Kiribati Language Week

Tina kabonganai maonoia ara bakatibu ibukin kateimatoan ara katei

Kam na mauri

I have been watching our little Kiribati people growing up in NZ over the past 12 years, immersed into the Kiwi culture and showing declining interest and increasing lack of desire to participate in their own Kiribati culture. This young generation have never lived in Kiribati to learn the authentic Kiribati culture back in the islands. They have no idea how the pandanus leaves are gathered and processed to make a man’s dance mat that men wear during Kiribati traditional dance; nor the arduous process of making string from coconut husk that is used to make women’s dance skirt, etc. They will not appreciate the diverse traditional skills and knowledge and cultural beliefs that exist within the different islands in Kiribati.

Climate change presents another challenge. Its impact on the physical environment in Kiribati will affect social cohesion resulting in social isolation, people losing ability to share traditional knowledge, and eventually reduction in traditions and cultural heritage. Production and quality of artefacts will also be affected due to impact on the physical environment.

The threat to our Kiribati culture and language in New Zealand in this day and age is real. We as a Kiribati community need to utilise the resources and opportunities we have now to promote and preserve our identity.

Auckland Museum has over 1,000 Kiribati artefacts in its collection that originate from different islands of Kiribati, made by our ancestors and forefathers. These artefacts hold valuable histories and beautiful stories of our culture and people. They provide extensive information about the diverse traditional skills, knowledge and cultural beliefs that exist within the different islands in Kiribati including traditional dancing, weaving styles across the islands, fishing methods used, inter-island wars, colonisation, and many more, that our young people could find interesting. Artefacts provide visible forms of our culture, lifestyles, how our ancestors lived, and the kind of diet they lived, etc. Our Kiribati artefacts in the Museum are under-accessed/visited as educational resources for cultural heritage.

We should utilise our Kiribati artefacts in the Museum as educational resources for our young people. Kiribati Language Week is an excellent opportunity to organise a supervised teaching tour in the Museum for our young people, guided by a well-known Kiribati expert who can speak to these artefacts and their cultural significance. Besides enforcing Kiribati culture in their homes, parents need to also cultivate a desire in their young people to participate in cultural activities and become competent leaders. Auckland Museum on the other hand are trying to make these artefacts accessible to the public and communities again post-COVID by re-engaging with cultural celebrations during language weeks by different ethnic groups so our young people can correlate the cultural significance of artefacts with their cultural identity.

Ara bau ni kabane, Te Mauri, Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa.

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Dr. Janet O’Connor was one of the Kiribati community liaisons and knowledge holders at Auckland Museum for the Pacific Collections Access Project. She was born in Kiribati, and is working with various community developmental projects with Pasifika minority migrants and the Pasifika community in New Zealand. Her volunteer work for the Kiribati communities in New Zealand includes with the West Auckland Kiribati association (promoting wellbeing through many activities with Kiribati people in West Auckland); Pasifika Migrant Services (providing supportive services to minority migrants from Kiribati, Tuvalu and other Pacific countries); and Kiribati Federation Aotearoa (promoting wellbeing of Kiribati communities throughout New Zealand through prevention of domestic violence initiatives).

What does sustainability and climate change mean to Kiribati as one of our sinking islands in the world?

Kia ora, Pacific greetings and ko na mauri!

My name is Charles Enoka Kiata, I hail from the sovereign Republic of Kiribati and migrated to New Zealand in 2002. I am married to a beautiful lady from Nikunau, Nei Teeren Tabuarorae and we have six children and five grandchildren. We live in Ranui the best in the west of Auckland. I have been a member of the Pacific Advisory Group of Auckland Museum since 2022.

When we speak about sustainability, we often look at the environment, economic and social aspects and we like to understand what to do and how to manage these areas the way we expect them to be.

In my perspective, it is significant that the environment, economic and social behaviour is not compromised neither being disturbed from external forces due to direct or indirect impacts of climate change.

Climate change affects every aspect of our lives on a global scale. It touches and impacts our environment, society and economy. It challenges our way of lives to a different level that needs a well-planned and coordinated approach with incredible solutions.

