, concepts that are important to us, impact of Christianity
Our languages
The importance of interrelationships
Characteristics of our different Pacific communities - Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands Maori, Kiribas, Solomon Islands
The RSE scheme and its impact on Pacific communities in Hawkes Bay
Health and education issues
We brought a range of people in from our different Pacific communities to present their experiences of being Pacific in Hawkes Bay, including three Vanuatu ladies on the RSE scheme. We took the class to a local aoga amata where they were also able to spend time with a local Samoan Minister to discuss a range of issues such as money and the church.
The programme finished on 5 August with the Tangiia Nui branch joining our class to provide a session on Pacific food (of course) and interaction with the local Cook Islands community looking at crafts and traditions. The biggest point of discussion on this final night was 'when is the next course going to start'???? From the evaluations, students noted how their own world views had been broadened, and how much more they understand about all the different dynamics of our people.
We are soooooo proud of what we have been able to achieve with the course, and have some thinking to do about what we do next!
Cultural Training, NZ Police, July and August 2010
One of the spinoffs from our successful WPC course was a request to contribute to the Cultural Training for the NZ Police. We provided two sessions on different aspects of Pacific protocol, as well as providing some information on the makeup and dynamics of Pacific communities in Hawkes Bay, and what this might mean for the Police in their interactions with our families.
Supporting Community Events
Even though the course kept us pretty busy during the year, we were still able to attend and support the following community events:
Warm Pacific Greetings lovely ladies of the Pacific!!! Well 2010 has been a crazily busy year for us all, but here are some of the highlights from the activities we have been involved in with our Pacific communities and the community of Hawkes Bay.
Continuing our working relationship with Tangiia Nui Branch
During this year, we have continued working with one of our sister branches in Hawkes Bay, Tangiia Nui by keeping each other informed on activities of relevance to our communities, and working together on joint events. This enables us to make sure that we can all work alongside our communities in both Napier and Hastings.
Working with Pacific Communities Adult Community Education Course, EIT, April - August 2010
At our planning session at the end of 2009, we talked about how our wider Hawkes Bay community generally does not understand the many dynamics of our Pacific communities. We decided that one of our roles is to contribute to building that understanding. At the same time we were approached by Te Manga Maori, the Maori faculty at EIT if we were interested in running any Adult Community Education courses for/with our Pacific communities.
So we embarked on our big project for 2010 which was to develop and deliver an 18 week "Working with Pacific Communities" Adult Community Education course that focused on providing students with a range of views and experiences from people from different Pacific communities, on a whole range of topics of relevance to our people.
We were delighted that within weeks of advertising the course that we had 22 enquiries, then 17 students enrolled. The students came from the health and social service sector, and were all people who were working with or wanting to work closer with Pacific people and wanted to understand our people better.
During the 18 weeks we covered topics such as:
Pacific journeys - migration stories, including why people came to Hawkes Bay
Pacific "flavours" - our humour, concepts that are important to us, impact of Christianity
Our languages
The importance of interrelationships
Characteristics of our different Pacific communities - Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands Maori, Kiribas, Solomon Islands
The RSE scheme and its impact on Pacific communities in Hawkes Bay
Health and education issues
We brought a range of people in from our different Pacific communities to present their experiences of being Pacific in Hawkes Bay, including three Vanuatu ladies on the RSE scheme. We took the class to a local aoga amata where they were also able to spend time with a local Samoan Minister to discuss a range of issues such as money and the church.
The programme finished on 5 August with the Tangiia Nui branch joining our class to provide a session on Pacific food (of course) and interaction with the local Cook Islands community looking at crafts and traditions. The biggest point of discussion on this final night was 'when is the next course going to start'???? From the evaluations, students noted how their own world views had been broadened, and how much more they understand about all the different dynamics of our people.
We are soooooo proud of what we have been able to achieve with the course, and have some thinking to do about what we do next!
Cultural Training, NZ Police, July and August 2010
One of the spinoffs from our successful WPC course was a request to contribute to the Cultural Training for the NZ Police. We provided two sessions on different aspects of Pacific protocol, as well as providing some information on the makeup and dynamics of Pacific communities in Hawkes Bay, and what this might mean for the Police in their interactions with our families.
