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Meet Veronica Pomeʻe, Sports Illustrated’s First Polynesian Swimsuit Model

By
Kaniva Staff
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By Carla Herreria, Huffington Post

When Veronica Pomeʻe auditioned for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit model search last year, she knew that the magazine had never featured a Polynesian woman like herself in its famed annual edition.

She was determined to become the first one.

Pomeʻe, whose parents were born in the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific, raised the issue during her audition at the Sports Illustrated casting call in Miami, where thousands of models showed up to nab one of 16 open spots for the next round.

“I remember my interview telling [Sports Illustrated senior editor Darcy Braun]: You guys travel to all these beautiful, exotic, tropical locations” to photograph swimsuit models, Pomeʻe said. “What better way [to honor that] than to feature someone who’s actually from there?”

By the end of the audition process, Pomeʻe had made the final cut of six models who would make it into the magazine. Nearly a year later, her dream became a reality as she became the first Polynesian model to be featured in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition, which hit newsstands Wednesday.

“I’m still processing what that actually means,” Pomeʻe said of her newfound title in an interview with HuffPost.

“When people in Tonga found out I made the top six, everyone in the village was going crazy,” she told HuffPost. “I’m now representing the entire South Pacific and even our extended families” from other Polynesian communities.

Pomeʻe is now using her clout to draw attention to issues facing Pacific island nations. She said she’s working on a project to raise awareness on climate change effects on islands like Tonga. She’s also developing a “self-love curriculum” for a school in Tonga aimed at boosting students’ confidence and self-esteem. 

Pomeʻe said she’s grateful to be in good company with the talented and beautiful models in the 2019 swimsuit edition, but she also knows she’s still an underdog in the modeling community.

In recent years, Sports Illustrated has diversified its swimsuit edition to reflect a more inclusive definition of beauty, featuring curvy models as well as more models of color. In 2016, Ashley Graham became the first plus-size model featured on the magazine’s cover. In 2017, People magazine declared Hunter McGrady the curviest woman ever featured in the swimsuit issue.

Pomeʻe says that even plus-size models are held to a certain standard ― one that she’s also trying to shake up.

“When people think plus-size models, they think a girl who is voluptuous and very proportionate and busty with a big ass. They think Ashley Graham,” Pomeʻe said. ”And the reality is that the majority of plus-size women in America are just not built that way.” 

On her Instagram, where nearly 40,000 fans follow her, Pome’e continues to encourage people to embrace their own beauty, regardless of what they see in magazines or advertising.

“Everyone knows I’m not the smallest girl, I don’t have the biggest boobs … and I have scars and stretch marks all over my body,” the 5-foot-11 model wrote in a January post, around the same time she was announced as a Sports Illustrated model search winner. 

“My flaws have become what strengthens me the most as a model,” she added. “As an underdog it’s crucial for me to highlight inner beauty qualities because for so long I didn’t feel like I measured up to society’s expectations of beauty.”

Even though Pome’e is now represented by the Wilhelmina agency in New York and has made history as the first Polynesian swimsuit model in Sports Illustrated, she wants her fans to know that it was a difficult, but not impossible, journey to learn to truly love herself.

“The self-love journey is not an overnight thing. That’s the conversation that needs to be had,” she told HuffPost.

“I know that I’m not perfect, but I’m working on myself and, goddamnit! That’s what counts,” she added. “I don’t care what anyone else thinks or what they have to say because I know, at the end of the day, I put in my best.”


Police seize more than 500 rounds of ammunition during drug raids

By
Kalino Latu
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Police have seized illicit drugs, firearm, ammunition and cash on Tuesday.

A total of 228.82 grams of cannabis, a .22 rifle and 587 live bullets had been seized.

The Drug Enforcement Taskforce arrested four people from three different locations in Tongatapu.  

The arrestees included a 33-year-old man from Tofoa, a 40-year-old man from Fua’amotu, a 23-year-old woman from Kolofo’ou and a 33-year-old man from Vaini.

“All four suspects have been charged accordingly for possession of illicit drugs and for possession of firearm and ammunition without licence. They are remanded in police custody to appear in court at a later date,” a statement said.

“Police are concerned with the significant amount of firearms and ammunition that have been smuggled into the country and the risks they pose to community safety. We therefore urge members of the public to come forward with any information that will help with police investigations.”

