PMN’s Island Time host, Inangaro Vakaafi, celebrates the launch of Hunt for Niue Tupu, blending the Niuean and English languages and connecting Pacific families. Photo: Facebook / Mila's Books
A children's book on Niuean culture has just been released in New Zealand.
Titled, Hunt for Niu Tupu, the story is about a young girl and her grandfather in Niue examining niu (coconuts) in their backyard.
The book's author, Inangaro Vakaafi, said the book is a reflection of the adventurous life of a child growing up in the islands.
"You can find so much adventure in your backyard, especially in Niue where I grew up," she told Pacific Waves.
"I'm of Niuean and Cook Island heritage; on my Niue side, we have a lot of people who tell stories, right, who can write stories, but not a lot of it it is published in the sense.
"We didn't have lots of libraries like you do here in New Zealand, but we had lots of storytellers from the aunties and the nanas who would...read us books or read from the Bible stories.
"There are lots of ways that were not necessarily written form; so our storytelling comes in the form of song, dance, through our arts and our crafts and our legends and our myths."
Vakaafi said it was important to her to include in the book themes of intergenerational relationships, saying grandparents make great cultural teachers.
She said when she talks to young Pasifika who were born and raised in New Zealand, the ones who are able to speak the language a lot better are the ones who are left with their grandparents.
"So there's so much importance in that, transferring of knowledge, transferring of language, transference of culture.
"My father was very different with his parenting when it came to us as his children, and then when I see what he's like with the grandchildren.
"There's a different kind of relationship there.
"I wanted to share that through this book - different generations, living together, learning together, finding adventure together."
Vakaafi wants to instill cultural pride in Niuean children.
She said there aren't enough Niuean stories being told.
"For me, I'm like, okay, if we're going to have stories out in the world, and we need our young ones, especially those who are of mixed heritage like myself, to help me fly that yellow flag.
"And if it means telling some stories, and having characters with names from back home, and then in a storybook for children so they can learn early, and just be proud of where they come from - then I think I would have achieved something that we set out to do with this particular book."
