“The English were willing to borrow and absorb. When they saw a word that they needed, they took it and made it their own. They even took Polynesian words, like tapu (taboo) and tatau (tattoo).” — Sefita Hao‘uli, Tongan language advocate.
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“We’ve always been strongly both Māori and Tongan. You sometimes hear people talk about being half this and half that, but I’ve never felt that. I’ve always felt Tongan and always felt Māori.” — Don Mann.
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“For a long time, we’ve had more of a focus on equality in health, where the approach has been ‘one size fits all’. But we know that this doesn’t work for our Pacific and Māori communities. What’s needed is an equity focus.” — Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu.
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“We were poor, man. Mum had multiple cleaning jobs, and she always told us kids to do the best jobs we could, no matter what it was. That message has stuck with me throughout my working career.” — Tania Sharkey.
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“When I take the clamps off the vessels and see the shrivelled-up grey kidney become purple and then pink and then pulsate with blood, nothing else I do beats that.” — Dr Lupe Taumoepeau.
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“Rightly or wrongly, my father was trying to protect us from a world that treasured English above all else, that used English as a marker for intelligence.”
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It’s hard not to be impressed by Emeline Afeaki-Mafile’o. At 25, she started her own non-profit...
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My question was: How can I influence Tongan society and Tongan thinking? And starting a newspaper was what came to my mind.
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