The theme for this year’s Tokelau Language Week is Tokelau! Tapui tau gagana ma tau aganuku, i te manaola ma te lautupuola - Tokelau! Preserve your language and culture, to enhance spiritual and physical well-being. 

For Tokelauan GP and Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) member, Dr Epenesa Iosua, the journey in learning and developing an understanding of the language is shaped by her love for her grandparents. 

“My dad is the Tokelauan in the family and both my grandparents are from Tokelau. I can understand and respond in small amounts. Being able to converse with my grandparents, even in the smallest amount, is really important to me.”

Dr Iosua says she carries her identity as a Tokelauan with pride and ensures she stays connected to her roots. 

“I’m incredibly proud to be Tokelauan and even though I’m New Zealand born, I never identify as a kiwi first. I always identify as Tokelauan above anything else. 

Learning and embracing the language is so important and is something I am working towards massively.”

Tokelau Language Week is a reminder for Dr Iosua that she is proud to come from a culture that embraces what it means to journey through life as part of a greater collective.

“Part and parcel of being a small community means you’re surrounded by family most of the time and community involvement was modelled to me growing up by my father and grandparents. 

I think that’s a massive part of the Tokelau culture. We’re a collective and everything we do is for the advancement and interest of the collective.”

Dr Iosua acknowledges her upbringing for the sense of belonging she feels in the Tokelau community.

“Having grown up around my Tokelau family, I always had that feeling of belonging. Even now, I’m always grounded when I’m around my family.

Seeing them always reminds me of those values that are really important to us as a community like servant leadership and collectivism.”

#pmafamily #pmaunite

Date: Saturday 30 October 2021