‘E tu’uloa ‘a e Lea Faka-Tongá ‘o ka lea’aki ‘i ‘api, siasi (lotú), mo e nofo-‘a-kāingá – the Tongan language will be sustainable if used at home, church and in the wider community.
Ben Tameifuna, Senior Manager Disability and Public Health, opened Tonga Language Week at Le Va by introducing the theme for 2023: ‘E tu’uloa ‘a e Lea faka-Tongá ‘o ka lea’aki ‘i ‘api, siasí (lotú), mo e nofo-‘a-kāingá, meaning the Tongan language will be sustainable if used at home, church and in the wider community.
The Le Va team celebrated with a Tongan morning tea for their Harakeke House colleagues, sharing ‘otai (fruit drink), pineapple pie, and keke ‘isite (doughnuts). Max Tuipulotu, Senior Project Coordinator at Le Va and an experienced dancer and choreographer, demonstrated Tongan dance moves and blessed the food.
Later in the week, Le Va’s Tongan staff, including Chief Executive Denise Kingi-‘Ulu’ave, shared a presentation with their colleagues on their family backgrounds and Tonga’s history and culture. The feast that followed was full of laughter, music and fellowship.
In the lead up to World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September, Le Va is highlighting the top five tactics for preventing suicide for Pasifika people. One of those tactics is ‘Cultural Identity’, with evidence showing that culture gives a sense of belonging and pride and is a protective factor for suicide.
The Pacific Language Weeks, supported by the Ministry for Pacific Peoples since 2010, are an opportunity to celebrate and promote the diversity of Pacific languages in Aotearoa, strengthening those cultural connections for our teams and for our communities.
Samoan is a complex language which means we’re always learning – even those of us who are fluent speakers are constantly deepening our knowledge of Gagana Samoa. – Toleafoa Mark Esekielu
Celebrations at Harakeke House throughout the week began with a welcome and official opening led by Taitu’uga Mataafa-Komiti, Le Va’s project manager for the Atu-Mai violence prevention programme. She gave a short presentation on Samoan history, culture and language and a fun lesson on how to pronounce some Samoan phrases.
Pastor Taeao Napo, project coordinator at Le Va, opened the gathering with lotu (prayer) and pese (hymns). Project coordinator Jim Stretton entertained guests with an energetic demonstration of different styles of Samoan siva (dance).
To end the week, the Le Va team brought together staff from all the Wise Group entities at Harakeke House once again to reflect on the week and enjoy a taumafataga (shared meal). The refreshments, which included koko alaisa, panikeke, and falaoa, were prepared by project coordinator and Samoan chef extraordinaire, John Apelu Crouch.
Toleafoa Mark Esekielu, Le Va’s senior manager for mental health and addiction, said, “It’s important to acknowledge that we are all on a journey in terms of our language. Samoan is a complex language which means we’re always learning – even those of us who are fluent speakers are constantly deepening our knowledge of Gagana Samoa.”
In the 2018 census, 182,721 people identified as being ethnically Samoan, making them the largest group of Pacific peoples living in Aotearoa. After English and Te Reo Māori, Samoan was the third most widely spoken language in New Zealand, with 86,403 people (2 per cent of the population) able to speak it.
Minister for Pacific Peoples Hon Barbara Edmonds launched Samoan Language Week nationally online with a video focusing on this year’s theme, ‘Mitamita i lau gagana, maua’a lou fa’asinomaga’, meaning ‘Be proud of your language and grounded in your identity’.
Imagine a world where Pasifika people with disabilities have access to all the services they need. A world without language or cultural barriers, and where Pasifika people with disabilities can live the life they want the way they want. Le Va is working with disability support services, communities, and others to develop such a world, right here in Aotearoa.
A disability workforce with capability, cultural competency and capacity is required to effectively engage with Pasifika communities and deliver effective disability support services that are responsive to their cultural needs.
The Engaging Pasifika cultural competency programme has been in high demand for our disability workforce, with the most disability workers ever undertaking the programme in the past 12 months compared to previous years. In total 213 disability health workers completed the Engaging Pasifika programme from over 30 organisations.
In addition, many other disability workers attended both open face to face Engaging Pasifika workshops and EP live online webinars.
Since 2013, more than 1580 disability health workers completed Engaging Pasifika Cultural Competency programme.
100% of disability participants rated the Engaging Pasifika programme as an excellent programme overall!
The delivery of Le Va’s national Engaging Pasifika Cultural Competency programme commenced in 2009.
To date, over 6 400 health workers have completed the programme, 900 of which were delivered in 2019-2020 alone. This year during COVID lockdown level 4 restrictions, EPLive Online Webinar was launched where 176 health workers completed the programme.
The New Zealand Health profile shows that Pasifika is generally featured disproportionately compared to the rest of the nation. Developing a diverse health workforce that reflects the regional population served is one of many ways to address this, however, this takes time. Supporting mainstream workers and services to enhance their cultural responsiveness is another way and is recognised as an essential means to reduce ethnic disparities in access, quality and outcomes for health and disability services. Research commissioned by the Ministry of Health on how to best meet the needs of Pasifika young people with disabilities identified cultural competency of workers and services as part of the solution in providing a better quality of care for the young person and their family.
Engaging Pasifika 2019-2020 infographic
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