NEWSPAGE 23 December
2009

(Photo: Rotary International)

NEW ZEALAND: Real money has enabled real help in Samoa by Rotary

SAMOA: Hurricane Essay winners are announced for Christmas
Source: British High Commission Press Release

Two Samoan school children have won the British High Commission’s prize to come to New Zealand and follow the Super 14 semi finalists, the Hurricanes for a week.

The children Lyla Tapusoa and Ryan Simpson will get to spend an afternoon at a Hurricanes training run in February and then attend a home game.

To win, Lyla and Ryan wrote about facing Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon and playing rugby for Britain against Argentina in the World Cup. Both children are from the Vaiala Beach School on Upolo.

Air New Zealand and Wellington’s Bolton Hotel have donated the air tickets and accommodation for the trip from Samoa to New Zealand.
 

(Photo: Australian High Commission)

AUSTRALIA: Australian scholarship winners for 2010 announced
Source: Australian High Commission Press Release

Thirty Samoan scholars will be heading to Australian universities or regional academic institutions next year to begin their three year undergraduate degree, thanks to a scholarship from the Australian Government.

A briefing was held at the Australian High Commission last Saturday (December 19, 2009) for the Australian funded scholarship winners studying in Australia next year. This followed the briefing for students studying at regional institutions earlier in the week.

Australian High Commissioner to Samoa, Matt Anderson said Australia offers scholarships to young Samoans to help meet the future training and human resource development needs of Samoa.

“The annual scholarships provide young Samoans with a great opportunity to advance their learning and skills, and I am sure they will bring great credit to both themselves and Samoa,” Mr Anderson said.

“Australia’s investment in the scholarship program and education more broadly in Samoa is playing an important role in making sure Samoa has a highly skilled and trained work force, which in turn will promote development in the country.”

Australia offers three scholarship programs every year. These are the Australian development scholarships, Australian regional development scholarships and Australian distance education scholarships.

Winners of the Australian development scholarship to study in Australia are:
Maeva Grace AH YEN
Ariwetta Alalagafa FATU
Toni FUIMAONO
Helen LEI SAM
Louise Marie MALAKI
Samani Carel TUPUFIA
Kent ONESEMO
Alex MIKAELE
Julian WONG SOON
Uili UILI

Every year, 20 regional scholarships are offered for students to study at the University of the South Pacific (Fiji and Vanuatu), Fiji School of Medicine or the Fiji Institute of Technology. The winners for 2010 are:

Liza Hakai
Chrisanthy Amosa
Sheliza Toleafoa
Vastfosfeta Aofia
Romulus Ropati
Jason Meredith
Faapisatusifolau Leutele
Afulilo Leao Tuitama
Mose Mose
Ropati Tiatia
Sanita Ioapo
Thomas Seuao
Clayton Simamao
Brenda Sefo
Manufaaifomailagi Tuutuu
Taffy Banse
Ana Talivaa Maiava
Maapupula Dina Tuitama-Uliate
Rossana Tofaeono Pifeleti
Tuiala Tiotio


The students will leave Samoa in January to begin their studies.

Australia also awards five distance education scholarships for postgraduate studies for Samoan students every year. The 2010 winners are:

William Nickel
Viliamu Punivalu
Salima Lasalo Salima
Peter Tone
Lepaitai Hansell-Penn

Photo Caption: AusAID funded scholarship recipients with family members at a briefing at the Australian High Commission.
 

HAWAII: Planning begins for Hawaii undersea cable system
Source: Honolulu Advertiser

While a plan to build a $5.4 billion commuter rail line on O'ahu has generated an intense public debate, another major project in Hawai'i that could have a total price tag of up to $3 billion has avoided similar attention.

The state has started the planning necessary for laying a network of undersea cables to transfer wind-generated electricity from Lana'i and Moloka'i to O'ahu. The generators could provide up to one-third of Honolulu's power needs and would play a key role in reducing the state's dependence on fossil fuels.

The cables could cost up to $1 billion, and two envisioned wind farms could cost private developers up to $1 billion each.

Much of the money will ultimately come from taxpayers and utility customers. However, the exact cost of the cable project is still unclear, as is who will build it and how it will be financed.

The state hopes to answer those questions during the next year by spending $5 million in federal stimulus money on consultants and studies.

Ted Liu, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, acknowledged last week that there's no guarantee the investment will pay off.

"End of the day, we can't guarantee that the project will actually get done," he said during a legislative briefing on how agencies are spending stimulus money. "A lot of it depends on market conditions, but in our discussions with developers there's been a lot of interest."