Tourism a growth area for Tongan economy says new Development Bank report

By
Philip Cass
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The Asian Development Bank has identified tourism as a growth area in the Tongan economy.

According to the Asian Development Outlook 2019, tourism contributed 11.5% of Tonga’s GDP in 2017, compared with 7% in 2010.

The Bank said tourism was a factor in the economy in South Pacific countries.

The ADB said there was a need to improve infrastructure to ensure the benefits of tourism were spread across the country.

Infrastructure had to be sufficiently resilient to withstand cyclones.

Tourism also had to be kept to environmentally friendly and sustainable.

“Governments can consider enhancing legislation to better address issues that threaten the sustainability of the tourism industry and policies promoting sustainable tourism practices,” the ADB said.

Tourism was the second most affected industry by Cyclone Gita. It said the Tongan government intended to “build back better.”

Elsewhere in the report, the ADB said Tonga’s economy was expected to grow by 2.1% this year.

Growth was expected to slow slightly in 2020.

The ADB said Tonga’s economy would from reconstruction and infrastructure projects related to the recovery from 2018’s Cyclone Gita.

As Kaniva News reported recently, the ADB’s chief economist, Yasuyuki Sawada, visited at the end of last month.

Tonga has received $70.2 million in loans, $121.2 million in grant and $23.3 million in technical assistance from the ADB since 1972.

Last year the ADB warned that Tonga was one of six Pacific countries facing high risks of debt distress.

It said Tonga was the worst off, with public sector debt totaling 56 percent GDP.

The main points

  • The Asian Development Bank has identified tourism as a growth area in the Tongan economy.
  • According to the Asian Development Outlook 2019, tourism contributed 11.5% of Tonga’s GDP in 2017, compared with 7% in 2010.

For more information

ADB’s chief economist to visit Tonga as country’s public sector debt nears 60% of GDP

ADB’s chief economist to visit Tonga as country’s public sector debt nears 60% of GDP

Tongan team in NZ to inquire after alleged “unrealistic” $50 million cable deal signed by former government

By
Kalino Latu
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A team from Tonga has arrived in Auckland to inquire about a TP$50 million contract agreement signed by the former government with the Hawaiki telecommunications company.

The team wanted Hawaiki authorites to give them a clearer picture of the contract.

Hawaiki decribes itself as “a new fibre optic cable linking Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, Hawaii and the US West Coast”

The company, which began commercial operations started in July last year,  claims to have a 15,000 km telecommunication cable connecting 356 million consumers in Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, Hawai’i and the continental United States, with branches to New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga.

The Tongan team is led by Tonga Cable Ltd (TCL) Director Paula Piveni Piukala and Minister of Trade and Econmic Development Tu’i Uata.

Hon. Uata claimed that former Deputy Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni signed the contract, but that TCL later began to question whether or not the large amount of money being paid from taxpayers money was justified.

Hon. Uata said Tonga paid TP$6 million dollars so that the Hawaiki cable connecting New Zealand and Australia to Hawai’i and Los Angeles was connected to the Vava’u fibre cable in Tonga.

He said the TP$50 million was paid to the Hawaiki in exchange for a gurantee of repair services if the cable in Vava’u was damaged.   

Piukala said it “did not make sense” to pay such a large amount of money just in case the cable might be damaged in the future.

However, both men said that if, after talking to the New Zealand authorities, the TP$50 million deal appeared to be justified, they would be satisfied.

While in New Zealand they will meet their lawyer, Dr Rodney Harrison.

“We are here to mitigate a win win situation,” Piukala told Pacific Media Network this evening.

Other cable services

In January this year damage to an undersea cable knocked out most of Tonga’s internet capability for 12 days. The government  used satellite connection to supply partial service until the cable was repaired.

In April this year the Tongan government signed a 15 year contract with Kacific Broadband Satellites Group to provide high speed broadband via satellite to the Pacific Island nation.

The satellite bandwidth will be used to connect communities in 89 remote outer islands. In the case of a fibre cable outage, the satellite bandwidth can be shared with Tonga’s main centres.

Tonga also has an agreement with French company Alcatel for the provision of  a fibre optic cable system connecting Nuku’alofa and Vava’u with a branch to Ha’apai.

The main points

  • A team from Tonga has arrived in Auckland to inquire about a TP$50 million contract agreement signed by the former government with the Hawaiki telecommunications company.
  • The team wanted Hawaiki authorites to give them a clearer picture of the contract.
  • Minister of Trade and Econmic Development Tu’i Uata said questions had been raised about whether the amount of money being paid from taxpayers money was justified.

