PMN Tonga

Halaevalu Fonongava’inga Halanukonuka: A Tongan woman, who became an orphan at 14 and is now one of a few Pasifika women studying engineering in Auckland, is using her love for numbers to teach and inspire students in deprived areas, for free.

Halaevalu Tu’ipulotu Halanukonuka​, 32, holds weekly Saturday maths classes at the Panmure Community Centre for year 1 to 11 students in low decile areas.

She is one of only 55 Pasifika women, out of around 4000 students, currently studying engineering honours) at the University of Auckland.

Ms Halanukonuka is committed to the way maths and numerals were taught in Tonga and wants our children to excel in Maths, Science and in education

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April is dedicated to raising awareness of Autism among individuals, family, and the society.

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An art sale has been set up in Tonga as an outlet for Tongan creatives to keep producing work during the lockdown. 

A huge part of the market has been impacted since border closures and tourists are no longer going to the kingdom plus the dedicated art gallery 'Tanoa Hotel' that showcased local art is currently closed as it is a quarantine facility for repatriated Tongan nationals returning from overseas.

So a group of five artists are coming together to sell their art work to help them get by.  One of the artist is Tanya Edwards joins us via telephone from Tonga. 

 

Tanya it's a challenging time for everyone globally but how has is impacted the art community esp those whose main source of income is from their art work? 

The art sale is a way of giving our local artists a continued platform to exhibit and sell work and I've also noticed that with no one travelling at the moment, there are people here with a little more disposable income who have been very supportive of buying local, which is so great!

We've had quite a lot of interest since Friday, and being able to post photos of the work online has meant that we've had a lot of interest from overseas too.

Our only problem at this stage is selling online - Facebook marketplace doesn't recognise Tongan banks and currency and the banks here are not currently set up for us to do online payments.

Unless you have a bank account in NZ for people to pay to, it's a case of relying on money transfers and telegraphic transfers which are expensive.

We also only have one flight per week to send items so there is no such thing as overnight shipping!

Our next show to work towards is a celebration of Matariki, which is supported by the NZ high commission here, I think that is late June.

 If you need any more info please let me know, I've also just posted some more photos on Facebook if you need to get a feel for the type of work we are showing.

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Five time New Zealand discus champion, Siositina Hakeai, is eyeing to break the world record in her new sport of heavy weight lifting.

The 27-year-old picked up a national record for lifting 237kgs in her first New Zealand Strongman Series competition in 2019.

She also broke the New Zealand and Oceania women’s deadlift record at 270kgs by the end of 2020.

The women’s world record sits at 290kgs, which Siositina is aiming to equal or beat.

She joins us now via telephone.

Notes: 

She told Radio New Zealand (RNZ) she only every lifted 260kgs prior to that competition. “I kind of regret not going [for] 280kgs but touch wood this year I can go for a 290kg world record or maybe even 300kgs.” Siositina said she had been doing track and field for quite a long time, since she was 12-years-old. “I started travelling the world at 14 [and] it just got to a point where my love for the sport started fading away,” she said. “I decided to enter the Strongman Series because I knew I was strong, I just didn’t know how strong, and my love for the sport and lifting heavy just grew ever since.” Siositina’s parents were not impressed when they found out about her new sport through social media. “It kind of took a toll on them but then when they saw the potential I had in lifting, they’re a lot more supportive now. Mum’s always checking up to see if my back is all right or if I need extra massages, and dad is just making sure that I’m not overdoing it and I’m not trying to smash it so hard where it’s going to affect me long-term,” she said. She added that Pacific Islanders were naturally strong, and loves seeing more Pacific Islanders, especially women, taking part in weightlifting sports. She also hopes to represent Tonga in discus at the next Commonwealth Games, but is not sure what will happen with Covid-19. “If I can represent New Zealand in lifting and Tonga in track and field, that’s my ideal goal…I don’t know if I can represent both, but that’s definitely something I’m going to be looking into.” 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/programmes/champions-of-the-pacific/audio/2018788658/tongan-discus-star-aiming-to-lift-off-in-new-sport 

 

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Ma'u Tau’olunga Creatives in Australia started off as an online zoom class during the COVID19 pandemic in March last year.

This went from online to the classroom in May with over 80 students both face to face and online with students in Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and The USA.

The person behind this is Nella Mo’unga who is a NZ born Tongan now residing in Sydney and he is upholding our Tongan tradition and culture through the art of Tongan Faiva. 

His school motto is Kumi ke ma’u, puke ke ma’u. 

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Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi - Deacon, Uniting Church of Australia. Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi is an ordained Deacon at the Uniting Church of Australia. She is currently serving as a Tertiary Education ministry chaplain at Charles Sturt University - Port Macquarie

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Ongoongo mei Suva Fiji 31 March 2021

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