US tour for community leader

Rev Uesifili Unasa. Photo / APN

A member of Auckland Council's Pacific People's Advisory Panel will be among a group of people from around the world to attend a programme in the United States focusing on minority rights.

And one of the speakers they will hear from is President Barack Obama.

The chairman of the panel, the Rev Uesifili Unasa, is one of 15 people attending the US State Department's International Visitor Leadership Programme called Community Activism and Minority Rights.

The three-week programme looks at the role of minority peoples within the community and what local and central governments can do to make sure those communities are acknowledged.

Others attending include representatives from China, Cambodia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Burma and Vietnam.

Mr UNasa, who is also chaplain at the University of Auckland, said he was looking forward to learning from the experiences of other minority groups.

"The importance of the programme is to look at ways our Pacific voices can be facilitated through Auckland City in particular," he said. "It will provide me with the opportunity to see how community activism has taken place in America and how it can be very effective in changing the local and national landscape in New Zealand."

Guests will travel to Washington DC, North Carolina, Texas and California before finishing in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Their first engagement is the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jnr Memorial in Washington DC on August 28.

President Obama will speak at the event, which marks the 48th anniversary of the march on Washington and Dr King's famous speech.

Mr UNasa said: "Barack Obama was brought up in community activism and he's a good example of an individual who has been active in giving a voice to the minority.

"In many ways it's what the programme is about ... from the struggle to the realisation."

Mr UNasa's trip will be paid for by organisers of the programme.

He hopes to return with new ideas that will ultimately help Pasifika people's progress in Auckland and the wider New Zealand community.