Cultures of the Pacific Islands

It was back in Form 5 at Yat Sen Secondary School, when we were prescribed the the most important of English projects in our whole entire secondary level education. To make the feat even more of a challenge, every group was given the responsibility of impressing the oversight of our then principal -Mrs. Bessie Ali. My group was fueled with ideas from the creative and critical minds of Jone Katonivualiku (grapevines) and Peni Motoya (fals..haha).

At first, I thought we were a lost cause because we didn't really have a clue what to do our research on. As other groups jumped at the idea of various topics like Biological developments, Technological Innovation and Renewable Energy, we had no clue where to start. May it be a saving grace, that somehow we stumbled upon the topic of Cultures of the Pacific Islands. I might be wrong, but it may have been Jone who came up with the idea and, Peni and I rolled with it.

In its very essence, our project was the outcome of inquisitive minds and pure data analysis. It was so good that it was the only project to be lifted up in the air by our principal, and exemplified as "how a research project should be compiled." We didn't just get an A, we got an A+.

To crack the egg open, the yoke of our research was on the similarities and differences between cultures in the Pacific Islands. Our means of primary data collection was through questionnaires filled by students of Pacific Island decent at our school. We also quoted secondary data from published texts on culutural traits in the South Pacific. Furthermore, we graphically represented our data after statistically analyzing the feedback we got from our questionnaires. Our conclusion - there is more similarities than differences about cultures in the Pacific Islands.

With that established, I decided to run a little with the thought. After establishing good connections with other Polynesians, Melanesians and Micronesians in the American diaspora, it is evident that our way of life is something that is struggling to be passed on from generation to generation. A professor of Sociology at the University of the South Pacific - Dr. Ropate Qalo - who so happens to be my Grand Uncle, once told me of this social concern in the coming generation. He informed me that cultural understanding is grounds to a firm identity and, HOME is where that firm foundation is built. Mannerisms, protocols and verbal communication in the mother tongue is the lost pride in a dying breed of Pacific Islanders that have either grown up or settled away from home. I didn't understand the context of his wisdom, in his attempt to convince me not to leave home. But, only now am I grasping the truth in understanding my identity as a Fijian, and the world perspective that encompasses thinking as an Indigenous person. 

My hope is to someday use the internet through social interactivity to provide an avenue for a generation gap to be bridged!

Development Progress: 

• Researching Site Content Structure
• Building Site Interface
• Brainstorming Organizational Structure
• Gathering Intel

Here is a tune that speaks to the masses: