Our shared interest in sharing our heritage and our care for history have brought us together and we are prompted to debate the significance of Pacific heritage to the global community by today's inquiry.
This was highlighted by Fiji Youth Ambassador Designate Broderick Mervyn, who will be representing Fiji’s youth voices at the 13th Festival of the Pacific Arts and Culture (FESTPAC) Youth Ambassador Program in Hawaii along with Inise Kuruwale.
The program is a Young Pacific Leaders Initiative that will bring 35 emerging youth leaders from the Pacific to discuss emerging youth issues.
Mervyn says during the Festival, they will look into the key challenges that many young Pacific Islanders face, utilising solid facts to guide pertinent tactics and carrying out youth-focused initiatives beyond the Festival.
He says indicators of the performance of youth projects, appropriate planning, and how we interact with other Pacific Island youths must all be reviewed.
Mervyn also mentioned how young people from the Pacific region are becoming more and more involved in preserving and promoting their heritage globally, as seen by the growing number of young people attending Rotuma Day celebrations in Fiji and New Zealand.
He says this is because they understand that their heritage is an integral part of who they are as a region and not just something that happened in the past.
