Today, we travelled to Manukau’s Due Drop Events Centre in south Auckland and took part in the inaugural Koloa – Pacific Language Fono 2023.
This event was a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, remember and celebrate our Pacific heritage and languages, and inspire action across communities to protect and maintain our taonga/measina (treasures).
This year’s fono coincides with the UNESCO Decade of Indigenous Languages, making it even more special as we joined the worldwide movement to revitalise indigenous languages.
Thoughts and discussions from the participants were gathered and fed back to the Ministry of Pacific Peoples and the latest strategy to revitalise our Pasifika languages.
The taula/anchor for today’s talanoa was MC Ma’a Brian Sagala, whose opening greetings blew everyone away and smooth facilitation between the many speakers and panels was incredible. Here is a snippet:
In the evening, a farewell celebration was held for the outgoing MP and former Minister of Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio.