The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Losalini Tuwere.

All photos by Geoffery Matautia.

Losalini Tuwere runs the longest-running (and most consistent) Fijian language class in Aotearoa. Every Tuesday she hosts the class in the Newlands Community Centre with Maciu Vucago, for free. The format of their class is thorough, well-designed and multi-disciplinary. Both are committed to Vosa vaka Vitiin and incredible linguistic scholars in their own right. In 2021, Tuwere co-edited a book, Voqa ni Veisemati: Vola Italanoa ni Viti e Aotearoa, which contains a collection of stories and poems in both Fijian and English.

Yadra (good morning) Losalini! Could you please introduce yourself. 

Ni sa bula vinaka. Na yacaqu o Losalini Tuwere. O au mai Keteira, Moala, Lau kau vasu i Vusaratu, Natewa, Cakaudrove. Au vakawati iBagata, Wailevu, Cakaudrove vei Josua Tuwere. E rua na luveikeirau o Ilaitia kei Lydia-Anne.

Hello, my name is Losalini Tuwere. I am from Keteira, Moala, Lau, with maternal links to Vusaratu, Natewa and Cakaudrove. I’m married to Josua Tuwere who is from iBgata, Wailevu and Cakaudrove. We have two children, Illaitia and Lydia-Anne. 

Have you always been a language teacher? Where did that passion begin?

I became a missionary very young and went to serve in Bangladesh. They have an interesting history as they became independent from Pakistan in 1972. Because of their religious differences, Bangladesh revolted and didn’t want to be part of Pakistan. They started a Bengali language movement because their official language, before separating, wasn’t their mother tongue. They were so passionate about their language. I didn’t expect that experience to make me so passionate about the Fijian language, but it did.  

You and your co-teacher, Maciu Vucago, run weekly Fijian language classes here in Pōneke. How did they begin?

My family and I came to Wellington at the end of 2017 when my husband was posted to the Fijian High Commission. When we arrived in New Zealand I was blessed to find out that there was a Fijian language week in October. There were a lot of celebrations but once it was over there was nothing else happening for Fijian language or cultural teaching. I’m part of a Fijian language-speaking church, but that was the only place I heard the language being used. I wondered, “What happens between the language weeks year to year?”

Around that time, I was invited to a Hindi language class. The teachers were from Fiji but serving the Fijian-Indian diaspora. When I saw what they were doing I thought “Wow, they are running community classes around Wellington!” I was inspired to serve our Fijian children. I asked them how they did it and they said, “Find people who have a heart for it and work with them to get things started.”

I made inquiries with our church and everyone said, “Yes, we really need it!” We began at the beginning of 2019 at the Newlands Community Hall. We ran it ourselves for about six months, then we got some koha, and we were invited to do kids’ camps for Fijian Language Week. 

What are the classes like?

Our free classes on Tuesdays (at the Newlands Community Hall) run for two hours. There’s eating, playing, and the language component. The direct teaching is about 45 minutes and the rest of it is interacting. Having it face-to-face is important because you learn the culture by interacting with others.

Is it still only for children, or have the classes expanded to include adults?

The class targets school children aged 5-18 years. It‘s a challenge because it’s such a big age range, so we have to split them up. I take the primary school kids and Maciu takes the intermediate and high schoolers. I hope I can start something for the adults soon. They’ve been asking for classes. I’ll start small and test the waters. 

You’re right about the problems with the language weeks being only one week of the year, and the large gap that leaves in between. How can we do a better job of promoting Pacific languages beyond their allocated week?

I think a lot of us adults have taken our language and culture for granted. Before I came to New Zealand I worked as a teacher aid across different schools in Fiji. In Fiji, English is pushed right from the start. By year three, everything is taught in English. The teachers might not speak any Fijian language at school. It’s the same with our Hindi-speaking kids.

For me, it was all a mindset change. I realised how much I took the language for granted. If we’re not careful, we’ll lose it – even in Fiji. It’s just English, English, English. The pressure of it can make children lose their mother tongues. That’s how I’ve come into that place of wanting to teach. We need people passionate about the Fijian language to step up.

What growth have you seen with the children’s language and cultural journeys over the past five years?

I would love to see kids speaking fluent Fijian. That’s the dream. But what we have seen are the kids getting more comfortable speaking, helping each other, and correcting each other. When we do our devotions everyone does the prayer and scriptures in Fijian. They can all introduce themselves. They have the basic grammatical structures of the Fijian language. I think it’s a blessing.

When you’re a kid you don’t know how important language and culture is. I think it’s giving them a sense of: “my language is beautiful. I’m connected to this. I’m connected to Fiji.” We’ve learnt a lot of songs, meke (dance), and even performed at Fiji Day for the High Commission. They were so amazed at how well our kids were singing. 

What are your future ambitions with the classes? Do you hope to keep running them long-term? 

I was looking through the NCEA exams and saw all the languages offered; Te Reo, French, Spanish, German, Latin, Tongan, Samoan. One day I want Fijian to be in the school curriculum. I think it’s a far-off dream, but before that, we can keep doing things in the community to revitalise Fijian for the children.

We’re even getting members of our Indo-Fijian community wanting to learn the language as it’s part of who they are, too. I often think about how we learn all the European things, but we’re here in the Pacific with all of these beautiful languages around us. Why aren’t they just as important? 

What do you love about the Fijian language?

I think all of our mother tongues are beautiful. It’s the language of our parents. It’s the language of our hearts. 

This is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air.