Supporting Community Events
Even though the course kept us pretty busy during the year, we were still able to attend and support the following community events:
- Ministry of Education Local Office Reference Group - contributing to discussions on our Pacific children and their schools
- EIT Consultation on their Pacific strategy
- Spacifically Pacific Hawkes Bay Cultural Explosion - judging the HB Secondary Schools Pacific Culture Competition
Supporting Breast and Cervical Screening
During 2010 we have contributed to the following activities to promote breast and cervical screening to our Pacific women in Hawkes Bay:
- Promoting PACIFICA at the breastscreening Mobile Unit in Maraenui, Napier, in March
- Running and participating in a Pacific Women's Health Day, in May where there were education sessions on both breast and cervical screening (15 Pacific women attended)
Member activities
Berry has continued her work as Pacific Breast and Cervical Screening Health Promoter, working with womens groups in the different Pacific churches around Hawkes Bay
Diane is off on holiday in Europe as we speak.
Caren was appointed to the Board of NZ On Air in May.
Maryanne continues her great work as mentor to our Pacific students at EIT.
Rose recently resigned as the Ministry of Education Pacific Liaison Officer and is off to pursue her career in the church.
Evangeline is due to have her first baby any minute now!!!!
So, life is busy for all of us -but never dull!!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
TECHNOLOGY PACIFICA STYLEZ!
During this year's National Council meeting in Dunedin, Saturday 31 October 2009, Tiare Ahuriri and Tangiia Nui Branch Presidents Caren Rangi and Taime Pareanga Samuel made PACIFICA history by being the first (as far as we know!) members to "Skype" into a Council meeting.
For those not familiar with Skype, it is computer software that allows people to communicate face-to-face using webcameras. Though both Caren and Taime were unable to travel to Dunedin for the meeting, they were able to "join" the meeting from Caren's dining room, and contribute to discussions around two items of interest to them (PACIFICA's screening activity and economic development). While there are still some equipment issues to be sorted out (i.e getting better microphones) Caren and Taime were also able to hear some of the discussion that took place, as well as see the beautiful faces of those attending the meeting in person.!
We would like to encourage other branches to utilise the technological wizardry that is available, and that can help us keep up communications and flow of information.
For those not familiar with Skype, it is computer software that allows people to communicate face-to-face using webcameras. Though both Caren and Taime were unable to travel to Dunedin for the meeting, they were able to "join" the meeting from Caren's dining room, and contribute to discussions around two items of interest to them (PACIFICA's screening activity and economic development). While there are still some equipment issues to be sorted out (i.e getting better microphones) Caren and Taime were also able to hear some of the discussion that took place, as well as see the beautiful faces of those attending the meeting in person.!
We would like to encourage other branches to utilise the technological wizardry that is available, and that can help us keep up communications and flow of information.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
2009 - where has it gone?
As I was getting our Branch Report ready for the National Council meeting in Dunedin Oct 30 - 31st, I realised how fast this year has passed by, and how many activities branch members have been involved in, within our Pacific communities and the wider Hawkes Bay community. So this is a bit of a catch up on our 2009 activities that we haven't yet had a chance to include in our blog:
Branch Xmas Brunch 13 Dec 08 - We had a very nice brunch at The Thirsty Whale and it was a nice relaxed chance to reflect on 2008 and to look forward to events of 2009. The biggest newsflash was Evangelene announcing her engagement to Deon and pending nuptials Easter 2009!
Prime Minister's Job Summit 27 February 2009 - Caren attended the Job Summit as a Pacific community representative along with fellow PACIFICA member Mele Wendt and 5 other Pacific people. Caren and the PACIFICA National Executive worked quickly during the week of the summit to put out a press release emphasising the importance of Pacific women being at the table when discussions of national significance were occurring. Caren produced a report following on from the Summit which was submitted to the National Executive, and reiterated the importance of our PACIFICA members being involved in the subsequent regional job summits around the country.
HB Regional Job Summit 6 March 2009 - The Hawkes Bay Regional Job Summit was the first regional summit following on from the national summit, and Pacific women were ably represented by Diane. While there was not much opportunity for interactive discussion between participants, this at least provided a chance for us again to flag that we need to part of the conversations around responding to the recession.
Fundraising Batons Up 1 October 2009 - We joined with the Tangiia Nui branch to run a Batons Up to raise funds for our contribution to the scholarship as well as our branch expenses for travel. We raised $425 for each branch which was very pleasing. We are now investigating further ways of getting funds.
