I was born in a small village, which was called Mai Morai. Then when I was about 8 or 9 years of age, the chiefs of the village decided we all move closer down to the Sea. The reason for this was because Mai Morai was too far away from water and from the road to the hospital and the road for children to go to school. This led to a new village being founded, which is now known as Mabfilau.
Mabfilau is on the West side of the island of Epi. Epi is situated in the province of Shefa. Now my Mamao (Dad), the late Joseph Yona was from Verlo, and my Tetei (Mum) was from Bulbakla/Vamadi.
Now as a PAG member, my work is based on encouraging the men and women of Vanuatu who came to live in New Zealand. It is also to work alongside other Pacific Communities to showcase our customs, our handicraft skills, and our songs and our stories. The work is centred on teaching our culture inside the space of the Auckland Museum. I also voice my ideas and opinions as a representative of Vanuatu, on codes of conduct when it comes to respecting sacred practices and artefacts.
My role is to make sure I stand strong on my beliefs to protect the customs and culture of Vanuatu in a country like New Zealand. My role as a PAG member is to also give relevant and culturally centred thoughts and ideas to the Museum, in their aims and by using the Teu Le Vā framework.
Bislama also referred to, especially in French, as BECHE-LA-MER, in the English Version Sea Cucumber in the early 19th century.
Now Bislama, is a language used today to communicate with other people from different islands of Vanuatu. Because of this, it is now known as the national language of the people of Vanuatu. Some people may ask why Bislama is important for us who live here in NZ to learn? Bislama is a language widely used around Vanuatu to communicate with other islands in Vanuatu. We all have different dialects. I speak MKIRA, which is my mother tongue. This language Mkira has shaped me to be who I am today. It gives me the foundation of who l am and it's my life, my blood, my land and my identity. It gives me a feeling of belonging to something bigger than what I can imagine.
It reminds of the time when I was 4 and I was sleeping under the bright starry night sleeping on a coconut leaf, which my mum had weaved into a mat. At nighttime, there were many stars, and my dad would tell custom stories and sing all sorts of custom songs. He will name all the groups of stars and what they represent in different seasons.
One of the songs my dad would sing, goes like this - hu i mekem smol pijin smol pijin smol pijin hu i mekem smol pijin emia Papa God. Hu i mekem Planti star…etc…hu i mekem yu mo mi etc…Hu i mekem smol flawa smol flawa smol flawa emia papa God.
One of my early childhood memories is the time of the New Yam, and I saw them dig the ground with wood, and in this place was where they would make food and cook it which is known as laplap.
Another memory of mine is Custom marriages take place and the Aunties of the bride place dresses on her, then they dance on the ground where there is a laplap, island cabbage, Plant and having all sorts of dresses and clothes hanging to its branches while dancing around the pit of laplap until the groom has to rescue the food by giving them their share, which is a pig and other customary things and once they received that they will leave the food pit or the groom won't have any food for his pride and his quest to feast on.
Our custom dances that I see today are starting to become lost. A custom dance like the one where they dig the ground and put a big roast of Nakatabol on top and tie it to lots of bamboo. And then they hit and stomp on it to make plenty of noise, and the mothers will dance around it or stand and dance to the beat of it. Other custom rituals such as circumcision, Newborn Babies rituals and many many more.
Mothers will throw the shell of the coconut and sing; the children will make patterns from two pieces of rope from the pandanas leaf. They will play with beach shells, play with coconut shells. These are some of the things which we do not have today, but I am just glad that I was one of the kids who grew up in a time where these practices are performed and being part of my upbringing.
My dad used to tell us as children; "If you don't know your language and speak it you are a stranger in this land and people will not respect you. Your language is land and your identity; the key to unlock the secret to your motherland."