Keeping one’s Pacific Islands identity vital in new land

[Stacey King]

Pacificscoop.com.nzAUT Media Centre NZ 9:59 December 2, 2009

Tikoruru (left) and Uriana in Manukau sitting cross-legged in their ordinary clothes with a bowl of coconut as their snack. Photo: T.Korauaba.
Pacific Scoop: By Taberannang Korauaba, contributing writer.

Keeping your identity must go hand in hand with your effort to adjust to the New Zealand society, thanks to two I-Kiribati young mothers.

On Sunday, November 29, Tikoruru Angirerei of Manukau, and Uriana Kamaunea of Otahuhu, both in their early thirties, were having a catch up work with their study and family not realising though that they have a lot of things in common.

They came to New Zealand three years ago under the Pacific Access Category. The scheme, also known as PAC, was introduced by the Labour-led government in 2003 to bring in Pacific island families from countries such as Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu to work and live permanently in New Zealand. Kiribati has a quota of seventy five families every year.

Secondly, they all started from scratch when they arrived in New Zealand following in the footsteps of other Pacific island immigrants who came here in the early 1950s who worked either on a farm or employed to do general labour work.

And thirdly, they are now working for Big Bear Educare – a multi-cultural early childhood centre in Manukau. And fourthly, they are studying towards a Diploma in Early Childhood Pasifika programme at the New Zealand Childcare Association, Te Tari Puna Ora O Aotearoa in Otahuhu.

And fifthly, they still hold on to their Kiribati made blouse or tops called tibuta. Similar to the Samoan pula tasi, the Rotuman mon uma, the Hawaiian mu’u mu’u and the Papua New Guinean meri blouse, the tibuta has become a popular national blouse and is often made of cotton, to counter the hot and humid weather in Kiribati. And the two have decided to wear it this summer.
Historically, the tibuta was a blouse that evolved from the original Mother-Hubbard that the early missionaries, or more specifically their wives, who came to Kiribati from the 1880s introduced.
Sixthly, both have little babies and they still have memories about their hut – an open house with a raised platform bwia inside where women and men sleep. Both were wearing lavala and tibuta sitting cross-legged with coconut as their snack costing them just $2.

“We didn’t plan to wear these clothes, it’s a coincidence, and perhaps it shows our strong desire to be called Kiribati mothers,” says Uriana.

Tikoruru is now in her second year while Uriana is in her first year. They all have teaching backgrounds, attended the same institute, graduated the same year and worked at the same school on the islands before they migrated to New Zealand.

“New Zealand has its own rules, but they do not, however, stop us from maintaining our career as teachers,” they said.

Kiribati (pronounced: Kiribas), a former British colony, also known as the Gilbert, is a South Pacific nation with a population of around 95,000 living on the islands with the majority living in the capital Tarawa. According to estimates, there are about 2,000 I-Kiribati people in New Zealand mainly in Auckland.

Their advice to their fellow mothers from the Pacific islands, who probably have a teaching background or interested in early childhood programme, is to get out of their home now, enrol in the ECE programme and enjoy it.