Waitakere library hosted a celebration of Tongan dance this afternoon when a small, but enthusiastic group was led through the basic movements of the Tau’olunga.
Participants
danced to Sei o Fafine, which was
composed by Queen Salote III.
Library
assistant Monty Lakatani, who is of Tongan descent, said he was passionate
about Tongan dance and culture, but said he wasn’t a punake (instructor).
However, he
did admit to watching his three sisters, who teach dancing, very closely.
People from
New Zealand, Tonga, Romania and New Guinea attended.
Among those
attending was Seini Rea and her grand-daughter
Isabelle.
Mrs Rea is
originally from Ma’ufanga and has been in New Zealand for 44 years. She
regularly returns to the kingdom and is looking forward to returning in
December.
She said she
had brought her granddaughter Isabelle to introduce her to the dance.
Other
participants included Devah Hill-Tupou from Auckland Girls Grammar.
Kathleen
Reihana said she attended on the spur of the moment after hearing an
announcement.
This
afternoon’s event as part of Tongan Language Week, which is being celebrated at
libraries across Auckland.
Other events
today included food demonstrations, traditional dance and fun family
activities at Mangere and Otahuhu local libraries will host.
Te Matariki
Clendon Library demonstrated how to make Otai at the Tutubugs children’s club.
Tomorrow,
September 6, there will be a special Tongan story time at Manurewa Library from
10.30-11am, along with simple yoga and stretches for children.
Glen Innes
Library will hold a bilingual story time with stories, songs and rhymes from
10-10.30am.
The main points
Waitakere library hosted a celebration of Tongan dance this afternoon
when a small, but enthusiastic group was
led through the basic movements of the Tau’olungao.
Participants danced to Sei o
Fafine, which was composed by Queen Salote III.
For more information
Big range of free
events at Auckland libraries to celebrate Tongan language week
Interim Mate Ma’a board chair George Koloamatangi seems resigned to losing at least some of the current team.
“We
will be contacting the players this afternoon,” Koloamatangi told a press
conference yesterday.
“We
still want them to play for Tonga. But it’s their choice.”
Andrew
Fifita has gone on line to threaten that the current players will refuse to
play if Koloamatangi and Clive Edwards are not removed from the board.
“We
need friends, family and fans get behind the players of MMT and help bring our
coaching staff back…As players we will not take part in the world 9s and
the test matches at the end of the year,“ Fifita wrote.
As
Kaniva news reported earlier this
week, the Mate Ma’a players threatened to pull out of any further involvement
with Mate Ma’a Tonga if their complaints against the interim board were not
resolved.
The
team players claimed the interim board had breached agreements they made in
their first meeting.
Tongan
Broadcasting Commission quoted from a letter allegedly sent by the players
which said: “…we will be withdrawing
from the World Nines to be played in October 2019 and considering a position
for the upcoming Tests against Great Britain and Australia.”
Koloamatangi
said he would be flying to Australia next week to meet with the players.
Sacked
The
interim board confirmed it sacked Woolf at a press conference yesterday.
Interim board chair George Koloamatangi said it was not an easy decision but it was done because there were a number of issues the board and Woolf could not agree on.
“Things
like looking for sponsorship and managing the team, negotiating with sponsors,”
he said.
“But
that is the responsibility of the home federation [TNRLB].”
He
said these responsibilities were handled previously by Woolf before the new
board was selected
Woolf
was sacked by e-mail.
Koloamatangi
e-mailed Woolf saying he had tried calling him and had left a message on his
phone.
“We
held a board meeting yesterday and the board resolved to remove you from the
head coach of the Tonga National Rugby League team (MMT) it was unanimous,” the
e-mail said.
“We
also met with all the clubs today and they have endorsed the decision therefore
since there were no objections I am conveying the decision of the board.”
Koloamatangi said the board had not heard back from Woolf
after his dismissal although they said they had been trying to contact him.
The
main points
Interim Mate Ma’a board chair George Koloamatangi seems to be
resigned to losing at least some of the current team.
“We will be contacting the players this afternoon,”
Koloamatangi told a press conference yesterday.
“We still want them to play for Tonga. But it’s their
choice.”
