Minister for Pacific Peoples Barbara Edmonds with young performers celebrating the start of Kiribati Language Week. Photo / Barbara Edmonds
Minister for Pacific Peoples Barbara Edmonds with young performers celebrating the start of Kiribati Language Week. Photo / Barbara Edmonds
A colourful display of cultural dance, song and speech has helped to kick off a special week for members of the Kiribati community living in New Zealand.
This year’s Kiribati Language Week is officially underway and will see various events around the country; including cultural skills workshops, performances and activities in Porirua and Invercargill.
One of the first events was held at the Pātaka Art + Museum in Porirua this morning, hosted by the Maneaban te I-Tungaru Society.
Minister for Pacific Peoples, Barbara Edmonds, shared a number of photos of the celebrations; showing off hundreds of people - both young and old - who had come together in honour of their motherland and heritage.
“Celebrating the Kiribati Language Week, Wikin te Taetae ni Kiribati, with our Porirua and wider Wellington Kiribati community!”
This week’s theme is: Nurture, enhance and sustain the Tungaru language and culture.
“Tungaru is the name given to the people of Kiribati by their ancestors, with the Tungaru culture and language and playing a pivotal role in identity and well-being,” Edmonds said.
“There is a real push by Kiribati groups around the country to keep increasing these statistics and continue highlighting the importance of sustaining language and culture for [the] next generation.”
Figures from the 2018 Census shows a total of 3,225 people identified as being of Kiribati descent. They are known as I-Kiribati.
The majority of that group (1710) were female and the median age was 20.4 years old.
Edmonds said 50 per cent of those people said they could speak Tungaru.
I-Kiribati children show off their cultural pride at today's Kiribati Language Week celebrations in Porirua. Photo / Barbara Edmonds
Up to 20 per cent of I-Kiribati people born in New Zealand said they could also speak the language, while 24 per cent of people under the age of 15 years old said they could speak it also.
Among this week’s celebrations is the 44th anniversary of the Micronesian country becoming an independent nation.
In 1979, Kiribati gained independence from the United Kingdom.
There are three official events commemorating Kiribati Independence Day this week - including the first being held tonight at the Pātaka Art + Museum, hosted by the Wellington Kiribati Community Club Inc.
Tarawa atoll (pictured) is an atoll and is the capital of the Republic of Kiribati. Photo / AP
The second is taking place on Saturday at the Maraeroa Hall in Waitangirua, Porirua.
While the final independence event will be at the ILT Stadium Surrey Park Rd in Glengarry, Invercargill, hosted by the NZ National Kiribati Council and Southland Kiribati Community and Youth.
The importance of keeping Pasefika languages alive
Edmonds acknowledged the importance of keeping our Pasifika languages alive and the Government’s commitment to helping communities achieve this - as shown in the Pacific Languages Strategy announced last year.
The remaining $4.1m of that funding is to go to the establishment of an online hub and public information campaign to create a new platform for Pacific language learners and speakers.
Edmonds said such projects were an investment and that growing Pacific bilingual and multilingual speakers would ultimately benefit New Zealand.
“It will help lift educational outcomes, enhance employment and earning opportunities, create cultural connections that improve well-being and build the confidence and identity of our Pacific peoples.”
The strategy was one of the last big announcements made by former Minister for Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio; who pinpointed how fundamental Pacific languages were to the survival of Pacific communities in New Zealand during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Much of the vital information being distributed at the time - including that on vaccinations, isolation rules and where people could seek help or get food parcels - was translated into Pacific languages.
“Evidence tells us that when our people are strong in their languages - as well as English - they are more likely to be strong mentally, culturally, academically and economically,” Aupito said at the time.
