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(Photo:
International Samoan Tatau Festival) |
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NEW ZEALAND: University of Auckland to launch
Pacific Heritage Art Residencies
Source:
University of Auckland Press Release
The rarely seen process of traditional Samoan
tattooing will be open for all to view as part
of a programme to encourage the preservation of
traditional Pacific knowledge through the Centre
for Pacific Studies at The University of
Auckland.
Tufuga ta tatau (tattoo master) Su’a Suluape
Alaiva’a Petelo Suluape, well-known for both his
contemporary and traditional tattooing will take
up one of four of the University’s Heritage
Artists in Residencies for 2011. During his
month-long visit Su’a is scheduled create a
full-male tatau on University of Auckland PhD
candidate Falaniko Tominiko.
Director of the Centre for Pacific Studies,
Walter Fraser says: “The Heritage Artists in
Residence is a pioneering programme for
traditional Pacific art.” The month-long
residencies at the University will allow Pacific
Heritage artists to work full-time on a project
based at the Centre’s Fale Pasifika. They will
run from April to October covering both
traditional male and female master crafts
(Tongan ngatu, Niuean weaving, Samoan tattoo and
Tongan lashing) and will be complemented with a
public programme of events and workshops
designed to maintain heritage arts and make them
more accessible to Pacific communities and the
wider public.
Otaota Fahina Society, a group of women textile
artists from Mt Roskill, will be the first group
of resident artists. From April to May a large
ngatu (Tongan tapa) will be created by the women
who will also instruct students from bilingual
units from three Auckland high schools in the
art and significance of kupesi (rubbing
tablets). The participatory-style of the
tapa-making in the community atmosphere of the
Fale will provide an ideal an environment in
which the students are emmersed in language as
well as heritage arts.
Staggered throughout May will be a collective of
Niuean women weavers creating hats, mats and
baskets and led by master-weaver and Creative
New Zealand Senior Pacific Artist award-winner
Matafetu Smith.
Finally Tufuga Lalava Filipe Tohi, master in
traditional Tongan lashing, and creator of the
lashings inside the University’s Fale, will work
on a new installation.
Walter Fraser says: “This residency programme
will strengthen heritage art forms of Pacific
communities in New Zealand and the Pacific. We
want the community to know that the University
is a place for them. We want to open up the Fale
to its more traditional function as a centre for
community and learning and a place where Pacific
knowledge prospers.”
Photo Caption: Tufuga ta tatau (tattoo
master) Su’a Suluape Alaiva’a Petelo Suluape.
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(Photo: Savali) |
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SAMOA: Savali website launches
Source:
Savali Press Release
Announcing the official launch of the Savali
newspaper website. The website will provide
daily updated news, images, video streams and
public forums creating a bridge between the
Samoan people and international community.
"We have had a page link with the official
government website for some years now but that
is no longer viable,” said newspaper editor
Tupuola Terry Tavita.
“We need our own website to present government's
views on the issues, national events and news of
public interest."
With the growth of web communities many Samoans
overseas turn to the Internet for information
about what's happening at home. The Savali site
will provide a reliable view of Samoan current
events and help keep people informed. The web
site will be professional and easily accessible
from anywhere in the world at any time.
Savalinews.com will deliver fair and balanced
information in an interactive format providing
access Samoans can't obtain anywhere else.
Features include a Prime Minister's forum -
where you can ask questions directly to the
Prime Minister, a subscription page including
our Land and Titles monthly publication online -
the largest circulation in the country - and
links and features for other government
ministries and corporations. This website will
be the front door for news and information about
Samoa.
"We're also setting up a small camera unit where
videos of national events - openings and such -
will be streamed online. Radio streams from 2AP
is also another option we're considering at the
moment."
Visit the new site at www.savalinews.com
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(Photo:
Australian Government) |
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AUSTRALIA: Australia urges Fiji to hold
elections
Source:
Xinhua News
At a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum
Ministerial Contact Group (MCG) in Vanuatu,
Australia has again urged Fiji to hold
democratic elections soon.
Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific
Island Affairs Richard Marles was quoted as
saying that his country has a firm view to see
the Fiji government reestablish human rights and
freedom of the press.
Fiji should hold democratic elections before
2014, Marles said, adding they want to hear from
Fiji's Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe
Bainimarama about what concrete steps his
government is taking towards a return to
democracy.
Ministers and officials from across the Pacific
are discussing their relationships with Fiji at
the MCG meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu, which was
chaired by Vanuatu Prime Minister Sato Kilman.
Fiji is represented by Foreign Minister Ratu
Inoke Kubuabola.
The Pacific Islands Forum Ministerial Contact
Group was established in March 2008, which is
tasked with monitoring the situation in Fiji
following the 2006 military coup and reporting
on developments.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua last
October, Fijian President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau
said holding general elections in 2014 is part
of the road map of the current Fijian regime.
"We intend to stick to the road map. The
problems are some traditional friends, like
Australia and New Zealand, are making things
difficult for us," he said.
Photo Caption: Australia's Parliamentary
Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Richard
Marles.
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(Photo:
Alain Vartane) |
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NEW CALEDONIA: Football back in the spotlight
Source:
Oceania Football Confederation Press Release
The world's most popular game is at the
forefront of sports fans' minds once again in
New Caledonia after a new season got underway
last weekend with the first round of Super
League action.
The Super League is the country's premier men's
competition but it wasn't just players at the
elite level who were back on the field.
Men taking part in other leagues, youth players
and women also strapped the boots on again as
the football season at all levels kicked off.
