Vaiaso o te Gana Tuvalu - Tuvalu Language Week will be celebrated at Pātaka with a focus on Vione Natano (Senala Village, Fongafale Is, Funafuti Atoll)
TUVALU FOU (HEADDRESS) MAKING ACTIVITY:
Wednesday 01 Oct 10.30am – 12.30pm
Sit with Porirua’s local Tuvalu community and make your own Tuvalu fou (headdress). Suitable for 8 years +.
Chat with the lovely Mamas about Tuvalu history and admire the beautiful Tuvalu display, including three unique Tuvalu fou, representing three of the nine separate islands.
ABOUT VIONE: Vione sadly past away in August, and we honour his memory and celebrate the legacy he has left with his Tuvalu community, who he loved dearly.
A teacher, a writer of children’s books and designer of the Tuvalu flag. Vione served Tuvalu, Aotearoa, and the greater Pacific region for over 50 years, representing his country at UNESCO workshops for visual arts as early as 1975, and in recent years was a Pacific Languages Bible Teacher (for Tuvalu) at Wellington Bible College from 2006.
Vione Natano was a gifted storyteller and wrote the following stories; ‘Toku tupuna fafine’, ‘Toju tugane foliki’, ‘Toku taina foliki’, ‘Toku matua’, ‘Toku kaiga’ and ‘Au’ (1988). ‘The rat and the octopus: a story from Tuvalu; (1988) was one of a number of his books that were translated into English by Learning Media.
