It’s Tuvalu Language week, so Ioane Fa’avae from our Pacific Centre spoke with Tokasi Iupeli, recent graduate and Student Council Pacific rep, about what the Tuvalu language means to her.
Tokasi talks about the Tuvalu culture and traditions that she holds dear, the climate challenges that the small island nation faces and how she connected with other Pacific students through her study at Unitec. Tokasi recently completed a Bachelor of Health and Social Development – watch the video here>
Lupeti Fihaki – Pacific Navigator
This week we also profiled Pacific Navigator and Tuvalu speaker, Lupeti Fihaki who shared his thoughts on the significance of the Tuvalu language and culture for his family.
Snapshot of Tuvalu
Tuvalu is the fourth smallest nation in the world, home to just 11,000 people. Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia, it’s made up of three reef islands and six true atolls, with a total land area of 26 square kilometres.
As Tokasi references in her video, climate change is impacting this tiny island archipelago on the frontline of global warming. Already two Tuvalu islands are on the verge of being lost to sea-rise and coastal erosion. Salty soil and the rising ocean contaminates underwater ground supplies, impact growing the basics, vegetables and fruit, and the lack of rain challenges even kitchen gardens. Read more on this in this Smithsonian Magazine article – Will Tuvalu disappear beneath the sea? 2004, or in this more recent CNN photo-story post – Rising sea levels are threatening this Pacific paradise 2018.