Tell us about your experience on this programme
I learned about this program from a random CDES email about summer internships. As a Pacific (Samoan) person and a BA student specialising in Pacific Studies, Organisational Studies and Sustainability, Think Pacific’s Fiji experience stood out to me. I’ve always wanted to work within Pacific communities. I am also married into a Fijian family, so I thought this opportunity would be a fantastic fit for me professionally and personally. I hadn’t ever done or even applied for something like this before, so being accepted into the programme with total funding and a travel grant from Air New Zealand was incredible!
After a few days of briefing at a hotel with our leaders, our team travelled to Nabukaluka, a beautiful rural village in the highlands of Naitasiri. The village was incredibly welcoming, making it easy to feel at home. The family I was placed with showed us overwhelming love, kindness, generosity and hospitality. I felt incredibly humbled and privileged to share life, home and talanoa with them for a few weeks – I will never forget my time with them.
Our busy weekdays began with youth empowerment workshops focused on six topics (sports development, environmental sustainability and climate change, leadership, business and enterprise, mental health and public health). These workshops were planned and led collaboratively by a small mixed group of volunteers and local youth. In the afternoon, we attended culture course sessions. In these sessions, we learnt about local stories, traditions and customs such as yaqona ceremonies, traditional village roles and relations, the impact of Christianity in Fiji, weaving, making coconut handicrafts, and cooking traditional Fijian food (lovo).
This experience was rewarding and meaningful for me in so many ways.
On a professional level, I learned to bond and build relationships with strangers quickly so we could work together well in a new setting. As this was a massive step out of my comfort zone, I feel like I grew in confidence and became more secure in my identity, experience, and applying what I learned throughout my degree. In my most recent uni semester, I took Pac 305, Pacific Sustainability and Innovation, with Dr Emalani Case and Pac 304, Pacific Research, with Sarah McClean Osbourne. These papers were incredibly insightful, meaningful and a highlight of my uni experience. These papers, in particular, shaped me and empowered me to share, lead, and serve with Think Pacific in Nabukaluka. I was honoured to have the chance to contribute to the planning for our environmental sustainability and climate change workshop and lead talanoa within this session. Because of what I learned and the skills I gained in Pac 304 and Pac 305, I felt well equipped to initiate talanoa that encouraged and prioritised local voices, contextualised the workbook content, centred indigenous ecological knowledge, and empowered pacific specific solutions, worldviews and perspectives. Being able to use my degree for something so purposeful was so empowering and meaningful to me. I’d love to do this kind of mahi again in the future.
On a personal level, being invited, welcomed into and immersed in a Pacific space rich in tradition changed my life in the best way possible. This experience opened the door for me and others I connect to, like my husband, who grew up in the Pacific Diaspora/Auckland, to connect to our Pacific heritage and culture more deeply. Spending time with my host family in Fiji was incredibly enriching; I learned so much from them. I feel that my very memorable time with them has helped me become a better person, professional, learner, wife and mother to my future children, who will connect to that land too, which is so special and significant to me.
Were you satisfied with the cross-cultural experiences this programme provided?
Yes it was incredible and I learnt so much, See above, also: As a mixed heritage person of both Pakeha and Pacific heritage, this experience was incredibly affirming. Growing up and moving between different contexts, I often felt too white to be brown or too brown to be white and that I had to turn different parts of who I am on and off to fit or function in certain spaces. When participating in the Think Pacifics youth empowerment programme and collaborating with both overseas volunteers from the UK and Australia and a local Pacific community, I felt as though my mixed heritage was such a strength and helped to bridge the gap between two different groups of people. It was the first time in a long time that I felt like I could be fully myself and that my mixed heritage was a gift filled with purpose.
What skills do you think this experience helped you gain, and how so? How might this differ from the experience you could otherwise gain in New Zealand?
This project helped me develop courage, critical thinking, and communication skills. It taught me to be flexible, and how to adapt and navigate diverse settings. This experience helped me become a more confident leader by giving me plenty of opportunities to step out of my comfort zone, embrace responsibility, care for others and present/speak publicly. I think being immersed in an intensive team environment/project like this also helped me become a better team member. I hope it helped me become more patient, understanding and encouraging towards others.
Did you encounter any particular challenges in preparing for or during this programme that might be important for future students to be aware of?
I didn’t know what exactly I would do or what the day-to-day schedule and workshops looked like. If I’m honest – I was quite hesitant about the project as I didn’t want to contribute to volunteer tourism with little impact (something we discussed in UOA’s sustainability module), white saviourism, or westernising beautiful Pacific spaces. I was unsure about how trustworthy overseas-led organisations could be. Once I had arrived in Fiji, met my leaders and attended the briefing however, I felt more at ease and was impressed by Think Pacific’s values, intentions, local relationships and achievements. After further conversations with my leaders and host family, I felt very empowered to be a part of ensuring Pacific perspectives and local voices were understood, valued and prioritised in the workshops and that our contributions as volunteers were impactful, encouraging and suitable for the context we were very privileged to be in.
You rated this experience as one you were “highly likely to recommend” to a friend. What gives you the confidence to do so?
I was incredibly fortunate to receive total funding and a Pacific student travel grant for this project, which was a remarkable highlight of my academic journey. My experience has left me eager to encourage other Pacific Studies students and students of Pacific heritage to consider engaging with programmes like Think Pacific. Embracing these opportunities and the available funding opens doors to immerse ourselves in unique Pacific-centric spaces and projects. Our degrees and experiences have equipped us with so much to offer and serve with in these spaces. There’s also so much we can gain at a deeply personal level from being immersed in places and projects where our Pacific languages, cultures and traditions are thriving in full swing. I think it can open doors and empower us to grow as leaders, be confident in who we are and where we connect to, and positively impact how we carry ourselves at university, in our careers and in our lives.