For more information

Haiwiki

What We Do

Tongan Government signs deal with Kacific

Tonga’s communications blackout ‘a problem out of their control’

Tributes flow as Capt Sam Tatafu is laid to rest in an emotional funeral

By
Kalino Latu
-

Members of His Majesty’s Armed Forces’ navy and military honoured Samuela Tatafu at an emotional funeral at Ma’ufanga yesterday.

Mourners gathered at the St Mary’s Cathedral to honour the man who was described as “he has an ambition to work for the nation.”

The 52-year-old former Navy Lieutenant Commander was reported missing at sea on April 23, after failing to arrive in Nuku’alofa at 10am after leaving ‘Eua at 6am.

Search and rescue team finally located Tatafu’s body on the beach area at Tu’aliku cliffs of Lapaha.

Samuela Tatafu. Photo/Facebook

The body of his colleague Litani Taufa was still missing.

Tatafu was first recruited into His Majesty’s Armed Forces in 1989 until 2000 when he retired and became a member of the military reserve force.

Since the sea accident, friends and family are sharing their thoughts and prayers for Tatafu and his family online.

A number of tributes have been sent via Facebook.

“This is just a small tribute to a man who lived larger than life- on, in and around the water. Sam tragically passed on Tuesday 23 April in a small boating accent during a rough sea passage from ‘Eua to Tongatapu,” the Tonga Heritage Society wrote on Facebook.

“I have known Sam for the best part of 35 years and send our sincerest condolences to his family.

“In 2010 Professor David Burley and I chartered Sam’s boat for a research expedition through the remote southern Ha’apai Islands looking for ancient rock art. Sam went out of his way to get us to the places we needed to go, we ate fresh fish and shared many a good laugh. He will be missed by all who knew him.

Rest in peace Sam.”

“Very sad sounds like a lovley (sic) man,” a commenter responded.

Tatafu was the owner of two businesses, the Ovava Tree lodge and Deep Blue Diving.

He is survived by his wife Ana Tu’ifanga Tukia Naufahu Tatafu with their five children. He had two other daughters from a previous relationship.

2000 procedures postponed due to doctors’ strike

By
Kaniva Staff
-

By Radio New Zealand

Early estimates are that more than 2000 elective and other procedures have not happened this week because of the junior doctors strike.

Members of the Resident Doctors Association are into their second day of a five-day strike over their expired employment agreement.

In Parliament today, Health Minister David Clark was asked about the impact the strike was having on patients.

He said hospitals are had reported no unexpected issues and people were still turning up for work.

“Approximately 38 percent of house officers and 72 percent of registrars have made themselves available for work this week.”

“And DHBs are advising the public that if they need to attend hospital for accute or emergency medical treatment they should do so,” he said.

While precise figures wouldn’t be known for some time, Dr Clark said he had been given an early indication of how many procedures had been deferred.

“I am advised that preliminary planning estimates are that 1513 elective procedures and 776 other procedures, such as elective angiography have been deffered.”

“People are missing out on planned care as a result of the strike and that’s why I’m urging both DHBs and the RDA to make the most of facilitation to find a resolution urgently,” he said.

But members of the Resident Doctors Association on a picket line in Auckland Ciy hospital today said it was time the minister stepped in.

Dr Maple Goh, a first year doctor at Middlemore Hospital said Dr Clark’s response to the RDA picketing his office yesterday was a huge let down.

“He put up a really disappointing poster that he was disappointed with the doctors which is huge hypocracy considering that we’re disappointed with him because he hasn’t stepped in at all.”

“And it should be within his power to make the DHBs sort this out, we’ve been trying to sort this out for 12 months now and it’s just appaling that David Clark has been sitting on his hands,” she said.

Vice President of the RDA Dr Kathryn Foster agrees and said the Government got involved in other contract disputes, like the nurses, so it  should get involved in the doctors dispute.

She said the strike was important because the doctors don’t want hospital chief executives to have the final say over working arrangements.

“The problem with the CEOs having the final say is we’re a vulnerable population, we’re dependent on the DHBs for our training and our capacity to ba able to lerm and work.”

“If we let the DHBs have final say, we have no recourse over changes that maybe damaging to our lives and training and our lives outside of the hospital. we can’t then go to a different employer, we’re a captive audience,” she said.

