Stories From The Pacific

If there is a problem that needs fixing, mechatronics engineer and author Joyana Finch is your person. Her earliest childhood memories were of repairing broken gadgets in her parent's Cook Islands toy shop — technology always sparked joy. Now she writes children's books to show Pasifika girls like her own that the door is open.

If you catch Peia Patai on dry land, it won't be for long. When he's not out fishing, he's sailing his vaka across Cook Islands, with little more than the clouds, the sun, the moon, and the stars to help him find his way. The master navigator was taught the same techniques his ancestors used, but all that is changing. 

Agapetos Aia-Fa'aleava has always been compelled to speak up against social injustice, and when she learned a law in Queensland had let pubs and clubs deny entry to Pasifika people with facial tattoos, she spoke up once again in the form of a documentary that explores culture and tattoos.

Fighting was considered shameful and something to be avoided on Nissan Island in Bougainville, where Agnes Titus is from. It's this ability to resolve conflicts that has held her in good stead throughout a career defending the rights of women and people accused of sorcery.

At fourteen, Gladys Habu was gifted a camera for acing her exams. She used it to document the disappearance of her grandparents' customary island, Kale, and unknowingly ignited a passion for climate activism. Since then, the former beauty queen, pharmacist, UN ambassador and young mother has worn many hats, always in a bid to improve lives and the land.

As a young girl, Mere Roden dreamed of becoming a doctor, using a pretend stethoscope to tend to her dolls. She wanted to help others. In 2006, after sepsis from an old injury deteriorated her nerves in her spine, Mere had to adjust to a new life that involved the use of a wheelchair. Since then, she has found new ways to help others, championing the rights of people with disabilities in sport and steering Fiji's response to COVID-19. In 2014 and in her 40s, Mere fell in love with table tennis. A year later, she was a gold medallist, and showed no signs of slowing down, going on to win gold in 2015, 2019 and 2023. The Fijian athlete, mother and grandmother joins Bobby Macumber to talk about importance of love, respect and never giving up.

This edition of Sista's Let's Talk was a repeat of the program broadcast on 23rd August 2023. 

Ann Singeo’s childhood was full of adventure. Each weekend, her dad would take her and her siblings to discover a new island – in Palau there were more than 500 to explore.

They would camp, fish and learn about taking only what was needed from the land and sea. These trips formed the foundations for Ann to later co-found the Ebiil Society, a non-profit which aims to educate about environmental protection and proper management of natural resources through indigenous knowledge.

Ebiil also runs camps for kids, taking them into the environment Ann loved so much as a child and putting them back in touch with the earth they will inherit, in the hopes they'll be inspired to better care for it.    

When Tau'ili'ili Alpha Maiava plays the nose flute, he is transported back in time. He knows it is the same sound his ancestors heard 400 years ago. But this sound, along with many others, have almost been lost to history. Tau'ili'ili is travelling across the Pacific Islands to gather stories of extinct and endangered instruments like the nose flute. He hopes sharing this traditional knowledge will help people connect with who they were and who they are today.

This edition of Stories From The Pacific was a repeat of the program broadcast on 8th November 2023

Leki Lao started off his photography journey shooting weddings. But on the day of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption, he found himself on board a navy boat travelling across obstructed seas to survey the damage. The photos he took that day of a very different kind, and they were among the first to emerge from the disaster. 

Freediver and artist Rava Ray finds solace in the sea, swimming with stingrays and dancing with humpback whales in the depths of French Polynesia. So when it came to giving birth, Rava wanted the water nearby.

LLane Munau is a filmmaker from Bougainville. The Crisis began she was 10 years old and her father decided to move the family inland to escape the brunt of the violence. In the bush they spent about half of the decade-long civil war, which killed 20,000 people. And for a while, Llane was protected from the harsh realities of the conflict. 

This edition of Stories From The Pacific was a repeat of the program broadcast on 5th July 2023

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Papua New Guinean sprinter Nelson Stone grew up around sports like Taekwondo and boxing. But the fighting didn’t always stay within the ring. Taking up athletics in his early 20s was a turning point for Nelson, who wanted to turn his life around. Nelson Stone would go on to become a household name in PNG, wining multiple gold, silver and bronze medals across Pacific Games and Oceania Championships... Even qualifying for the 2012 Olympics. But it was one race in particular, that started it all. 

When Sereima Leweniqila started playing rugby union, it was on her bed with a souvenir sponge ball from the Hong Kong Sevens. Despite the societal rejection of girls playing the sport, Sereima went on to become captain of the national side, Fijiana.

Leki Lao started off his photography journey shooting weddings. But on the day of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption, he found himself on board a navy boat travelling across obstructed seas to survey the damage. The photos he took that day of a very different kind, and they were among the first to emerge from the disaster. 

Tapani Mangisi grew up in Tonga in the 1950s, playing marbles beneath giant mango trees and observing huge colonies of flying foxes. Today, lamenting the fact his children could barely speak Tongan, he started to work to preserve his native tongue.

Cindy Filo’s childhood home was next to both a Seventh Day Adventist church and a nightclub. Both had a big impact on her life. But a cordless microphone at the latter gave Cindy the opportunity to perform untethered from a young age. She wowed crowds across the Pacific as the hilarious and cheeky Cindy of Samoa, becoming renowned for her impersonations of queens like Tina Turner and Whitney Houston. But there was a point where Cindy decided to quit the pretending and untether her true self.  

A big mining company. A small island. And a lawyer just two years into practice. William Kadi from the Solomon Islands’ western province took on the case on behalf Wagina’s 2,000 residents, who were opposed to the idea of digging up 60% of their land for bauxite. Throughout the grueling process, William’s escape was music. And he soon found himself going from a huge legal battle to a huge hit song.  

A painting of a ship. A cane knife. A pair of shoes. As the curator of Queensland Museum’s First Nations Cultures, South Sea Islander Imelda Miller collects objects that tell stories. Through these objects and their histories, she wants to give others the chance to connect with places, ancestors and identities. Imelda’s custom collection sheds light on the lives of South Pacific Islanders, including her family, who were  coerced and kidnapped to work on plantations in Australia from the 1860s, for little or no money. The practise is now known as blackbirding. But she also hopes to capture the experience of South Sea Islanders and their achievements today, to leave a footprint for the next generation. 

While Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson was living in Samoa in the late 1880s and early 1890s, he became known as “Tusitala”, or teller of tales. But surrounding his household were, in fact, many tusitala. Their stories have never been heard, until now. In her latest play, O Tusitala – Tellers of Tales, prolific Samoan writer Sia Figiel brings to life the characters of Villa Vailima, exploring through historical fiction an important period of Samoan history, through the eyes of Samoans.