FrontPage

Member Area

Wednesday

Aug 20th

FrontPage

The News

Education

Tangata Pulotu Cultural Festival at the University of Auckland

Written by Jordan Kwan (Media Release)
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
The Auckland University Pacific Island Students' Association (AUPISA) has successfully ended another annual Cultural Week dubbed as one of the best yet. According to the Association, Cultural Week is one of their initiatives to promote, sustain and embrace Pacific Island students' cultural heritage in an environment full of cultural diversity. "It has been an extremely stressful week but completely worth it when you see our pacific island students come together and participate in showcasing our cultures to the wider student body. "While doing so, we are promoting a sense of community and belonging in an environment that can be very alien to our Pacific Island students," says Jordan Kwan, the Auckland University Students' Association (AUSA) Pacific Island Student Officer, one of the organizers for the event. Cultural Week, or the Tangata Pulotu Festival as it has been called this year, ran from the 12^thuntil the 16^th of May 2008 with each day allocated to an island nation. It is the biggest Pacific Island event on campus. For the duration of the week, the university quad was full of island performances, demonstrations and acts. The event was well received with hundreds of students, families and invited guests turning up to participate and watch. Free island dishes were served at the conclusion of each day for everyone in the Lagi Atea Moana Cultural Space on the university premises. Monday kicked off with Tongan Day where the Tongan students introduced the contemporary theme for the week, "Crank that cultural, Raise your roots!" by focusing more on musical performances by various artists of Tongan descent. The Fijian students who have become active in AUPISA this year hosted Tuesday's Fijian Day with a traditional Fijian opening and then with a blend of Bollywood music and dance later on. Niue Day settled for a simple approach to their day on Wednesday, with a few performances and the main act being the demonstration of their Niue Haircutting and Ear Piercing Ceremonies with two of the AUPISA executives as their models. Thursday were the sounds of the Cook Islands with the beats of their drums resounding in all corners of the university quad. The performances were fast and provocative with students piling in by the numbers to witness the beauty and wonder of the dances. The week ended on a high note as the Samoan students on campus got together to host Samoan Day. Some of their demonstrations included Lio Schmidt who specialises in preserving the "igi" style of playing the guitar as well as an "umu" where Samoan boys cooked food outside using hot rocks and leaves. The performances were numerous and the culmination of the day ended with the taualaga which was especially moving with the Samoan student Officer, Voga F being the "taupo" for the day. Amongst the invited guests was the current Miss Samoa Sherry Natalie Elekana along with Miss Samoa New Zealand Amily Fleafaga. "It was an outstanding week and we had a lot of community participation as well as families of our students," says Io Aleke, the 2008 President for AUPISA. "We are especially thankful to the good Lord for maintaining the spirit throughout the whole week and making sure that the weather especially was good." AUPISA is a non-profit organization that caters to social and academic needs of its Pacific Island students at university. Formed in 1997 and run by Pacific Island students, it is the only body of Pacific Islands university students formally recognized within a student's association constitution (AUSA) nationally in New Zealand. Comments (2) Subscribe to this comment's feed Great written by Tisha Wendt, May 23, 2008 This is a great article. Good Job Jordan, you have really put it out there....GREAT JOB, n WELL DONE!!!! Hi Tisha! written by Jordan Kwan, May 23, 2008 lol thanks Tisha... Write comment Name Email Title Comment

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

Polls

The Land Bill ?

	Against it
	For it
	Need more info

US Presidential Elections

	John McCain
	Barak Obama
	Ralph Nader

Would you send your Aiga a RHD Car?

	Yep...I'm getting it ready now
	Yep....Sometime Soon
	Nope.....We dont have RHD Cars here
	Nope.....I'd rather just send money

Cece’s BingoTop 10 On Talofa FM

--ADVERTISEMENTS--

Google Satellite Map of Eveni Carruthers

--ADVERTISEMENTS--

FiaOla.com Featured Items

Before you buy, check out FiaOla.com for bargains

BARGAIN! INVESTMENT! Prime
Location 1/4 Acre Land & House

Land Rover Discovery.

Cook Island Pareo Dresses

	GYM SET
	Printing Business for Sale.

"Where the natives buy and sell"

--ADVERTISEMENTS--

Latest Comments

Rudolf Moves Onto the Semi Finals in Beijing
Well done Rudolf

and also to the rest of the team

Too Many Heart Complications Worry SMA President
Talofa to everyone.... very sad to hear about that brother died last week and also others are not r...

Aunese Gets Ready For His Event Tonight in Beijing
Faamalosi aunese! much support from vaiola college

Ele Opeloge Puts Samoa on the World Olympic Map
You did us proud ele..malo le tauivi

Ele Opeloge Puts Samoa on the World Olympic Map
Bien Echo(well done) I love to see my usos do well in anything; I remember my days on your island wi...

Social Network

Join the Newsline Team on Bebo

www.bebo.com/newslineS

Become part of the Newsline Bebo Network

Get News via your Email

Subscribe to Samoa Live News Headlines by Email

Get the Latest News on your Blackberry or PDA

Subscribe in a reader

Sounds from Samoa

Listen to broadcasts from LiveSamoa.com
Courtesy of Plantation Feet, SBC(540am) and
Radio Polynesia(99.9 FM)

http://www.samoalive.com/sliveradio.asx

Live on Weekdays from 8am to 9am

Have your Say

We want your Opinion

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
If you would like to submit a letter for possible
publication in the print edition of the Newsline,
please send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

We want your News

Submit News from your Area
If you would like to submit News for possible
publication in both the online and print version
of Newsline please feel free to email us
at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Become a News Blogger
Have a passion for writing? Interested in
writing articles for Newsline? Email us
at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
We are looking for Bloggers from
around the world to contribute to our site.