National Secondary School Samoan speech competition

Malo le soifua maua ma le lagi e mama

Your Excellency the High Commissioner of Samoa Le afioga Asi Tuiataga James Faafili Blakelock, Professor Le’apai Lau Asofou So’o, members of the Samoan Teachers and Parents Association, students, family, friends, ladies and gentlemen.

It gives me pleasure to welcome you to Hutt City for the inaugural National Secondary School Samoan speech competition.

For those of you in our wonderful city for the first time, I hope you are enjoying your stay with us. And to those who have been here before, it’s great to be able to share our city with you again.

I am honoured to be invited to officially open this competition and say a few words on behalf of the city to mark the occasion.

Here in Hutt City we have a strong and vibrant Samoan community, making up the majority of the 10,000 people living here who identified themselves as Pacific Islanders in the last census.

The community has its roots in the migrants who came to work in the car plants in the 1960’s and made New Zealand their new home.

Of course they all spoke the Samoan language fluently. The challenge 40 years on and several generations later is that the language be passed on to those born and raised here.

Initiatives like this speech competition help protect and promote the language so that it remains New Zealand’s third most spoken language and ensures that the cultural identity of Samoans living in New Zealand is maintained.

Also important is for grandparents and parents to hold on to the language and teach it to their grandchildren and children. For those in the audience, this must be a very proud occasion.

To the contestants, I say well done for embracing the language of your heritage and best wishes for the competition.  I commend you all for your commitment to the Samoan language and bravery for standing up in front of a crowd for this competition. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to welcome you to Hutt City, and share in this important occasion with you.

On that note, it gives me great pleasure to officially declare the inaugural National Secondary School Samoan speech competition officially open.

I le ava ma le fa’aaloalo lava