Part of the issue lied with a lack of trust between the doctors and the dhbs, which Dr Foster said had been gradually eroded over a long time.

“We’ve had many years of systematic erosion of trust and it comes from our side from the DHBs saying one thing and doing another.”

“And that’s why the protection of our union is so iportant and we’re so deperate to hold on it because we can’t trust the DHBs,” she said,

The DHB’s spokesperson Dr Peter Bramley has said the strike is “unreasonable and unnecessary” because faciliation talks are due to start next week on 9 May.

This article is republished under Kaniva’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Supreme Court orders contract cancelled after legal dispute drags on for four years

By
Philip Cass
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A dispute that has been in and out of court since 2016 has returned to the Supreme Court.

This  case concerns  an  agreement  dated  February 27, 2015  for the sale  by Island Management Ltd to Charlet Millen of  a  business,  assets  and undertaking  known  as the Coconet Cafe. 

Island Management was acting on behalf of Shyla and Isileli Kali.

The company has  been  struck  off  the  Register  of  Companies  and is no longer a legal entity capable of being sued.

On June 23, 2016, Lord Chief Justice Paulsen declared that the agreement was a valid contract, that Millen had honoured the terms of the agreement  and was ready, willing and able to complete the deal.

He found that the Kalis were in breach of the agreement because they had refused to deliver up possession of the business or assets as  agreed.

The judge ordered the defendants to  complete the agreement within seven  days.

However, the Kalis had refused to comply with the court order.

In June  2017,  Lord Chief Justice Paulsen made a timetable for the future conduct of the case.

“There followed a series of procedural  skirmishes  between  the parties requiring further  rulings  of  the Court,  changes  of  Counsel,  ill-advised  applications and tardiness of the parties which together led to considerable delays,” the judge said.

The Kali’s lawyer stopped representing them and since August last year neither of the Kalis had not taken any part in the proceedings.

Millen argued that since the defendants had refused to comply with the order and failed to  complete the agreement the agreement should be cancelled.

“I am satisfied that the defendants repudiated the agreement and have no intention, and now  no ability, to complete it,” the judge said.

“Mrs Millen is entitled to a declaration cancelling the agreement with an award of damages to be assessed.”

Lord Chief Justice Paulsen ordered that the agreement be cancelled.

He said Millen was entitled to costs.

The main points

  • A dispute that has been in and out of court since 2016 has returned to the Supreme Court.
  • This  case concerns  the sale  of  a  café.
  • Lord Chief Justice Paulsen ordered that the agreement be cancelled.  

PM Pōhiva to have operation in Auckland

By
Kalino Latu
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The Prime Minister, Hon. Samuela ‘Akilisi Pōhiva will undergo a liver treatment in New Zealand on May 8.

The 78-year-old was in New Zealand two weeks ago to have routine medical checkups.

He returned to Tonga before his office said this afternoon Hon. Pōhiva “is scheduled to undergo a medical procedure at the Mercy Hospital in Auckland.”

“According to Dr. Sione Latu, Physician Specialist at Vaiola Hospital, medical tests were carried out in Auckland in early April and it was determined that the Hon. Prime Minister has a liver complication that the treatment procedure should be carried out on 8th of May.”

Public consultations on six new government Bills will start in Vava‘u next Monday

By
Philip Cass
-

Nearly six weeks after the Prime Minister said there was no need for further public consultation on new government Bills, the Parliamentary committee dealing with legislation will start public feedback sessions next week.

The public will be invited to make written submissions on the six Bills, which the government wanted debated last month.

As Kaniva Tonga news reported at the time, the Bills were at the centre of upheavals in Parliament when the Acting Speaker blocked attempt to have them heard as a matter of urgency.

Noble MPS also walked out of Parliament during debate over the bills and there were angry exchanges in the House.

As we reported, Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva resisted pressure from the Nobles to allow more public consultation on the new Bills.

Hon. Pōhiva told the House the government had fulfilled all legal requirements before the new Bills and amendments were to be submitted to the House.

The government had previously been using radio talk back to gauge public opinion about the Bills.

However, Radio New Zealand reported that the Prime Minister later withdrew the Bills, citing a need for public consultation.