The new season brings together 11,000 licensed
players in the French territory and, in an
ecouraging sign for the future of New Caledonia
football, half of those players are under the
age of 18. Each will be in action every weekend
over the course of the season as they look to
compete for the trophies in their respective
leagues.
Football is the national sport in New Caledonia
and the role of the Fédération Calédonienne de
Football is crucial to maintaining and
developing the game through competitions and
grassroots programmes that aim to provide a
footballing future for the next generations.
In terms of competitions, the Super League is
the highest division and is played as a double
round robin between the top four clubs from the
Grande Terre area and the champion teams from
the other islands.
Eight teams are involved in the 2011 Super
League - defending champions AS Mont Dore, AS
Magenta, FC Gaïtcha, AS Lössi, AS Thio Sport,
Hienghène Sport, AS Kunié and Mouli Sport - and
the winner directly qualifies for the O-League,
the Pacific region's premier club competition.
Another tournament that creates plenty of
interest and is fiercely fought for is the New
Caledonia Cup, a national knockout competition
that includes clubs from right across the
country. The winner qualifies for the seventh
round of the prestigious French Cup, the premier
knockout cup competiton in French football.
AS Magenta won the New Caledonia Cup in 2010 and
went on to beat semi-professional French team
USL Dunkerque, becoming the first New Caledonia
team to make it that far in the French Cup for
42 years.
The new season will also be important
internationally for New Caledonia as the men's
and women's national teams will compete in the
Pacific Games, set to be held on home soil from
August 26 to September 11.
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(Photo:
Australia-Pacific Technical College) |
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA: APTC student takes home trophy
Source:
Australia-Pacific Technical College
APTC Mechanical Fitting and Machining student
John Kua took home the second place trophy in
the Papua New Guinea Apprentice of the Year
competition.
Held late 2010, the event was organized and
judged by the PNG National Apprenticeship Trade
Testing Board.
Mr Kua, who hails from the Chimbu Province in
the Highlands, is enrolled in his final semester
at the APTC PNG Campus this year. He said that
the skills and knowledge he is gaining at the
College helped him with his success in the
competition.
With his entry in the competition sponsored by
his employer, the Coconut Product Company based
in Rabaul, Mr Kua was awarded with the Runner-up
trophy and certificate, and a 22-inch flat
screen television.
"I am very grateful to have a scholarship to
study with APTC. I will make good use of my new
skills when I return to my workplace later this
year," concluded Mr Kua.
Photo Caption: Trophy winner, John Kua,
busy at the guillotine.
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(Photo:
Pacific Islands Applied GeoScience Commission) |
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WORLDWIDE: Easier access to SOPAC geographical
data for scientists
Source:
Pacific
Islands Applied GeoScience Commission Press
Release
“Scientists from round the Pacific now have
easier access to the Geographical information
stored at Applied Geoscience and Technology
Division (SOPAC), Secretariat of the Pacific
Community,” said Mr Sachindra Singh, Systems
Developer, SOPAC Information Communications
Technology (ICT) Department.
“Since August last year, the ICT Department has
worked to unify and catalogue SOPAC's diverse
geographical data collection under a
standardised, secure and user-friendly system.”
Mr. Singh explained that this undertaking solely
utilised Open Source Software (OSS) geospatial
systems, which enabled the Division to
cost-effectively develop the online solution in
a relatively short amount of time.
Regional governments are actively seeking
SOPAC’s assistance with the installation and
training in OSS geospatial systems, which was
initially funded through the Islands Information
Systems Development Project (EDF8), because, Mr
Singh said, OSS systems have very low total cost
of ownership and will provide long-term
sustainability to the region’s governments ICT
services.
They are also recommended by major donor
agencies such as United Nations Agencies, the
European Union, World Bank, AUSAid and NZAid
that fund Pacific-based projects, which are
administered by SOPAC.
Speaking at the Geographical Information Systems
(GIS)/Satellite Radar User Conference recently
held in Suva, Ms Abby Baca of the World Bank’s
Washington-based Global Facility for Disaster
Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) endorsed SOPAC’s
use of OSS.
“It is great to see SOPAC taking the lead in the
Pacific in the use of open source software.
There is a global movement towards using OSS
tools that enable the easy sharing of data and
applications to the mutual benefit of the larger
community. Our research shows that there are
enormous pay-offs for both developed and
developing countries in using open source
platforms for disaster risk management.”
Mr Singh said that SOPAC’s upgraded online
platform not only makes the Division’s work more
visible to the member countries and the general
public, but “…will also prove endlessly useful
to SOPAC staff in their day-to-day work. It is
easier to share data and duplication of effort
can be avoided.
“In the past, specialists within SOPAC have
utilised a diverse set of tools to create,
manage, analyse and display geospatial data on
digital maps that have been acquired from a
variety of different sources.”
The new system provides an up- to-date catalogue
and a centralised data repository, or library of
information.
Mr Singh said that apart from the financial
benefits, OSS provides transparency. “ICT
systems based on OSS are freely available and
can be modified easily to suit very specific
requirements. An organisation using OSS has more
control over the privacy and security aspects,
compared to closed-source “black box” solutions.
“OSS is a community effort, where people are
encouraged to contribute their skills and time
to provide improvements and support, which they
do freely.
“OSS systems are the driving force in connecting
people and processes globally in real time and
giving smaller countries in the Pacific region
equal footing in information technology.
Ultimately, I believe, OSS is a more much
beneficial and sustainable approach to ICT
development in the region,” concluded Mr Singh.
Photo Caption: SOPAC’s Sachindra Singh
talks about Open Source Software at the recent
GIS Conference in Suva.
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