For
more information
Andrew Fifita lodges
complaints against interim National League board; players threatened to pull
out of Mate Ma’a Tonga
Mate Ma’a Tonga centre Solomone Kata has quit
the national team and expressed his disappointment after reports the interim
league board has fired head coach Kristian Woolf.
“We have heard that the head
coach would be changed but we did not believe it,” Kata said.
“But I have just spoken with the coach and he told me he had received an
e-mail from the Tonga National League Board today saying he was sacked,” Kata
said in Tongan.
Kata asked the Board on Facebook whether they had dismissed the coach
”because of his honesty”
Kata said Woolf had worked hard since 2013 and when the MMT was not
widely popular and now “you sacked him.”
He then said in Tongan: “Kae kehe kou tatau atu au ki he Lanu hinehina moe kulokula ! Ofa lahi atu ki he Tonga kotoa pe !”
This translates into English as: “However, I am saying good bye to the white and red colour. Lot of love to all Tongans.”
Kaniva news has been
reliably informed this evening the interim board announced it had sacked Woolf.
Former professional rugby
league footballer John Hopoate, whose son Will Hopoate was Mate Ma’as’s fullback,
lashed out at the interim board on Facebook, saying he had just spoken with the
players who had written a letter to the board.
“If this interim board think
they can come in and do this after all the hard work we have done to get the
players to play for Tonga and to stay loyal to us they got another thing
coming,” John Hopoate wrote on his Facebook page.
He did not give the details
of the letter, but various sources claimed the players gave the interim board
10 days to come up with a solution before they all pulled out.
He accused the board of
wanting to take control of the team’s money and finances for their own benefit.
“They have sacked the coach and will try get rid of the staff
too,” John wrote on his Facebook page.
It is understood Andrew
Fifita and Jason Taumalolo were working hand in hand on another move to address
the issue after Fifita complained to Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva that he and
the players were dissatisfied with the board.
The interim board could not
be reached for comment. However, reliable sources said the board believed that
if the current Mate Ma’a players pulled out there were other players who were
willing to represent Tonga.
The report of Woolf’s dismissal has been
met with outrage online, with many people calling on the interim board members
to leave the organisation and demanding that the new board member election to
be called immediately.
As Kaniva
news reported this week, the players threatened to pull
out of any further involvement with Mate Ma’a Tonga if their complaints were
not resolved.
The board was accused of breaching agreement with the
players in their first meeting.
The reported sacking of the head coach came after prop
Fifita warned last month that the board appeared to have plans to change him
for the World Cup Nines 2019 next month, something the board denied.
The players were unhappy with the interim general
secretary, lawyer Williams Clive Edwards Jnr, and interim Chair Siaosi
Koloamatangi and Fifita has told the Prime Minister they wanted these two
members removed from the interim board.
Fifita said they were disappointed after they had found
out that $55,000 had been withdrawn from a Tonga rugby league bank account in
Australia by the board members and they were dissatisfied with how the money
was used.
It has been
claimed that the money was actually part of a gift from the World Cup for
the Mate Ma’a Tonga and was supposed to be paid out to players. The players
wanted to keep the money in the bank as security for future games.
The main points
Mate Ma’a
Tonga centre Solomone Kata has quit the national team and expressed his
disappointment after reports the interim league board has fired head coach
Kristian Woolf.
“We have heard that the head coach would be changed but we did not
believe it,” Kata said.
“But I have just spoken with the coach and he told me he had received an
e-mail from the Tonga National League Board today saying he was sacked,” Kata
said in Tongan.
For more information
Videos
recorded while prop Andrew Fifita complaint to PM Pōhiva against interim board
members released to Kaniva news
A video showing Mate Ma’a Tonga prop Andrew Fifita complaining to Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva about members of the Tonga Rugby League interim board has been released to Kaniva news.
We received two video clips, one running for 1.38
minutes and the other 12 seconds.
The videos came after we reported on Monday night that
Fifita had complained to Hon. Pōhiva. The report met with some strong reaction
from online users who claimed this was not true.
Jason Taumālolo’s father took to Facebook and denied Taumālolo wasn’t involved in any complaints against the interim board and allegedly signed a letter.
