Caleb
Fotheringham, in Rarotonga
Unique island
specialties are selling fast at the Cook Islands 60th
Constitution celebrations trade days in
Rarotonga.
Ngatokorua Elisa from the Northern Group
Island told RNZ Pacific her Manihiki Island stall is sold
out of pa’ua or giant clam.
“Manihiki we’re the only
ones that have pa’ua on our island and pa’ua is a really
famous dish here and everyone hardly gets to eat it,” Elisa
said.
For Koi Bishop from Aitutaki, she is all out of
coconut oil made the traditional way – dried in the sun, not
cooked. It also includes a part of a particular crab that is
mixed in.
Deon Frispie sold uto drinks at the
Palmerston stall.
“It’s the sprout of the coconut, the
foam meat in the coconut, we grate it up and squeeze it
out.”
The Cook Islands is made up of 15 islands, 12
are inhabited, which are spread across an area the size of
Mexico.
Te Maeva Nui, which is the name for the Cook
Islands Constitution celebrations, allows a chance for the
Pa Enua (outer islands) to reconnect with people they do not
often see.
A running tradition is for each island to
donate food to the others.
On Wednesday local time
(Thursday NZT), it was Penrhyn’s turn and Mayor Rangitava
Taia was busy loading up a tray for the
delivery.
“We’ve been doing this in the past, sharing,
caring, among each island,” he said.
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Mayor of Manihiki
Joseph Hiro said living in the outer islandsis far from
easy.
“[It’s] very challenging at times, especially
with the shipping, now we’re having to wait more than three
months for a boat from Raro to get to Manihiki.”
The
Pa Enua have unique infrastructure challenges: power is
often rationed, food staples can run out quickly, and so can
fresh water, which from time to time needs to be shipped
in.
There is also a constant battle with
depopulation.
Hiro said the worst he saw it was in
1997 after Cyclone Martin significantly damaged the black
pearl industry.
“So most of the people travel from
Manihiki to here and went to New Zealand, seeking green
pastures while we stayed back behind trying to revitalise
the pearl industry.”
In 2011, Manihiki had a
population of 239 now it’s about 215.
For Southern
Group island Mangaia there were 572 people living there in
2011 now it’s about 470.
King of Mangaia,
Numangatini Ariki Tangi Tereapii said people leaving has
been a problem for the last 20 years.
“I think we are
down to the bare minimum, to care for the land and also for
the development of the island, we need more people back,”
Tereapii said.
But bringing people back is not
easy, Mangaia is the second biggest island in the Cook
Islands, next to Rarotonga, and Tereapii believes there are
economic opportunities in agriculture.
“We can’t just
bring people back, they need employment, they need a little
bit of income on the island, so yes, few people decided to
come back and they are the ones currently working on the
land, working on the island, trying to build up their small
business.”
For Manihiki, Hiro hoped an upgraded
airstrip, which is the pipeline, will kick start
tourism.
“Even though [it would be] on a small scale,
at least there will be something, and probably that would
bring back Manihikians to go back into pearl farming, that
will also attract the tourists back into
Manihiki.”
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