Tonga

There was outrage in the Pacific nation this week after a girls' high school rugby team was withdrawn from a competition because of their gender.

An official letter said that sports such as rugby and boxing went against Tongan women's dignity and culture.

Prime Minister Akilisi Pōhiva responded by saying that the letter did not represent official government policy.

He said that the government "actively encourages the participation of every Tongan student in all sports without discrimination".

The move comes just days after a letter sent from the Ministry of Education to Tonga High School directed that girls should not be participating in rugby or boxing.

According to the letter, participation in those sports goes against young women's dignity and Tongan cultural traditions.

The Director of the Talitha Project said the NGO aims to provide opportunities to empower girls to become new and emerging leaders.

Vanessa Heleta said the four year project to encourage gender equality through sport is also supported by UN Women.

The additional package of assistance will help restore community infrastructure such as schools and water supplies, and support farmers whose crops were devastated.

Tropical Cyclone Gita hit Tonga on 12 February, damaging almost 4,000 houses and leaving 60,000 people without power.

The first Australian Defence Force flight arrived within 24 hours of the cyclone hitting Tonga.

King Tuheitia Paki's son, Te Ariki Tamaroa has just returned from the island kingdom.

Now Waahi Pa in Huntly has opened its doors to receive donations.

Feeding and caring for people is a traditional practice at Waahi Paa.

“Since the inception of the Poukai, our practice is to help the widows, destitute and needy,” says spokesperson Hone-Haunui Rapana.

“So we as Māori are fortunate to have this opportunity to help our Pacific Island relations”.

Australia has already made a substantial contribution in aid following last month's devastating cyclone which caused widespread destruction across the main island of Tongatapu and on 'Eua.

The minister of international development and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said she and the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who have travelled to Tonga, want to help the country to bolster its resilience to major climatic events.

The HDWC are part of Tonga’s delegation to Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) New Zealand’s Pasifika Business Market hosting more than 35 companies from 11 Pacific island countries at Auckland’s Pasifika Festival from 24-25 March.   But getting the taro to Pasifika will be an achievement and a poignant moment for the Council whose district was worst hit by Cyclone Gita last month.

Maile Tanigitau and Kapeli Lanumata will represent Hahake District despite the area sustaining significant damage.

The personal accounts of women in rural areas of Nuku'alofa and 'Eua are being published online by the Tongan Women and Children's crisis centre.

Its director Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki said most of the planning and decision making in Tonga was done by men.

But she argues the resilience and vision showed by so many Tongan women during and after the devastation wrought by Gita makes a strong case for change.

The body was discovered at Pahu on Tuesday morning.

It is understood the woman was at a house party with her husband and friends hours before she was found dead.

Kaniva News reports formal identification is still taking place and nothing has been confirmed.

Fourteen year old, Noelani will be competing in the 22.3km Ocean Swim – the longest ocean swim in the Southern Hemisphere and is the youngest to have attempted to swim solo. 

Noelani started swimming with the Malolo Swim Club here in Tongatapu since she was eight years old and she instantly fell in love with swimming as a competitive sport. 

Noelani did her first ever Open Water swim when she was only eight years old and swam 1.8km. 

The letter addressed to a local high school, said that female students should not take part in the sports because they took away from young women's dignity and cultural traditions.

'Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki said the ministry was using culture as an excuse and she could not understand the stance.

She said Tongan female athletes had been inspirational in recent times, including New Zealand's Teuila Fotu-Moala.