Cranking up

So the beige folder appeared in the staff pigeonhole revealing the matters that would be absorbing us during the start of year retreat. No, you can't have a look inside, contain yourself, but it included welcomes to three new staff, looking at residential student lists, the College calendar, teaching timetable and Chapel rota for the year, lists of student tutors and advisors, updates from the Programmes and - be still my beating heart - a copy of the New PTC Constitution approved by the Council last November! If you'd like a copy, it'll cost you a donation of no less than US$500 to 'Project PTCEE' and I'll arrange for priority shipping worldwide in a waterproof jiffy bag via Doris the Dolphin. 

How brilliant that we have on staff now Dr Fetaomi Tupu-Qilhio, a recent PhD graduate from University of Otago, who has kindly agreed to join PTC and will be responsible for Academic Skills and English support. She has some terrific ideas about how to approach all this and encourage Pacific pastor-scholars to write contextually and authentically while keeping the Academy and its conventions satisfied. 

Her own research focus in recent years has gone deep: looking at some very focussed examples of Pacific diaspora and migration, and filling an important gap in the existing literature. 

Tuvaluan Diaspora within Oceania: Ethnic Identity and Belongingness in the Margins

Abstract:

The diaspora within Oceania conceptualises the existence of settler communities of Tuvaluan heritage on Kioa Island in Fiji and in the village of Elise Fou in Samoa and validates existing ties they have with their home of origin. Fiji and Samoa are home to myriad of ethnic groups that have eventuated because of migration. The i-Kiribati on Rabi Island in Fiji and the various communities of i-Solomoni descent in Samoa and also scattered throughout Oceania are such examples. This research however concentrates on Polynesian ethnic enclaves that exist in both rural and urban extremes of these host countries. The diaspora within Oceania acknowledges that communities of Oceanic descent permanently settled within other areas of Oceania live diasporic lives.

In our modern Pacific, a Tuvaluan diaspora within Oceania exists and this thesis allows for the investigation into how Tuvaluans of Kioa Island and the Elise Fou settlement practice, live and experience life. Both communities are ethnically Tuvaluan. The original settlers came from various atolls in the Tuvaluan archipelago and live in minority ethnic groups in Samoa and Fiji. Despite migration that has separated them from their motherland, Tuvalu continues to have huge bearing on their lives as Samoans and Fijians today. Integration into their host communities however has had significant repercussions for their current predicament as peripheral minority groups. Through an examination of the phenomena of ethnicity in diaspora this thesis gauges the significance of ethnicity in the determination of forms of culture in migrant situations such as the diaspora within Oceania. It also looks at the salience of ethnicity as a marker of identity in the Tuvaluan diaspora. Cultural identity today in the diaspora within Oceania is derived from the natal home and is also shaped by the various contexts within which they live and experience life today.

The Diaspora has been written about extensively and Pacific Islanders have become the subjects of many such writings, but little is known of the Pacific diaspora within Oceania. Non-traditional, intra-Pacific migrations of our contemporary times are fertile areas for research. Multi-disciplined research has concentrated mainly on Pacific Islander experiences in the Pacific Rim countries to which we ‘traditionally’ migrate. It is not the intention of this study to homogenise the Pacific diaspora but there is an apparent gap in the Pacific Island diaspora literature to which this research on the diaspora within Oceania contributes to. As migrant people, our ancestors travelled throughout our Oceanic home for centuries and settled on the various islands that are our homes today. To appreciate this formation of communities that has taken shape due to movements of people, one must take into account both indigenous models and conventional approaches such as migration, malaga, va and our sea of islands.

So we're blessed by the best, eh?

Rev Dr Fa'afetai Aiava who graduated from PTC last year will also join the staff, in the Theology and Ethics Dept. Here he is with Luse on graduation day.

