This was a thoroughly enjoyable interview to do in English and Samoan with the effervescent tama'ita'i Samoa, Tua Manase-Ale.
We are very pleased to add Tua Manase-Ale to our Ina'ilau a Tama'ta'i series.
It's often said of Savai'i - 'o le motu fai mea mafai'. Tua Manase-Ale personifies that saying, helping Samoans in Melbourne through her previous roles with the Advisory Council, and currently empowering women and young people in the Pasefika region through her work with the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP).
She spoke to us about some of the projects WFWP does in the Pasefika region, including a scholarship fund to enable promising young Pasefika students to study on-island in local tertiary institutes.
WFWP also runs 'micro-credit projects' where they empower women of Pasefika by directly investing in their business ideas through a micro-credit loan system.
They also run Women's Sewing Centres in Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. WFWP provides sewing machines and training to local women with the long-term goal for these women in the Island Nations of Oceania becoming economically independent.
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Ina'ilau a Tama'ita'i: Fale Tumanu.
The Women's Federation for World Peace is hosting the Melbourne Pasefika Festival in December, showcasing Pasefika cuisine, dances and musical performances. There is going to be a rugby union clinic too.
What's a Pasefika do without rugby, song and mea'ai?
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