On Monday night Kaniva
news published a story reporting on claims made by Television Tonga that a
letter of complaint had been submitted. We did not say that Taumālolo signed a
letter. We said, Fifita reportedly told the Prime Minister he was complaining
on behalf of all the Mate Ma’a Tonga players.
The videos were taken in a room at Vaiola hospital on Thursday, August 28, by former board member Matani Nifofā, who recorded the meeting.
In the 1.38 minutes video clip Fifita can be overheard
complaining to the Prime Minister about two of the interim board members.
He said he met with local rugby league teams in
Tongatapu about their dissatisifaction against the two board members.
“We sat down with the local teams to try and push for
an AGM so we can get these two off,” Fifita can be heard as saying in the clip.
Nifofā said before the video was recorded Fifita told Hon. Pōhiva he and the players were unhappy with the interim general secretary, lawyer Williams Clive Edwards Jnr, and interim Chair Siaosi Koloamatangi.
Fifita said they had found out that $55,000 had been withdrawn from a Tonga rugby league bank account in Australia by the board members and they were dissatisfied with how the money was used.
As Kaniva news
reported yesterday, the board members said
they used the money from the Australian bank accounts to fund necessary
expenses for the Mate Ma’a Tonga team.
It has been claimed that the money was actually part of a gift from the
World Cup for the Mate Ma’a Tonga and was supposed to be paid out to players.
The players wanted to keep the money in the bank as security for future games.
The videos showed other former board members sitting
on chairs in the room while Fifita was next to the Prime Minister’s bed.
Present in the room were former secretary general
Tavake Fangupō, Vilisoni Tu’iniua, who is also a Television Tonga presenter, a brother of Fifita and the Prime Minister.
Tu’iniua told Kaniva
news he was contacted by Fangupō and asked if he could organis a meeting for
the Prime Minister and Fifita.
In one of the videos, Fangupō can be heard telling Hon.
Pōhiva Jason Taumālolo was playing last week but he could come to Tonga with
the coach if an AGM was called.
The Prime Minister said he was sick, but he would address Fifita’s complaint.
As we reported, the players threatened to pull out from any further involvement with Mate Ma’a Tonga if their complaints were not resolved.
Nifofā said they were at the meeting because Fifita contacted them because he wanted to have a point of contact in Tonga and that was how they joined Fifita when he went to the Prime Minister. He said Fifita also met with the local teams.
The main points
A video showing Mate Ma’a Tonga prop Andrew Fifita complaining to Prime Minister
‘Akilisi Pōhiva about members of the Tonga Rugby League interim board has been
released to Kaniva news.
The videos came after we reported on
Monday night that Fifita had complained to Hon. Pohiva. The report met with
some strong reaction from online users who claimed this was not true.
For more information
Andrew
Fifita lodges complaints against interim National League board; players
threatened to pull out of Mate Ma’a Tonga
A Tongan student has described the racial abuse she has faced since moving to New Zealand.
Maryanne Tupou, who is a law student at the University of Canterbury is one of four tertiary students and staff that spoke to RNZ News about racism they have experienced in New Zealand.
Ms Tupou, who moved to Christchurch in 2014, says she has been called the n-word on the streets of Christchurch and other derogatory remarks about her race.
She said she also experienced racism for being a Polynesian at a private all girls school.
Ms Tupou said during her time at the private school, people often questioned her belonging at the school because of her darker skin.
“This couple was walking in [to the school] … and I could hear the woman say ‘I didn’t know black people could go here’,” she said.
Outside of her school life, the racism continued.
“One night, we were just in some club and on the dance floor … and there was this guy standing there and he just looked at me and was like ‘n*gger b*tch!'”
Ms Tupou said she has also been yelled at by cars driving past her on the streets of Christchurch.
“They just drove past, put their head out the window and they’re like ‘get back to your f*cking boat!’
“I mean I came here on a plane, but okay,” Ms Tupou said.
But the racism doesn’t stop there.
“And I’ve had so many people that go, ‘oh you’re pretty hot for a black girl’ or ‘oh I’ve never f*cked a black girl before’, and I’m just like okay, cool very dehumanising but cool,” Ms Tupou said.