And then our College librarian, Nalini Devi Premadish who has borne the title 'in training' for a number of years now, just graduated from Fiji National University with her Bachelors in Library and Information Systems and can drop the 'in training'. (We all called her the College librarian anyway...) She'll continue to do the same faithful work, with weeding of redundant items and digitization of theses high on her agenda, especially if PTC is working towards University status. Which we kind of think we are... 

Nalini brings such a wealth of experience having worked at the George Knight library right here on campus since December 2003. She says of her vocation, 

I am proud to work at Pacific Theological College which not only promotes Christian unity throughout the World but provides a pleasant and warm working environment. 

Couldn't find a graduation photo in the posh robes but here's one from the lunch that library staff had on  graduation day.

So at PTCEE, we'll be introducing the Extension/Distance work to all our new residential students of course and asking the age-old question, 'Are your relatives, friends, neighbours, workmates, rugby buddies, Sunday School teachers, Youth leaders etc signed up for courses that will help them on the lifelong journey of faith seeking understanding? And for the first time in this year's Orientation session, we'll be able to say, click here!

https://www.ptceeonline.com/

as the online developments of Project PTCEE start to make themselves felt thanks to Nitesh and Nisha's great work. Still a way to go but we're live and kicking!

------------------------

Moving away from theological school for a moment, how would you like this to be you or your children's regular journey to day school? 

The Narere, Nasinu area isn't far from where we are; maybe 15 mins in a taxi, a bit longer by bus? Here's the story with thanks to Aqela Susu in the Fiji Times and Eliki Nukutabu for the photo.

THERE is good news for people of Vunisaleka and Dibulu settlements in Narere, Nasinu who have had to cross two run-down footbridges to get to the main centres for years risking their lives.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has directed the Fiji Roads Authority to upgrade the two bridges, with works expected to begin today.

FRA chief executive officer Jonathan Moore said the two bridges were not FRA's asset and were old pipe-bridges which were converted by locals into footbridges because of the convenience of available access.

"Under the direction of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the FRA has arranged for upgrading of these footbridges by re-decking with new timber and bracing boards.

"This will include a rope guide rail to assist elderly and safety for children," Mr Moore said.

According to the authority, work on the footbridges would take two days to complete.

He confirmed the authority would arrange for a boat to transfer pedestrians during the repair period because both the footbridges would be temporarily closed.

Mr Moore also clarified that since both footbridges were a community initiative, they would remain so.

"If there is a formal (if any) handover process, thereafter, any new ownership would include future plans for ongoing maintenance and future full replacement accordingly."

Two weeks ago, this newspaper highlighted the plight faced by students on their first day of school in having to cross the two footbridges with missing planks, rusted beams and no railings, placing their lives at risk just to get to school daily.

So there's an authentic slice of life from around these parts. Footbridges much required by settlement dwellers so they use initiative, find ways and make ways - literally. What then is the responsibility of the Transport Ministry and Fiji Roads Authority? As so often suggested in this blog, discuss!

Oh yeah, and in rugby news we're on the middle day of the Sydney Sevens. Not that these things matter a great deal over here and the 31-5 victory over Samoa yesterday is barely a talking point...

#2016flashback #indulgence.  Enjoy last click of this post....

Changin' times

Come gather ’round people

Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

https://nobodysingsdylanlikedylan.com/lyrics/rewritten-lyrics/the-climate-is-a-changin

Climate change warriors have been colonizing Bob Dylan’s lyrics for a good ten years or so now. ‘Hard rain’s gonna fall’ was used by the UN at Copenhagen 2009 as the soundtrack to a dramatic film showing some of the worst of global effects. The altered lyrics of the last line in ‘Times’, ‘for the climate is a-changin’’ has become popular and makes an impact.

Another line, ‘Admit that the waters around you have grown…’ isn’t a difficult call, if the topic is indeed climate change and you live on Kiribati, for example. 

