Planting Seeds for Future Generations
It has been an incredible 12 weeks of Tula’i Ngāue, where we are honoured and privileged to support over 70 Year 12 & 13 Pasifika leaders from across ten West Auckland Secondary Schools.
Moving into Term 2, the Tula’i team delivered the first segment of our programme focusing on the Identity of Pasifika in the Tāmaki Makaurau Diaspora. We watched as our cohort of leaders participated in activities that helped grow them as confident young Pasifika such as Talanoa (intentional collective discussion), identifying personal and communal attributes, Te Tiriti workshops and debates on Pasifika issues.
In the second half of Term 2, Tula’i Ngāue took a more intentional approach with the Community Innovation segment of our programme, where our young people select issues within their lived experiences and communities and create solutions.
A profound lesson we learnt in this segment is that when we put the leadership and trust in our young Pacific people, innovation is an automatic response. We saw this come to life through five incredible presentations from our young people from four weeks of hard mahi:
Fiti Pua: Tautua Project- provide resources such as devices and stationary to students in need.
Tiare: Beyond Rivalry- a project involving community events which aims to bring schools together against school rivalry and lessen conflict.
Tagimoucia: Noa'ia- a project that will help bring awareness and assist families in the current cost of loving crisis through a resource and donation drive and financial workshops/support.
Heilala: Heilala Haven- a school rivalry awareness project which aims to bring together Pacific students from rival schools to help raise awareness on school conflict.
Teuila: By Youth 4 Youth- a programme which promotes active and healthy physical health through weight loss challenges, dietary plans, gym accessibility etc.
Thank you to the New Lynn Community Centre and Auckland Council for our venue space, Genezy Ilolahia who delivered our Te Tiriti workshop, the New Zealand Electoral Commission for providing us with resources for our Elections Mahele, and to our wonderful panel of experts who judged our project presentation day: Our Chair Sila Fagaesea Siaki from NZ Police, Ange Tuaputa and Mike Tuala from Auckland Council and Pou Pasifika, Roschelle Marshall from Foundation North, Kylie Sealy from Front Steps Trust and our IG programme assistant Wesley Paongo- Ey Entrepreneur of the Year 2022.
We are excited to see how we can move from Community Innovation to Community Activation through the potential activation of these projects. Please watch this space as our cohort of leaders continue to grow!