According to Kiribati cultural belief and history, our ancestors were great environmentalist and conversative people as being true to their wellbeing and survivals.

Our ancestors acknowledged and respected the atmosphere they breath and lived in, with the sun, moon, stars, clouds and sky to serve as great navigational tools and information. They also acknowledged and respected the lands that provided water and all living creatures to live. They were able to manage and control how much they needed from the ocean and marine resources to provide for human consumption and purposes over centuries and for many generations. Our peoples have been treating the environment with great respects and careful approach as their lives depend upon the airspace, the land and ocean.

In modern days, we see all kinds of problems, damages and pollutions to our environment and ocean depriving the lives our ancestors and peoples once enjoyed and protected. We see alarming evidence of marine lives being poisoned and contaminated. Peoples are now living in a contaminated ocean and air polluted environment and an overpopulated society with economic crisis. The impact of climate change on water sea rising are eminent and threatening. Many small low atoll islands are submerged under water, eroded and disappearing. Many water wells are not drinkable as saltwater seeps through water lenses. Many vegetations have been destroyed and no longer growing.

The future of our people, culture and language is uncertain and at stake due to the impacts of climate change on the lives of our people and wellbeing.

In our cultural context, Kiribati shall rise to protect the environment which includes the airspace (karawa), land (tarawa) and ocean (marawa). These are the three spheres that Nareau the creator of Tungaru (Kiribati) has bestowed upon an IKiribati to live upon in order to compliment his social and economic terms and aspirations.

Yes, we should ensure sustainability when we bring and maintain good balances to protect the livelihood of our economy, social life and of course our environmental wellbeing. In these efforts, we need a lot of people and all voices with all kinds of ideas coming to the table to talk about credible solutions to combat climate change with inspirations and hopes to protect our islands, people, culture, language and the planet we live in.

I like to leave you with one of the Kiribati famous composed songs (waiata) about the iconic bird of Kiribati, the frigate bird. The song is prophesying about the uncertainty of the future due to climate change, water sea rising. 

Ko batin rabwa.

Ana bau Kiribati i aora ni kabane are te Mauri, te Raoi ao te Tabomoa

LISTEN TO THE SONG

For Kiribati Language Week, we spoke to artist Chris Charteris about studying Kiribati objects in Auckland Museum's collection to find out how they were made, how he plays with form, the utility of artworks, and making things the hard way.

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The Te Kun or Pacific golden plover is a truly amazing Pacific wanderer. These small shorebirds breed on the summer Arctic tundra of Alaska and Siberia which has an abundance of insect food and few predators to pose a risk to their nests.

However, as the weather grows colder in August and September the birds migrate southwards into the Pacific, to the islands of Kiribati, Oceania and even as far south as New Zealand. Here they feed on the shoreline of lagoons and estuaries on a broad diet of worms, crabs, insects, spiders and plant seeds and berries.

The Auckland Museum holds a specimen (LB13) of Rattus exulans, the Kiore or Pacific rat, collected from the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati. This specimen is stored in alcohol in the Land Vertebrate wet collection and was collected August 17 1937 by Major Geoffrey A Buddle (of Auckland) during the Total Solar Eclipse expedition.

The Kiore is one of three rat species that have hitched a ride with humans across the globe. Recent molecular studies indicate that, in the Pacific, these rats first spread on the waka of voyagers from the Island of Flores in South East Asia, and subsequently became widely established across Polynesia approximately 2500 years BP. Kiore have had a profound impact on Pacific Island ecosystems. They consume plants and their seeds, impacting native forests but are also capable predators, consuming a broad variety of prey that is below their own body mass including invertebrates, reptiles, small birds and the eggs and chicks of larger species.

In 2008, the government of Kiribati established the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, one of the largest protected areas on Earth, to conserve the stunning land and sea biodiversity of this remote oceanic region. A feature of this project has been the eradication of Kiore, as well as other invasive mammals such as rabbits, from islands within the group to protect threatened biodiversity, such as the 19 species of tropical seabirds which breed there. 

Matt Rayner (Curator, Land Vertebrates)

Colour in a Te Kun pacific golden plover, strolling along a Kiribati beach.

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