But the topic I want to touch on in this post features another sort of climate: the current climate of theological, ecumenical and missiological education in the Pacific – and indeed globally - where there are different kinds of surging seas and expanding pools needing critical attention. The educational and formational waters we’re immersed in have also grown rapidly in the 52 years since PTC was founded. 



I’m not the only one around here who’s desperately hoping the call to admit this (as Dylan urges) was heard loud and clear by the Council of the Pacific Theological College when it met last November.

Full Council only meets once every two years and my colleagues and I who are Programme Directors at PTC don’t have a seat on it. (The Constitution may have changed on that point by now, but we wait for the official word). I don’t take offence personally, but just believe that policy is (or possibly was by now?) quite bonkers. Justification for that sentiment? Because Programme Directors do, bizarrely, have a seat on the Council Executive which meets three or four times a year to do the business of Council in-between its sittings. But Executive is a much smaller affair with minimal representation from Church leaders outside Suva. As PTC is owned by a wide range of Pacific Churches across the region, it’s the biennial meeting, residential over three days which is likely to speak and act much more representatively and with some kind of credible, regional voice. And it’s that wider group, presumably, who would like to know what PTC programmes (Mission & Research, Theological Education by Extension, Women’s Programme) have been up to in their name, ask questions and make suggestions. Wouldn’t they? One would hope?

Am I missing something?

So those of us responsible for them sincerely hope the Programme reports and recommendations from two years’ worth of Executive meetings, stuffed into a cardboard folder and distributed, were eagerly pored over, thoroughly digested and cheered Council members’ hearts.

#WordsMadeFleshNot

Our fathers and mothers (but you had to look really hard to spot the mothers) from the Pacific Churches, who gathered for the 2017 Council and so decided on direction and policy for the next stage in PTCs life, were:

Rev Dr Elder Leatulagi, Fa’alevao Congregational Christian Church in American Samoa, Chair

Rev Professor Feleterika Nokise, Principal

Right Rev Apimeleki Qiliho Anglican Diocese of Polynesia (Vice Chair)

Right Rev Nathan Tome, Anglican Church of Melanesia

Rev Elder Tunu Moso Siliola Iosia, Congregational Christian Church in Samoa

Rev Ioelu Onesemo, Congregational Christian Church in American Samoa

Mr Nga Mataio, Cook Islands Christian Church

Rev Dr Here J. Hoiore,  Etaretia Porotetani Maohi

Rev Tiia Manaima,  Kiribati Uniting Church

Rev R. Mwareow, Nauru Congregational Church

Rev Apisalome Tudreu, Methodist Church in Fiji & Rotuma

Rev Apineru Lafai Methodist Church in Samoa

Rev Allen Nafuki, Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu.

Rev Wakaine Wakira, Eglise Protestante Kanaky-Nouvelle Caledonie [fromTuesday]

Rev Francois Pihaatae, General Secretary, Pacific Conference of Churches

Rev Rusiate Tuidrakulu, South Pacific Association of Theological Schools

Dr. Tessa Mackenzie, Secretary

Mr. Joseph Mow, Treasurer

Rev Dr Upolu Vaai,  Faculty Representative

Rev Fatilua Fatilua, Student Body Representative

Mr Sanjeet Singh,  Director Finance & Administration

But I was so very, very sad to learn that representation from the following owner Churches didn’t happen: they are such significant partners. And sad particularly for our present students from those Churches when their leadership isn’t seen to be present.

Ekalesia Kelisiano Niue

Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea

Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga

United Church in Papua New Guinea

United Church in Solomon Islands 

United Church of Christ in Marshall Islands

United Church of Christ in Pohnpei

Reasons I know not. Perhaps I guess a little, but it's not for the blog. Just wondering if any more could have been done to enable us to get a Council ‘full house’?

Reprising Bob Dylan, I wonder how this verse of ‘Times’ would have gone down at Council?

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agein’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’

Bit rude, Bob. 

We don’t address our respected Pacific fathers and mothers like that. 

