The University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Tonga Campus continued its efforts to revive and promote the Niuafo‘ou language with the successful Niuafo‘ou Day.
The grand final of the Niuafo‘ou language Poetry Competition was the main event of the Niuafo‘ou Day earlier this month.
This event was led by an annual Provincial Poetry Competition which ran from 30 October to 23 November 2015. The competition was jointly organised by USP Tonga Campusstaff, Curriculum Unit of the Ministry of Education and Training, the Culture Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Tonga Broadcasting Commission and Tonga Communication Corporation.
The five provincial winners recited their poems on the theme “The Importance of the Niuafo‘ou language”. Princess Salote Mafile‘o Pilolevu Tuita was the Guest of Honour. Dean of Faculty of Business and Economics, Professor Franco Gandolfi also joined guests and members of the Niuafo‘ou community to celebrate the Niuafo‘ou Day.
Another highlight of the day was the presentation of certificates to 21 students who completed the first conversational course in the Niuafo’ou language. Princess Salote presented the certificates to these students.
The publication of the collection of winning poems from the Niuafo‘ou Poetry Competition from 2011 to 2014, was also launched by Princess Salote. The publication, titled, “Niuafo‘ou Winning Poems Collection 2011-2014” were presented to Princess Salote by two of its contributors.
In her address, Princess Salote thanked USP Tonga Campus for the hard work involved in the promotion of the Niuafo‘ou language through the Poetry Competition for primary school students.
She commended USP’s Tonga campus in its efforts to teach the Niuafo‘ou language and the hard work in compiling the winning poems into a publication. She shared the well-known Tongan saying “ko e pale ‘o e ngaue lelei ko e toe ‘oatu mo ha ngāue ke fai” (the reward of good work is to be given more work).
Princess Salote suggested that more work and active research on the Niuafo‘ou language are needed to ensure that the Niuafo‘ou language becomes Tonga’s third official language, in addition to Tongan and English.
The Niufo‘ou Day was enjoyed by guests which included Lord Fusitu‘a (the Noble’s Representative to Parliament for the two Niuas) and his mother, Lady ‘Eseta Fusitu‘a. The former Minister of Education and Training, Dr ‘Ana Maui Taufe‘ulungaki, Ana Bing Fonua, CEO of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Daniel Henson, CEO of the Bank of South Pacific and members of the Niuafo‘ou community attended the Niufo‘ou Day.
The guests were joined by listeners of the live radio broadcast, from Tonga and overseas. The programme was well covered by the TV news and later aired on TV Tonga.