On Wednesday 27 March 2024, Year 7 & 8 Pacifica students went on a trip to the Due Drop Centre in Manukau. As we came inside the Due Drop Centre, we were greeted and given an official welcome from the Pacifica Mamas. Once we were in the Foyer, the sisters explained to us the Pacific Islands and their greeting, followed by aunties and uncles sharing with us their nationalities (Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji).
The first activity the team had prepared for us to do was drumming. The Tongan drumming consists of two drums called the skin drum and the long drum. First, aunty explained what the significance of the drums had on the local tribes in Tonga. These drums were used for calling out baptisms, weddings, and funerals. They were also used for indicating an emergency, and everyone had to remain calm! After aunty explained it, we had a chance to play the drums! I had an opportunity to play the long drum, and we had to place the stick on the mouth of the drum if we wanted a deep sound and we had put it on the side if we wanted a normal sound, as well as sticking to a rhythm that the aunty had indicated. When I went to play the drums, I focused hard so I wouldn’t make a mistake.
Our next activity was making a lei. When we had started our drumming session, the Samoan aunty along with the Fijian aunty were telling us the importance of drums at weddings, baptisms, and even local events – the importance of lei’s is equal to that of the drums. A lei also shows respect to one another, especially toward our elderly! After learning about its importance, we had an opportunity to make a lei using recycled flowers that people throw out.
Recycling and upcycling the flowers into lei’s helps protect our ocean and keep our environment plastic-free.
We learnt how to make the flowers using the one straw and then one flower method. This was so everyone could have one perfect lei. She told us to make for our lei for someone special, to show them you loved them – I chose my sister.
After we made our lei’s, we went into the foyer where the Samoan aunty said thank you for coming, but that wasn’t the end. One of the aunties was going to tell a story about a Samoan girl and her parents.
There was once a very pretty Samoan girl who had interest from three chiefs, a Cook Islands chief, a Fijian chief and a Tongan chief.
First the Cook Islands chief came along and said, “Hey Ina, would you like to come to my island?” after thinking Ina had said “No” and the chief went back to his island crying. Then the Fijian chief came along, and asked the same question “Hey Ina, would you like to come to my island?”, and Ina said the same thing “No” and the Fijian chief went back home crying. Now the Tongan chief went to the island and had asked the same question again! “Hey Ina, would you like to come with me to my island?”. But this time Ina was quiet, she was thinking because this man was handsome, and she wanted to go with him, but her parents said “No!” Poor Ina was heart-broken and to this day will always remember her fallen love, the Tongan Chief, that her father had forbidden her to be with.
To conclude our visit, we shared time in prayer and showed our appreciation for their time and stories. I had felt good about the whole experience there and would do it again.
