Pacific Peoples’ Partnership is proud to announce that we have welcomed Ruby Kafalava onto our Board of Directors! Ruby is originally from Tonga and is involved with keeping her culture, language and traditions alive in Canada through her participation as a dancer in Pearls of The South Pacific, an authentic cultural group based on Vancouver Island. She is also a mother of two young girls and works as a professional caregiver. We are fortunate to have her join the PPP Team!
Our Papua New Guinea partner HELP Resources is pleased to announce the start up of the formative Wewak United Vendors Association (WUVA). The two women facilitators/educators are: Pia Ambiwa – an experienced community organiser, counsellor, educator with faith-based organisations and with the Ok Tedi community development initiatives, and Evangeline Kaima – secondary school teacher who taught for many years then joined the East Sepik Council of Women (ESCOW) as the head of a community-based literacy Tok Ples pre-school program. There she previously built up a network for 300 enthusiastic community-run pre-schools and literacy programs for women and children. For the last two decades Evangeline has led the rollout of a Personal Viability program that supports local farmers, traders and small-scale entrepreneurs so that they may succeed through maximum use of local resources and belief in their own power to overcome poverty, debt and dependence.
PPP was saddened to learn of the recent death of Sir Hekenukumai Busby of New Zealand. Sir Busby was recognized as a leading figure in the revival of traditional Polynesian navigation and ocean voyaging using wayfinding techniques. He built 26 traditional waka, including the double-hulled Te Aurere which has sailed over 30,000 nautical miles in the Pacific. Our deep condolences to his family and community.
In March 2019, PPP Executive Director, April Ingham, was invited to attend a reception where she met Canada’s Governor General, Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Julie Payette, whose credentials include a career in engineering and serving as a Canadian astronaut. Taking place in Victoria, this reception kicked off a meeting of the heads of 17 United World Colleges (UWCs) across the globe. The Governor General is an alumna of the UWC in Wales and a strong supporter of the UWC Movement. Pearson College UWC based in Victoria, hosted this year’s international meeting.
“We have to work globally – and that was a privilege given to me in my teen years when I attended a UWC school,” said Ms. Payette. “Speaking with and sharing ideas with people from all over the world who bring different ways of thinking made us progress better and faster – this is what Pearson College impresses upon us.”
PPP’s Executive Director added her own perspective to this opportunity to represent Pacific Peoples at this event: “It was my deep honour to meet our country’s inspiring Governor General and hear her stories of being on the space shuttle looking down at Earth, made all the more special given how hard she fought to realize her dreams. Women like her are really out of this world – amazing!”
Bougainville Independence Referendum is a Milestone to Monitor: Originally scheduled for 15 June 2019, the much-anticipated independence referendum will now be held in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea on 17 October 2019. The vote is the result of an agreement between the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government. This delay is due to a dispute over funding. In the next issue of Pasifik Currents, we will provide you with some background and links to this milestone event.
PPP is Hiring Summer Interns! We will soon be hiring Communications, Programming and Development interns. Please watch our website for more information on how to apply or drop us a line at info@archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org and we will forward details.