Transcript
Ngaire Fuata recently made a documentary about her return home to Rotuma and she shared it as part of the week's celebrations.
In the early 1990s she was famous for her song 'To Sir With Love' and now works as a television and documentary producer.
She says that for years she'd covered many Pacific island language week events and so for Rotuma to now have its own week, separate from Fiji Language Week, is special.
She wishes she had a Rotuma language week growing up.
"I can't speak Rotuman and there are many Rotumans in New Zealand who can't but there are plenty who do and I think that as long as that remains they can help us non native speakers. We were brought up in an era where English was dominant, and you had to speak English well and there was no emphasis on being bilingual."
Elder and pastor Ravai Mosese lived most of his life on Rotuma but now resides in New Zealand.
He's seen a decline in language use among youth and says learning starts at home.
Therefore he's urging parents and grandparents to consciously try to impart their language knowledge and culture to youth, calling it a God given gift.
"There is no school in New Zealand to teach our children the Rotuman language and it depends on us the elders and the parents to do it at home."
New Zealand All Black Sevens player Rocky Khan says having this language week celebrates an important part of his identity as a Rotuman and Fiji Indian.
"They were talking about language week on the radio and I heard Samoa Fijian and Tongan language week being brought up and then that is quite common. But then after that I heard Rotuma language being brought up and I nearly crashed my car because being brought up in New Zealand and being Rotuman you never hear those things on radio. So I wanted to find out a bit more about the week and what is behind it and the purpose and so yes that is why I am here."
Proverbs are popular among Rotumans and he learnt one about pushing down hard on a branch until it breaks, or to keep going until you achieve your goal.
Mr Khan has never been to Rotuma, but hopes one day he will go.
"With Youtube and social media, I get to see a lot of videos about the place and it looks awesome and real beautiful and something quite special about the place with no tourism and you can stay with friends and family. You can't go to a hotel there or anything, you can just stay on the beach or the bush."
Ms Fuata wants to encourage more youth to visit Rotuma for themselves.
She says sharing her own journey back to the island was important.
According to her, the lengthy trip on the boat might be a deterrent for some, but once they are there it's well worth the effort to visit as the island is a gem.
"I will have photos running behind me of the group and the things we did and I have got a little piece from my father from my documentary Salat se Rotuma where we brought messages from home all in Rotuma from home and there is a little proverb he shares too both in Rotuman and in English."
Song, dance and cultural celebrations marking Rotuma Day, the anniversary of the island's cession to the United Kingdom back in 1881, brings the week to a close.
This is Sara Vui-Talitu.
