A Child of Oceania

Reclaiming our space as Pasifika storytellers

A Child of Oceania, reclaiming our space as Pasifika storytellers

Show Notes:

We spoke with Kalo Fainu via Skype from the small island of Nusa in New Ireland in Papua New Guinea.

See the links below.

New Ireland https://www.google.com/maps/search/new+ireland/@-3.0798852,150.5037622,8z/data=!3m1!4b1 Nusa Island Retreat. https://www.nusaislandretreat.com/

East New Britain https://www.google.com/maps/place/East+New+Britain+Province,+Papua+New+Guinea/@-5.0766664,150.9871494,9z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x68c3e9222826e74b:0xccf6003af689dbd8!8m2!3d-4.6128943!4d151.8877321

Kalo's Blog and videos can be found at https://www.achildofoceania.com/home

Want to see a Kokomo Bird? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blyth%27s_hornbill

Special Thank you to: Louise Tari of Rockhampton, QLD, Australia

Music provided by:
Gideon Kakabin & David Bridie. The Song title: a Bit na Ta from the Album a Bit na Ta
& Shukura, Port Vila, Vanuatu

Beating the Odds - An inspiration for Pacific Island Girls in STEM - Dr. Yalinu Poya

Using Catalysts to Feed the World

In this episode, you are going to hear from one of the trailblazers in STEM, a young exciting scientist who also happens to hail from the beautiful Island nation of Papua New Guinea, and the first female Pacific Island scientist to be on a mission to feed the world’s growing population in a more sustainable way. Discovering the love of science at an early age has prompted her to pursue further studies in science and with the support of her family, especially her Dad, she went on to complete a BS in Chemistry at the University of Papua New Guinea and a Master’s degree in Inorganic Chemistry from the Northwest Normal University in China. She has just completed her PhD degree in Chemistry at the University of Glasgow specialising in Heterogeneous Catalysis under the supervision of Professor Hargreave.

Read More About Yalinu Here.

In today's episode we will be discussing pandemics and depopulation across the Pacific Region in history and traditional economies. Our Special Guest today is Mr. Kirk Huffman who was the first full-time Curator of the National Museum of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre (VKS) from 1977 until the end of 1989. He studied anthropology, prehistoric anthropology, and ethnology at the Universities of Newcastle, Oxford, and Cambridge in the UK, before carrying out his cultural fieldwork in Vanuatu. As an Anthropologist and ethnologist his keen insight and experience in the region makes him an ideal person for these topics. MWT was able to speak to him from his home in Sydney, Australia.

Happy Mother's day from Melanesian Women Today.

On today's episode, we are going to listen to the courageous story of a woman who grew up in the village, was denied an education. She never gave up the hope of one day achieving her dream of learning how to read and write. Her determination and passion along with her new found skills have allowed her to become a agent for change to affect the lives of other women across Vanuatu.

Vanuatu Mama's English class is an Adult literacy class that has been life changing for many women in Vanuatu. With the ability to read and write, women are determined to teach other women communities to learn how to read and write.

Links:

Eratap Village

Mama's English Class

On the 30th of January 2020, WHO declared coronavirus (COVID-19) a global public health emergency. In its early stages, the Covid-19 crisis around the world looked nothing like it is today. The initial state-of-emergency declarations were met by skepticism by both the public, and many in policy circles around the world, which exemplify what behavioral scientists call confirmation bias, until it became a devastating reality. This episode discusses the effects of Covid-19 and the lived experience of a woman in the Solomon Islands and another in Vanuatu.

Honiara, Solomon Islands

Port Vila, Vanuatu

Read more about this episode and see photos on our website.

In response to mounting crises posed by the pandemic of COVID-19 and tropical cyclone Harold, many local communities and Aid agencies in Vanuatu have taken up the role as stakeholders in helping the Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) on the regional, provincial, and community level to coordinate responses to emergencies and disasters across the country.

Read more about this and see photos on our website.

Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office

Everyone is talking about social distancing to help combat the spread of coronavirus, but what does keeping your distancing actually look like for the Pacific Island countries and the communities? What does it look like for individual Pacific Islanders?

While the rest of the world is coming to terms with the new reality of how to respond to the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) or have an optimal plan in place for when the virus arrives in their country, the Islands in the South Pacific find themselves cut off and isolated. 

Many businesses and schools are closed to stop the spread of the virus in the Pacific region. In stopping the virus, most of the common communal venues like the churches, in the communities and villages, families, and friends are discouraged to gather together in large numbers. Public health officials are urging everyone to practice social distancing and practice proper hygiene protocols of washing hands, sneezing into the elbow, stay home if you are sick, do not hug, and do not shake hands.

In the Pacific region, social distancing is a hard concept to grasp, in fact, it’s seen as a foreign concept. The idea that families, friends, and communities cannot socially share time together does not fit within the social fabric and the norms of the way of life in the Pacific. Social distancing will take time for people to adapt considering it is not a norm in the Pacific Island culture to distance themselves from each other. The culture in the Pacific is a culture that embraces the gathering of families, people, and social practices.