The Bills, which were originally tabled in March, are:

Bill no. 15/2019 – Act of Constitution of Tonga (Amendment) Bill 2019

Bill no. 16/2019 – Act of Constitution of Tonga (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2019

Bill no. 17/2019 – Tonga Police (Amendment) Bill 2019

Bill no. 18/2019 – Magistrate’s Courts (Amendment) Bill 2019

Bill no. 19/2019 – Judicial and Legal Service Commission Bill 2019

Bill no. 20/2019 – National Spatial Planning and Management (Amendment) Bill

Public meetings will start next week.

A public awareness programme providing information about the Bill began today.

The Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Legislation will host public meetings in Vava’u from May 6–10, followed by meetings in Ha’apai from May 13-14, Tongatapu from May 15-22 and ‘Eua on May 24.

The timetable of the consultation programme can be found on the government website, http://www.parliament.gov.to, the Facebook page Fale Alea ‘o Tonga, or by phoning 27912.

Radio announcements will also provide details on the dates and venues of upcoming public consultation meetings.

The main points

  • Nearly six weeks after the Prime Minister said there was no need for further public consultation on six new government Bills, the Parliamentary committee dealing with legislation will start public feedback sessions next week.
  • The public will be invited to make written submissions on the six Bills, which the government wanted debated as a matter of urgency last month.

For more information

Acting Speaker shuts down discussion on new Bills, tells House to come back the next day

Acting Speaker shuts down discussion on new Bills, tells House to come back the next day

Nobles and Cabinet meeting deadlocked as gov’t blocks decision for another public consultation on new Bills

Nobles and Cabinet meeting deadlocked as gov’t blocks decision for another public consultation on new Bills

Non-government MPs walk out of Tonga’s parliament

New dialysis centre set to open in Tonga “at no cost to government” – claim

By
Kalino Latu
-

A new partly government-owned dialysis centre is set to open in Tonga soon and a newly registered company has been set up to run the operation, it has been claimed.

The facility would be established “at no cost to the government,” a reliable source within the Ministry of Health told Kaniva news.

The source said a private company in Salt Lake City was partnering with the Ministry.

It said the US organization involved philanthropists who wanted to leave some of their money and wealth to charity.

No further details were available. The source said a statement would be officially released soon about the centre.

As Kaniva news reported at the time, the Ministry has said in the past that it could not fund its own dialysis programme “because it would eat up 20 percent of the annual health budget for less than one percent of the population and it is not equitable distribution of meagre resources.”

The Ministry said there was a 17.7 percent prevalence of diabetes in Tonga, a number revised after it was regionally reported as 34.4 percent.

The Minstry said there were 200 patients in the kingdom with varying degrees of kidney disease and around 66 patients, or a third, are in Stage 5, requiring renal replacement therapy, or dialysis.

Tongan patients in New Zealand and around the globe have faced a painful death if they were sent back to Tonga because dialysis was not available there.

Last year a Tongan national, Tamahanga Tukunga, was among a growing number of Tongans in New Zealand who requested help from the New Zealand government.

He received dialysis three days a week and as a foreign national he was not entitled to that treatment and could be deported to Tonga within a year.

His treatment was paid by his relatives through fundraising, including sausage sizzles back in Tonga, and sending yams to sell in New Zealand.

The cost of the medical treatment was always a critical factor for overseas countries in deciding whether or not to grant visas to Tongan patients.

As Kaniva news reported recently, Sosefo Lakalaka was ordered to leave New Zealand by May 2019 after a tribunal found the burden on New Zealand’s public health system outweighed the exceptional humanitarian circumstances of his case.

Mr Lakalaka was paying off a $US10,768 medical bill and his ongoing treatment was costing the taxpayer $US13,463 a year.

A Tongan international and ‘Ikale Tahi player Sione Vaimo’unga, who was trapped in Romania on dialysis, was luckier after  Tonga’s Ministry of Health sought support from the Romanian government in 2017.

The Pacific Rugby Players Welfare finally reported last year that Vaiomo’unga was recovering well from a transplant after he had been on dialysis after being diagnosed three years previously.

The main points

  • A new partly government-owned dialysis centre is set to open in Tonga soon and a newly registered company has been set up to run the operation, it has been claimed.
  • The facility would be established “at no cost to the government,” a reliable source within the Ministry of Health told Kaniva news.
  • The source said a private company in Salt Lake City was partnering with the Ministry.

For more information

No promises for dialysis in Tonga

https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/349427/no-promises-for-dialysis-in-tonga
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