Ms Tupou believes New Zealand needs more education on other cultures and faiths for it to become more tolerant.
“I think just teaching people to be more open minded, you don’t have to be like ‘oh my god I’m so sorry for all the things that has happened to you’ … you don’t have to walk in their shoes, just try and understand what it must be like for them to be in their shoes.”
The
exercise of a power of veto by the king is contrary to what George V envisaged,
according to former New Zealand High Commissioner to New Zealand Christine
Bogle.
Writing
in her doctoral thesis, Democratisation in Asia-Pacific Monarchies,
Bogle said an unsigned paper written by
King George said: “In line with the conventions of Constitutional Monarchy [the
Sovereign] would withhold assent only where the legislation in question was an
affront to the Constitution or an abuse of power e.g Parliament attempting to
prolong its life beyond four years.”
The
veto power had been exercised on several occasions by King Tupou VI, on the advice
from his privy council about legislation from the governments of Lord Tu’ivakanō
and ‘Akilisi Pohiva governments.
As
detailed in earlier stories on Bogle’s research, the king has also used his
powers to dismiss the government. In August 2017, King Tupou
VI dissolved parliament and called elections for November 2017 on the basis of
a number of concerns about the government expressed by the Speaker.
Bogle
described the king’s actions as “constitutional, but hardly democratic.”
No abolition
However,
despite the present monarch’s apparent opposition to the continuing development
of democracy in the kingdom, as
Bogle points out, the democracy movement did not seek the abolition of the
monarchy, but rather a lessening of its involvement in politics.
“Nor did they urge a complete overhaul of the
1875 constitution, but rather respect for the rights and freedoms set out in
it, and revision to allow greater political rights,” Bogle wrote.
“The democratic movement also expressed
concerns about royal involvement in business – some (but not all) of them
fairly dubious arrangements resulting from Tupou IV’s increasingly ambitious
and unrealistic schemes to enrich the kingdom.
“Tupou IV was also prey to costly proposals
from unscrupulous foreigners.”
Bogle described Hon. Pōhiva as a vocal opponent of the kingdom’s traditional system and the most high profile of the young activists who began working for democratic change.
Bogle
said that overseas study, plus emigration and temporary work schemes, meant
that Tongans had become familiar with the democratic systems operating in New
Zealand, Australia, the US and elsewhere.
“From
these beginnings a pro-democracy movement began in the late 1980s, originally
seeking more accountability from the government,” Bogle said.
“His
initial calls for more government accountability evolved into questioning the
undemocratic political system itself.”
As well as ‘Akilisi Pōhiva and other young activists and People’s Representatives, the movement included forward-thinking church leaders, especially Catholic Bishop Patelesio Fīnau and Free Wesleyan Reverend Dr ‘Amanaki Havea, who spoke out against the lack of political rights of the people.
The
pro-democracy movement also began to engage with the royal family, whose
younger members were becoming more
conscious of the political stagnation in the country.
Cede powers
George
V announced in September 2006 that he would give up his business interests,
cede his executive powers, and lead the country towards a more democratic
system. The process was interrupted by rioting in November of that year.
The
Constitutional Reform Commission received submissions and produced
recommendations, which were adopted by parliament in advance of elections under
the new system in November 2010.
Since then the democratic party of Hon Pōhiva has come to power and won a second election, but arguments about the relative powers of the monarch and the government continue.
Bogle said this was illustrated by the uncertainty about the demarcation between the king’s and the government’s responsibilities for foreign affairs. In 2015 the Pōhiva cabinet, as the culmination of a long consultation process including the previous government, decided to sign the United Nations convention on the elimination of discrimination against women (CEDAW).
However,
the government’s advice to the UN of its intention to accede was subsequently
withdrawn after the ‘King in Council’ advised the government that decisions to
sign on to international conventions were the prerogative of the monarch.
This
was based on a contested interpretation of the constitution provided by the Law
Lords.
The
main points
The exercise of a power of veto by the king is contrary to
what George V envisaged, according to former New Zealand High Commissioner to
New Zealand Christine Bogle.
King George said: “In line with the conventions of
Constitutional Monarchy [the Sovereign] would withhold assent only where the
legislation in question was an affront to the Constitution or an abuse of power
e.g Parliament attempting to prolong its life beyond four years.”
