Miss Heilala 2008-09

Miss Heilala 2008-2009 is Fiona Makisi, the eldest daughter to Siosi’ana Lupe’eke Tupou (Kolovai, Ahau, Ha’avakatolo) and the late Taniela Finau Makisi (Fo’ui).  She was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. She is currently a fourth year undergraduate student at The University of Sydney where she is studying a combined degree of Arts/Laws (B.A./L.L.B) majoring in Sociology with a minor in Government and International Relations. She also serves as a youth leader of the Ashfield Parish Tonga youth and is passionate about making education accessible to all youth, especially young women.

PT:  Describe the Heilala Pageant experience in three words.

Fiona:  Transforming!  Enlightening!  Stressful!

PT:  What do you hope to accomplish as the reigning Miss Heilala 2008-09?

Fiona:  I hope to dispel the beauty pageant myth that only girls with a certain size and look can take home the crown. I feel very passionate about the life changing benefits of education, especially education for women from Polynesian cultures. To educate a woman is to educate her family, her friends, her village, and therefore her culture, but more importantly our future. I want to help young girls or young women to achieve their potential – I hope to set up a tutoring program for our Tongan youth to utilize and to help them be more active and accomplished in their secondary studies. I also hope to demonstrate that what matters most in life is our brains not our beauty. Everyone would love to be beautiful, but beauty is a fleeting and individualistic characteristic, with benefits only for that individual. Brains and intelligence is a skill that can benefit a whole community.

PT:  What do you feel has been the most difficult challenge you have faced or are currently facing as a young Tongan female?

Fiona:  Definitely the stereotype that as Tongan women, we are expected to be obedient daughters, then obedient housewives, then as matriarchs we are expected to be “typical” in inculcating our daughters to follow that same subservient role. Growing up as a Tongan female, you feel more pressured to be extraordinary in order to stand out – you have the expectation of maintaining the family name, intertwined with the isolation girls are expected to grow up in. Dating has been my biggest challenge, because Tongan’s assume that education and dating are incompatible. Some of our traditions constrain and restrict individuality, development and creativity in young Tongan women and it isn’t fair that those traditions which disadvantage young girls in our culture are the ones which continue to survive.

PT: What do you feel has been most empowering about being a young Tongan female?

Fiona:  Growing up in the Tongan way, girls learn the multifaceted value of respect: respect for your family, for your elders, for God, for yourself. With this, you can’t go wrong in life, your feet have been firmly placed on the right path.

PT: What advice do you wish someone had given you when you were younger?

Fiona:  I wish someone had told me when I was younger that what matters most is what those who love you say and not what those who deride you say.

PT:  What is your favorite quote and explain why it is your favorite quote.

Fiona:  “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering” - Ben Okri

This quote inspires me to believe in the unbelievable, to strive to achieve the unachievable, to be more than what others or what we as individuals think we can be. I have found solace and peace in this saying because at the end of the day what matters most is that we gave it all we could, and that is all that can be asked of us. We are all human, with flaws and shortcomings, but this quote shows the true beauty and value in all of us. Nothing is for sure, nothing is impossible, only our failure to believe stands in our way of greatness!

PT: What are your hopes for the future of our Tongan young people?

Fiona:  I hope one day our youth can wake up to themselves and learn to live outside the square they live in and pursue goals which create opportunity for others. Too many of our youth are in prisons, in detention, or not finishing high school, or working only to live for today. Tomorrow should be our dream. We should be striving to better our futures collectively. I wish we had more of our people in high places, so that we could help out those who end up on the wrong path. The answer lies in education. I dream of a day when a degree for many of our youth is not a distant dream, but a reality. Maybe then we could dispose of the stereotype of our people as juvenile delinquents and blue-collar factory workers, or athletes. Our parents left the Island for western civilization for a reason – for our future. Perhaps one day, we can give them back what they have labored so hard to give us.

PT: Who has inspired you the most in your life and why?

Fiona:  Without a doubt–my parents! I would not be the person I am today without their sacrifices and hard work. I would not have the education I have now without their support and motivation. My father passed away when I was only 15 and all I remember of him is how he was barely home, he was always working to provide for us. I owe everything to them and to the love of the Lord who has held me and my family steadfast in his love. Thanks mum, thanks dad!

PT: What final advice do you have for our Tongan young people?

Fiona:  Don’t look at others who have made something of themselves and mock or put them down. Focus on yourselves, and your own betterment. We all pave our own journeys and remittances to heaven, only the Lord may judge us, and his is the only judgment you should care for. Accept the Lord, accept others, and accept yourself as a vehicle of love and opportunity. Never settle for second best–go hard or go home!

**Fiona is currently competing for Miss South Pacific, please support her by voting for her online at:  http://misssouthpacific.as/

Helping Youth Pursue Emancipation

How did the HYPE Movement begin?

The HYPE Movement was started by young Tongan university students who were devastated by the increase in high school dropout rates, incarceration rates, and death rates in our Pacific Islander community.  They wanted be engaged in bringing about a positive change in our young people.  They wanted to be involved in a grassroots movement that would bring all youth together (regardless of race, class, and gender) united under one cause—the power to live our dreams and to emancipate (free) ourselves from the confinements and limitations that society has imposed upon us or that we have internalized.  Livin’ the HYPE means striving to reach our greatest potential in order to recreate a world of endless possibilities for all our youth!

The HYPE MOVEMENT is living the very words of the legendary Bob Marley when he said “emancipate yourselves from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our minds”!!!

What does HYPE Stand for?

Helping Youth Pursue Emancipation

What is its purpose?

This is a Youth Liberation Movement encouraging youth to free their minds/imagination of any limitations they have set on themselves or feel society has placed on them and pursue their own talents and aspirations to create something positive.