A recently released $1.5 million report conducted for DBEDT by the University of Hawai'i concluded that the undersea power cable project is feasible, despite environmental and engineering challenges.

Now the state plans to spend $4.94 million in federal stimulus money on consulting contracts and an environmental impact study. The state is rushing to spend the money before a federal deadline of April 2012 for using stimulus funds.
 

Subsidized Studies

The money for cable studies represents about 20 percent of federal Department of Energy stimulus funds awarded to Hawai'i to pay for alternative energy and energy-efficiency projects. Much of that money is being spent on projects that are likely to have a clear and immediate payoff such as building retrofits and appliance rebates.

"What we are doing as government is making sure we're doing the front-end, up-front work, which usually the private sector doesn't do. This will facilitate the private capital coming in," Liu said.

Development of the cable hinges on construction of two privately developed 200-megawatt wind farm projects expected to cost $500 million to $1 billion each, as well as power grid upgrades by Hawaiian Electric Co. The cable itself is preliminarily estimated to cost $800 million to $1 billion.

The goal is to have the cable installed and the wind farms running by 2014, according to DBEDT.

The cable is one component of a Lingle administration plan calling for 70 percent of the state's energy to come from renewable resources by 2030.

Undersea power cable projects already connect New Jersey to Long Island and Long Island to Connecticut, said Josh Strickler, facilitator of DBEDT's renewable energy programs. Another undersea cable project is under way in San Francisco Bay. What makes Hawai'i's project unique is how it will transmit wind-generated power to O'ahu via an open-ocean sea cable, he said.

The cables would transport energy from a planned 200-megawatt wind farm proposed for Moloka'i by First Wind Holdings Inc. and a similarly sized project on Lana'i by Castle & Cooke Inc.

Whether consumers end up paying more for renewable energy transmitted via the planned cable likely will depend on a variety of factors including the cost of oil, the cable's cost and the price of wind-generated power, DBEDT said.

Costs Still Unclear

State officials hope to have a better idea of what the cable will cost after the environmental impact studies begin and a private developer is hired next summer.

Hawaiian Electric spokes-man Peter Rosegg said the utility is working closely with the state on project financing issues.

"The cost will ultimately be paid for by some combination of utility customer and taxpayer funds," Rosegg said in an e-mail. "The state will seek additional federal funding and/or long-term loan guarantees to keep the total cost under control."

The cost of the project should be weighed against the cost of importing fossil fuels to satisfy state electricity needs, Rosegg added. Hawai'i sends about 10 percent of its gross state product out of the Islands each year to buy that fuel, he said.

A recent study by the UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology relied on ocean mapping and geological studies to recommend the four potential cable routes. The routes included a Lana'i to Pearl Harbor route; a cable connecting Moloka'i, Lana'i and Maui; an O'ahu, Moloka'i and Lana'i cable; and a Kane'ohe-to-Moloka'i line.

"Right now we think this is the right idea, and we're moving forward with it, but we're still doing a lot of analysis," said DBEDT's Strickler. "We have some of the best wind in the world ... To just ignore that resource would be foolish."
 

(Photo: Tongan Government)

TONGA: Tonga's monarchy prepares to hand over power
Source: BBC News

The Kingdom of Tonga is on the threshold of historic political change, as its 150-year-old monarchy prepares to relinquish its power. John Pickford, who first visited the country 31 years ago, has been back to see how it is trying to keep its royal traditions while building a new democratic future.

My strongest memory of Tonga in 1978 is of a dilapidated minibus on an unpaved road, swirling with dust on the way to the airport.

Suddenly the vehicle lurched into the ditch and stopped.

A black car, travelling fast with motorcycle outriders alongside, loomed into view.

My driver shouted, "It's the king!" and in that moment I saw George Tupou IV, looking every inch the monarch in the back of the royal limousine.

In 2009, Tonga has better roads and a new king: George Tupou V.

Like his father, he still pulls rank on the highway but luckily he is easy to recognise.

When not on ceremonial duties, the 61-year-old bachelor with a passion for uniforms drives a 1950s London taxi.

Tonga has been caricatured as a South Seas comic-opera state but the truth, as ever, is more interesting.

This nation of 120,000 people scattered across 170 islands was the only bit of the Pacific never colonised.

Pro-democracy

George Tupou I (founder of the present dynasty) unified the country, kept the imperialists at bay and, in 1875, introduced one of the most progressive constitutions of its time, the third oldest written constitution in the world.