The father of Jason Taumālolo, Va’ai Taumālolo has denied his son met with other Mate Ma’a Tonga players before complaints against the Tonga Interim National League board were made to the Prime Minister.
Va’ai took to Facebook and wrote on the Tonga
Rugby League page today saying he had questioned Jason whether it was true he had
signed a letter.
He said his son said he had not signed the
letter and admitted he never met with the players
Va’ai has called on those involved with the
complaints to leave his son alone.
He said his son only joined the Mate Ma’a Tonga
to play and if he was no longer fit to be selected than that was it.
He believed his son was used by some people to
support what appeared to be a political “campaign.”
Va’ai said he believed the elected board
members were the right people to do the job.
His comments came after Television Tonga
reported on Friday that prop Andrew Fifita has complaint to the Prime Minister
against the interim rugby league board.
The story was also carried by Kaniva news last night.
The TVT’s Friday report did not say that Jason or any of the Mate Ma’a Tonga players signed the letter, rather it said Fifita made the complaint to the Prime Minister on behalf of the Mate Ma’a Tonga team players.
Tonga Broadcasting Station Manager Setita
Tau’i’onetoa told Kaniva news this
evening she received a letter purporting to raise the issues revealed by
Fifita’s complaint, but the letter was not signed.
It is understood the letter was sent by e-mail, but the copy of the letter sent to
us did not show the sender’s email address.
The letter demanded that the interim board
members must not be re-elected at the upcoming Annual General Meeting.
It was labelled “confidential” and addressed to Todd Greenberg
– CEO National Rugby League, Nigel Wood – CEO Rugby League International
Federation , Jeremy Edwards – GM Southern Hemisphere Rugby League International
Federation, Ian Pendergrast – CEO Rugby League Players’ Association and Clint
Newton – GM Stakeholder Relations Rugby League Players Association.
“This
letter is to state that we, the players representing Mate Ma’a Tonga, do not
support the current TNRL Board of Directors led by Chairman George Koloamatangi
and Secretary William Edwards,” the first paragraph read.
It raised a number of issues including claims
that the players would withdraw from any further involvement with Mate Ma’a
Tonga if the interim board members were re-elected.
“…we will be withdrawing from the World Nines
to be played in October 2019 and considering a position for the upcoming Tests
against Great Britain and Australia. We are also very concerned from what we
are hearing from our families in Tonga, that the current Board are delaying the
upcoming AGM. Our position on the World Nines and the Tests will not change if
the AGM is not held and a fair selection process of a new Board does not occur
before these events in October,” the unsigned letter said.
As we reported last night, the interim board
has denied the accusations made in the letter and said it would respond to the
complaints.
The interim board was appointed by the Tonga Supreme
Court after it received complaints demanding an audit of the board’s financial
matters.
An audit report was expected last month which
would give way to the election of new board members in an upcoming Annual
General Meeting.
The main points
The father of Jason Taumalolo, Va’ai Taumalolo has denied his
son met with other Mate Ma’a Tonga players before complaints against the Tonga
Interim National League board were made to the Prime Minister.
Va’ai has called on those involved with the complaints to
leave his son alone.
For more information
Andrew
Fifita lodges complaints against interim National League board; players
threatened to pull out of Mate Ma’a Tonga
The Mate Ma’a Tonga team has complained to Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva, saying they were dissatisfied with the interim National Rugby League Board.
According to Television Tonga, the complaint was submitted to Hon Pōhiva by prop Andrew Fifita on behalf of the team players.
They also complained
to the Australia National Rugby League.
The players threatened to pull out from any further involvement with Mate Ma’a Tonga if their complaints were not resolved, it said.
The team players
claimed the interim board had breached agreements they made in their first
meeting.
The Mate Ma’a players were not happy after the interim board allegedly changed the coach for the World Cup Nines 2019 next month.
The players claimed the board used the league funds deposited in bank accounts in Australia.
Response
The board has denied the claims to the Television Tonga and said action was underway to respond to the complaints.
It said it used the money from the Australian bank accounts to fund necessary expenses for the Mate Ma’a Tonga team.