What do I have to do?

Live the HYPE! By wearing the HYPE wristband, you are acknowledging that you can do or become whatever it is you set your mind to. You also agree to pursue your goal in a positive way that will benefit yourself as well as your community.  Pursue your passion and don’t let anyone/anything stop you.

How can I help?

Spread the word. We encourage everyone (children, adults, educators, community leaders, etc.) to show their support of the movement by wearing the HYPE wristbands and sharing the positive message of empowerment with others.

UNITY IS POWER

Why Black Wristbands?

The color black symbolizes shadows.  It’s easy for our youth to feel hidden or unseen standing in the shadow of authority, elders, community leaders and those they look up to.  The youth have so much to offer our community (music, art, literature, ideas, etc.) but are often left without an open positive space to share it.

How is this significant?

By acknowledging that you are in the shadow, you can then pull yourself out and allow yourself to be seen.  You are no longer in the shadow but are now determined to shine.  Open your mind and allow your talent to take you where you really want to go.  Whatever your goals and aspirations may be you must now recognize your potential to achieve them.

Why a wristband?

The significance of the wristband is a constant reminder of your own liberation in breaking free from negative stereotypes and limitations but also that you now have the opportunity to help pull others out of the shadows as well.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT AND LIVE THE HYPE!!!!

For more information on how you can GET ON THE HYPE…please contact ‘Anapesi Ka’ili at anapesi@planet-tonga.com or visit the HYPE Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/387931976

Check out the HYPE MOVEMENT photos at http://photos.planet-tonga.com

Content will also be available on our site and in our blogs. You can read Anapesi’s updates on her blog.

Check back often.

They are known as Three Houses Down, a name that represents their closeness as a band and as family members who grew up in the same neighborhood and now live literally three houses down from the house where they first met and formed their band.  They are a 12 member band with an amazing brass section, which molds their uniqueness as a Tongan Reggae group based out of Otara, New Zealand, yet traces their indigenous roots to the Kingdom of Tonga.  Their debut album “Dreadtown” is what they would describe as a “pacific interpretation of one of the world’s greatest musical genres—roots reggae”!  They continue to win over fans from all over the world with their distinct sound, astounding performances, and their humble personalities.  Recently, they won the People’s Choice Award at the Pacific Music Awards for the Best Pacific Artist!  They performed for the very first time here in the United States in Anaheim, California as part of the Solkrush “Unity Amongst Our People” Concert.

Planet Tonga sits down with lead vocalist and guitarist, Charlie Pome’e for a one-on-one exclusive…

PT:  Wow, that was an amazing performance you all just gave, what has the experience been like for you?
Charlie:  I can’t even express the way that I feel right now.  I mean being able to play along groups that we have always admired like 676 and Kontiki and many others who have influenced us…groups like Mana’o company that we grew up listening to and have inspired us…and so for us its just been a wonderful opportunity to play along side all these great groups and the experience I had tonight…well it has been so overwhelming and humbling!

PT:  The audience was definitely feeling your group tonight with everyone chanting “three houses down” over and over!  When you are performing and creating music what is it that you want your listeners to get from your music?
Charlie:  We try to make music that will reach everyone from the young and to the old.  Our music is about peace, love and harmony.  There is so much that is happening in the world today and so we try to always keep it positive and to send out a positive message through our music…we also never forget our roots, like tonight, no matter where we go we always remember where we come from and try to represent well for our Tongan people.

PT:  Speaking of your roots, how do you continue to infuse your Tonganness or Tongan culture into the music you create?
Charlie:  That’s a tough question and I think we bring it across in everything we do starting from our love of music which comes from my old man back home who exposed us to Tongan music when we were kids…we also sing a couple of Tongan songs because its always good to sing in your own language because so many of our languages today is slowly dying out and so for us to sing in our own language is a good way to maintain our culture…we also try to do as much as we can for our Tongan communities back home by volunteering to help out with our Tongan youth because it was our music that kept us out of trouble and so we always want to give back and I am very proud to be Tongan and I hope that shows in our music because we want to carry our culture with us everywhere we go.

PT:  The theme of this concert is “Unity Amongst Our People” as a musician how do you see music uniting us as Pacific peoples?
Charlie:  Music should touch everyone in some way and we Polynesians we have a lot to offer to the world, for example tonight, every band that performed had heaps to offer and I am sure that we touched other people tonight who love music and maybe some of them have been too scared to make their own music and probably after tonight they will want to do something about that…we as Polynesian people are so talented and we just have so much to offer but the world hasn’t seen it yet but it’s coming and soon they will see just how talented we really are and when it hits the world, Polynesians are going to take over!

PT:  What is something about Three Houses Down that you think might surprise your fans?
Charlie:  I think that some people may look at us and think they were are very old but we are probably one of the youngest bands out there our ages range from 21-30…oh yeah and we are all Tongans!

PT:  What do you all do when you are not touring, in the studio or performing?
Charlie:  Sleep!  Sleep! Sleep! We also love to play with all of our nieces and nephews!

PT:  Thank you Charlie for taking the time to sit down with us, we wish you much success in all you do!  Any final words….
Charlie:  Yeah, thank you Planet Tonga for interviewing me and also thanks to Soli and Solkrush for bringing us down here and for giving us this great experience, we will never forge it!!!

3 Houses Down Bebo:  http://www.www.bebo.com/3HousesDown
3 Houses Down Myspace:  http://www.myspace.com/threehousesdown

Planet Tonga would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to the whole Solkrush family (Soli, Bernz, Ralph, and many others) for making this interview possible and for raising the bar when it comes to Pacific Islander Entertainment.  ‘Ofa lahi atu

www.planet-tonga.com/anapesi