But since my first visit, Tonga has been experiencing a difficult transition.

As one government minister put it to me: "You can't imagine what it means to shed the 19th Century."

In politics, this began 20 years ago with the pro-democracy movement. The veteran opposition MP, Akilisi Pohiva, was a founder member and the current Prime Minister, Feleti Seveli, was also actively involved.

Momentum was held back, though, by the conservatism of the old king, who reigned for 41 years until 2006.

Beyond politics, Tonga was not well placed to resist globalisation and its tiny capital, Nuku'alofa, is an extraordinary mix of tradition and modernity.

In one evening stroll along the waterfront, I passed wood carvers in their workshops, an all-female aerobics class, the imposing new Chinese embassy (the once equally imposing British High Commission closed three years ago) and a man waist-deep in the sea bleaching tapa cloth.

Making tapa from tree bark is a craft of ancient Polynesia that is alive in Tonga today.

Divided

The gap between privilege and poverty is perhaps the harshest legacy of the Tongan past.

Kalo and her family live in a three-room house without windows that is 10 minutes' walk from the king's flashy new palace.

Kalo's income as a cleaner and her husband's from a bakery (plus subsistence from their 13 pigs) support five children and her stepmother.

What is left goes to the next most important thing in most Tongans' lives - the church.

Kalo, a strong, phlegmatic 34-year-old with a twinkle in her eye, says she does want change, but she would like Tonga to keep its king.

You do hear angrier voices, like the young man who sold me some of his bone carvings and then talked politics.

He grimaced as he railed against the royal family's privileges, especially their freedom to travel.

"It would have been better if we'd been colonised, like Samoa," he said bitterly.

Opprobrium

Two recent events have raised the political temperature.

On 16 November, 2006, a date now burned into national consciousness as "16/11", anger over a lack of progress towards democracy exploded into violence on the streets.

Seven people were killed and 60% of the capital's business district destroyed.

And the sinking, last August, of a recently purchased government ferry, the Princess Ashika, with the loss of 74 lives has further undermined public confidence.

The morning after the disaster, the king left for Scotland on his three-month annual holiday.

"Not a good idea, he should have cancelled that," Kalo said.

But the greatest opprobrium has been heaped on the government for - it is alleged - buying an unsafe ship.

It is against this background that the Constitutional Commission has recommended a historic shift of power from the monarchy to Parliament.

But Tonga will keep a few toes in the 19th Century.

The king remains head of state and nine of the 26 seats in the larger Parliament will be reserved for the country's hereditary nobles.

It has even been suggested that the first prime minister of the new era might come from this remnant of the ancient aristocracy, and there are people - including some veteran pro-democracy activists - who see this as a safe compromise.

Tongans are hopeful but apprehensive as the curtain comes down on their long 19th Century.

Photo Caption: King George Tupou V says he is committed to reform.
 

(Photos: Robert Yandall)

WORLDWIDE: Fort Bragg Samoan Community hail and farewell paratroopers
Source: Robert Yandall

The Fort Bragg Samoan Community of Paratroopers and Special Operations soldiers fare welled and welcomed some of our own who have deployed into combat and some who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. They are assigned to various Airborne and Special Operations units throughout Fort Bragg North Carolina. Deployments times varied from one-year to six months for some.

We welcome back Staff Sergeant Keresema Alaimaleata of Alofau, Sergeants Antoinette Ponafala from Vailoa and Rapi Leota from Pago Pago, Specialist Derrick Tuiasosopo from Fitiuta, and Private First Class Monty Loa from Pago Pago.

Departing into the combat zone is Specialist Filemoni Fanuaea from Malaeloa and Private First Class Tauveve Filioiali'i of Ta'u, Manu'a. Specialist Filemoni is returning after an emergency leave home during the Eearth Quake/Tsunami. This will Private First Class Filioali'i's first deployment into a combat zone.

Still deployed are Chief Warrant Officer Two Tauasose Tupua, Sergeant Major John Letuli, SFC Popo Ta'imua, Staff Sergeant Burgie Perofeta, Sergeant Gloria Sala, Specialist Desmond Niko, and Private First Class Tiatia Mealofa.

Our continued prayers for our soldiers that are still deployed for their safe return soon to their families and friends back home.

Photo Captions:

Photo 1 - PFC Tauveve Filioali’I and Se’ela Tauanu’u during a farewell before his departure to Afghanistan.

Photo 2 - Specialist Derrick Tuiasosopo and Specialist Rapi Leota during a welcome home ceremony in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.