TVT has reported that it obtained a copy of an unsigned letter which purported to show some of the issues raised by Fifita.
The complaints have triggered calls from the public to return Deputy Prime Minister Sēmisi Sika to the League.
The Editor of Kele’a newspaper, Po’uliva’ati Havili,
said on Facebook today there could be no denying the Mate Ma’a Tonga team was at the
top while Hon. Sika was president of the League.
Havili said since
the interim board began operating the League there appeared to be issues which
led to Mate Ma’a Tonga fans losing their close affinity and support for the
national team.
“These were the
fānau who united the country and brought matchless warmth, but since the
establishment of this board there appeared to be noticeably lack of supports
and the players now are disappointed,” Havili said.
“Ko e kii fifili: Na
kuo taimi nai ke fakafoki mai pe ‘a Misi Sika mo ‘ene timi ke fakalele ‘etau
liiki?”
This translate into English as: “The question is – Was it about time to return Misi Sika (Hon. Sika) and his team to run the league,” Havili wrote in Tongan.
As Kaniva news reported, reports on the
Tonga National Rugby League’s finances due last month was the key to the
election of new board members.
The Supreme Court dissolved the TNRL board and ordered an election of new board members at a special general meeting.
Thousands of books have been donated by more than 50 Auckland Council libraries among the hundreds of other items given by generous New Zealanders including bikes, laptops and more.
It’s the brainchild of South Auckland couple Kahoa and Brendan Corbett, who for the past year have been packing up donated goods almost every month to be shipped to Kolovai, the village where the library is located.
“That’s the non-fiction, fiction, there’s biographies there,” Mrs Corbett said, pointing to a stack of boxes at the Onehunga-based CFR Line shipping company inside which hundreds of books have been categorised and are about to be shipped to Tonga.
It’s a dream come true for the couple, who visited Kolovai eighteen months ago after it had suffered some of the worst impacts of Cyclone Gita.
Children with books in Tonga Photo: RNZ
“I looked at the schools. It was just nothing left … I said ‘Well, we have to do something about this’ because there were no books.”
The couple helped in the clean up and restoration of the cyclone-ravaged village and over time, Mrs Corbett noticed an abandoned community fale, which sparked an idea.
“The fence was totally ripped, the pigs were everywhere. So I just went straight to the town officer and I asked him ‘Hey, what are you doing with that house? Would I be able to start up a library in there?’.”
Now that idea is about to become a reality.
While it may be a surprise for some that Tonga has never had a proper public library before, the little South Pacific kingdom is full of avid readers and has a 99 percent literacy rate.
There have been other community venues open to the public with resources and various donated books but the Kolovai library is said to be the first to operate with a catalogued library system, allowing books to be issued and loaned out to members of the public – a system set up with the help of Auckland libraries in New Zealand.
The Corbetts explained that apart from what the kids learned in school, much of the island was limited to reading only the bible, with very little access to any other literature.
“The first thing I did was I called and I wanted to speak to the manager of the Auckland libraries because I said that I needed some books. I said I really want to start up a library. All of a sudden the emails, the phone calls arrived and it was just amazing. ‘Kahoa we’ve got books here, Kahoa we’ve got books there’. It came from everywhere.”
Fifty-two council libraries around Auckland have donated thousands of books since that call – but that’s not all that came through.
SkyTV donated 30 laptops, New Zealand bike company ONZO donated dozens of bikes, Bunnings Warehouse gave paint for the renovations and even Mr Corbett’s students pitched in to help.
“The books were pouring in but we had no shelves. So I was the Tech teacher at Southern Cross just up the road here and we needed a project for these kids so I said “Well, we’ll fund it. We’ll buy all the materials and we’ll get the kids to build all these shelves’,” he said.
“We built shelf after shelf after shelf and packed them all down and then loaded them into a container that was going up.”
To top off all the free donations, CFR Line Shipping company offered to send everything to Tonga at no cost.
When the containers arrived at the port in Nuku’alofa, Tonga’s capital, all the locals pitched in to help.
“We had the kids trained up with a laptop and a scanner trying to load everything in. They were loving it,” Mr Corbett said.