Contribution to National Conversation about Work 14 October 2009 - We hosted Dr Judy McGregor, EEO Commissioner and Sue O'Shea, Princial Advisor EEO from the Human Rights Commission, who are currently getting around the country having a national conversation about work with employers, employees and industries to find out people's views on what makes good employment conditions. They came to see us to get some views of Pacific women in Hawkes Bay. Our branch members were able to share their thoughts and perspectives on the factors that support and hinder good working conditions. We will be encouraging our other branches around the country to add their views as Judy and Sue get to their regions, and will be raising this at the National Council meeting.
Attendance at local community events - members of our branch attended the following Pacific community and wider community events during the year:
Branch Xmas Brunch 13 Dec 08 - We had a very nice brunch at The Thirsty Whale and it was a nice relaxed chance to reflect on 2008 and to look forward to events of 2009. The biggest newsflash was Evangelene announcing her engagement to Deon and pending nuptials Easter 2009!
Prime Minister's Job Summit 27 February 2009 - Caren attended the Job Summit as a Pacific community representative along with fellow PACIFICA member Mele Wendt and 5 other Pacific people. Caren and the PACIFICA National Executive worked quickly during the week of the summit to put out a press release emphasising the importance of Pacific women being at the table when discussions of national significance were occurring. Caren produced a report following on from the Summit which was submitted to the National Executive, and reiterated the importance of our PACIFICA members being involved in the subsequent regional job summits around the country.
HB Regional Job Summit 6 March 2009 - The Hawkes Bay Regional Job Summit was the first regional summit following on from the national summit, and Pacific women were ably represented by Diane. While there was not much opportunity for interactive discussion between participants, this at least provided a chance for us again to flag that we need to part of the conversations around responding to the recession.
Fundraising Batons Up 1 October 2009 - We joined with the Tangiia Nui branch to run a Batons Up to raise funds for our contribution to the scholarship as well as our branch expenses for travel. We raised $425 for each branch which was very pleasing. We are now investigating further ways of getting funds.
Contribution to National Conversation about Work 14 October 2009 - We hosted Dr Judy McGregor, EEO Commissioner and Sue O'Shea, Princial Advisor EEO from the Human Rights Commission, who are currently getting around the country having a national conversation about work with employers, employees and industries to find out people's views on what makes good employment conditions. They came to see us to get some views of Pacific women in Hawkes Bay. Our branch members were able to share their thoughts and perspectives on the factors that support and hinder good working conditions. We will be encouraging our other branches around the country to add their views as Judy and Sue get to their regions, and will be raising this at the National Council meeting.
Attendance at local community events - members of our branch attended the following Pacific community and wider community events during the year:
- Opening of Te Apii Kuki Airani Early Childhood Centre 16 May
- Spacifically Pacific Hawkes Bay "Take It ON" Hip Hop competition and Cultural Explosion July and August
- Samoa Tsunami Memorial Service 12 October - this was an opportunity to reflect on the devastation caused by the tsunami in Samoa and Tonga, and share our thoughts, hopes and prayers for our Samoan and Tongan sisters in PACIFICA and in our communities.
And on a personal note....
- Branch members joined Evangelene and her new husband Deon at their beachside wedding at Clifton at Easter 2009.It was a great day and night, made all the more special by the fact that the wedding ceremony was conducted by Vange's Dad the Reverend Nio Daniela.
- Maryanne and Diane have been working on various pieces of research work about aspects of our Pacific communities, including a Pasifika student mentoring programme at EIT and a project on chronic illness in Pacific people.
- Berry has been continuing her work encouraging more of our Pacific women to undertake breast and cervical screening. Caren has joined her in the work around breastscreening, having taken up a 0.5FTE position with BreastScreen Coast to Coast to coordinate services and health promotion work, particularly for Maori and Pacific women.
- Other members are keeping very busy with study, work, family and community!
Looking to the future....
Our branch focus for the rest of 2009 and early 2010 is to continue to lift the profile of Pacific women in Napier, as well as continue our encouragement of Pacific women to be screened. Other planned activities are:
- making a submission to Napier City Council supporting the move to reduce the number of gambling outlets in Napier
- hosting a breakfast event for Pacific women in Hawkes Bay to encourage women to think about standing for local and central government positions - our local MP Chris Tremain has agreed to come and be guest speaker for this event which we will hold late 2009/early 2010.
Overall, we wish to continue to uphold the important role of Pacific women in the Napier, HB and NZ community, by supporting each other and our Pacific families and communities to be successful, healthy and happy. Roll on 2010!
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