Local children shelving books in Tonga’s first public library Photo: Kahoa Corbett
“When we got there the fence was all fixed up,” Mrs Corbett said.
“And they did the peitō, toileti and the ‘atō.”
Those are the Tongan words for the kitchen, toilet and the roof. Mr Corbett is European but the couple shared much of their story in the Tongan language.
The couple have been back to the kingdom multiple times to help set up the library and they said every time they arrived, village locals always turned up to help.
“They all came, they all helped. They were like hammering away and the kids from the village helped. Brendan instructed them, he got the paintbrushes,” Mrs Corbett said.
“As soon as they saw all the power tools they just flocked in. It was like bees to a honey pot,” Mr Corbett said.
“It only took a couple of minutes for me to just show them. If I got one finished and they’d be like ” ‘Io, ‘ilo au Peni, ‘ilo au. Ō mai me’a ngauē!” (I know Peni, I know. Hand me the tools!) And they just went to town and built about seven of these things – all the same. And they just knocked them all together.
Children in Tonga put together shelves for Tonga’s first public library Photo: Kahoa Corbett
“They were like a bunch of contractors, they were so fantastic. Screwing all these shelves together and then they wanted to paint them. The shelves all got built and painted and they’re all perfect. It was hilarious.”
“Once we opened up all the boxes and started shelving the kids were gasping and pointing ‘Dinosaurs! dinosaurs! dinosaurs!”, Mrs Corbett said.
“They got very distracted, they started to read and they were always gasping in amazement. And they just keep coming and coming and I think the parents were looking for them but they were still at the library. It was amazing.”
The couple said some village adults were suspicious about the library at first because they didn’t understand what it was and didn’t see any point in it.
But over time, even they began taking an interest in the books too.
“There’s a women’s group – a mother’s group and they turn up with their little kids and you know, it’s a bit scary – the kids just wander around and the mothers get all absorbed in these books. So they’re pulling out books here and there.”
Others even made a detour to the library on their way to church choir practice.
“They stopping by, they were like looking at the library,” Ms Corbett said.
“The cooking books are everywhere and they’re like – ‘Oh I like this!’ And there’s a couple of them just standing there flicking the pages.”
Local Tongan woman looking at books in library Photo: Kahoa Corbett
Some of the elders, who had moved back to Tonga to retire after living overseas for many years, were rapt to see a library in the kingdom for the first time.
“One of the old uncles would come in everyday, Siola’a, and he goes ‘Peni, you got any John Grisham crime books?’ And so we start hunting through because it wasn’t quite catalogued then. So every time I came across a John Grisham while we were unloading books, I put it aside for Siola’a,” Mr Corbett said.
“The next day he comes back – ‘You got anymore? I finish that one’, he says, ‘I was here the other day and I saw something called mixing cocktails. I want to have a go at mixing some cocktails’.
“This is in the middle of a village in the most remote end of Tonga, you know. It’s awesome.”
As the library prepares for its official opening on October 11th, Mrs Corbett has been putting up framed pictures on the walls inside the library – they’re photos of successful Tongans around the world including many who have graduated with doctorates.
On the stands are biography books of Tongan legends such as Jonah Lomu and Valerie Adams.
Mrs Corbett said she hoped the library inspired the village locals, and especially the kids, to dream big.
“I feel really happy to see the reaction from the community, understanding why it’s important to have books. It’s opened them up to another world,” she said.
“It’s been a tough road and it’s been hard work but now we’re nearly there and I’m happy that we’ve done something for the community.”
The University of the South Pacific says it will implement the recommendations of the independent investigator looking into allegations of mismanagement and abuse of office at the regional institution.
BDO Auckland was engaged to investigate alleged corruption at the university.
According to the Islands Business, the USP Council said in a statement the BDO report had resulted in a “range of findings and recommendations that will need to be addressed to ensure the sound operation of the university”.
However, the council did not say what the BDO’s recommendations are.
The allegations were raised in a paper by the Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, titled Issues, Concerns and Breaches of Past Management and Financial Decisions.
Fijivillage reported a committee, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, will review the report.
The BDO report was received by the USP Council last week.
The Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Henry Puna, and Fiji’s Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum are also on the committee.