But we do grasp what you’re getting at. The old road of PTC is without doubt ‘rapidly agein’. PTC was set up at a certain time, in a certain way and has to deal with the institutional things that grind and creak after 50 years. But more than that; it has to be sure, under God, that it really is serving the present-day needs of Pacific Churches, their leaders and communities in a ‘Pacific Way’ – this is spoken about all the time – and yet in a way which works for 2018 and beyond. Many waters have grown (a PhD programme; the library; campus housing; computers, technology and media). Some have receded (residential student numbers for the BD; fees from churches). And some threaten to crash over us like waves, (PTC wants to be a University but so do lots of its owner Churches, separately: the familiar ‘Denomination First’ model).

Does that amount to the same as Trump’s ‘America First’? Might set that as an essay question…

Our Principal has been on sabbatical for one year, thinking and writing about this potential PTC University. A 30 page document went to Council, of which I’ve only as yet seen these few lines of extract, which may or may not be direction quotation.

We need to keep Christian community focus; include research into how Pacific indigenous knowledge, value systems, and cultures combine with our Christian heritage and understanding and can bring new understanding of humanity as the digital world impacts our lives.  Modern universities are focused on Job Creation. The structure of our University needs to de-centralise, be inclusive and protect the ecumenical spirit.

Universities which champion indigenous knowledge and are committed to flipping over educational systems derived from the West are certainly fascinating creatures. Te Tumu at the University of Otago, Aoteroa New Zealand says of its research programmes, for example:

As a School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, Te Tumu is a lively department that conducts cutting-edge research for Māori, Pacific and indigenous communities throughout New Zealand and the South Pacific. We contribute to community – including marae, hapū and iwi – and government policies and programmes on pressing cultural, economic and environmental issues.As a progressive team of research scholars, we model new directions for suitable land innovation, we develop indigenous language growth strategies and we explore cultural and economic pathways for communities against histories of colonisation and urbanisation. We also address major issues confronting humanity including climate change threats to low lying communities and increasing challenges and opportunities of urban development for indigenous peoples.

We all live in a world of other day to day realities including increased digital connection, increased environmental resource quality issues and increased financial pressures on families. We therefore turn our attention to intrinsic issues that matters most to individuals, their families and their communities: wellbeing, identity and security. While we are concerned with these cross-generational matters, we also have a diverse research reach extending through our nationally-renown teaching in the performing arts programme, and through our in-house museum and cultural heritage expertise. The past informs and shapes the present and the future, and historical enquiry forms one of Te Tumu’s research strengths, looking at Māori and Pacific histories from pre-contact, colonial through to post-colonial times.

http://www.otago.ac.nz/te-tumu/research/index.html

So perhaps we’re in for a bit of that? There’s a Faculty Retreat coming up this week and the Principal will address us, so maybe some more then.

But something else that’s been floating around in the Pacific breezes and currents for ages is a different kind of trinitarian puzzle. And I know for sure this came up at Council. The Pacific Theological College; the holy ground on which I sit and scribe, came into being in 1965. The regional body of the Pacific Conference of Churches was born out of a consultation in 1961, at Malua, Western Samoa and officially established in 1966, at its first assembly, on the Loyalty Island of Lifou, New Caledonia. And then there’s the South Pacific Association of Theological Schools (SPATS) – there’s also a Melanesian version (MATS) - who sort of do what it says on the tin, being the umbrella organization for theological schools across the region and dealing with the sticky business of accredition and validation and all that jazz.

So here’s the thing. The headquarters of PTC, PCC and SPATS are all in Suva. And Suva’s only little, as capital cities go. Basically, if we sung the hymns at our respective morning prayers loud enough and had the windows open, we could be one choir. As regional bodies, we all relate – give or take - to the same owners/partners/churches. We’re certainly all trying to squeeze money out of the same funder pots – Methodist Church in Britain supports all three - and near enough the same people turn up at most meetings. We run similar programmes: we've all got one for women, for a start! And here in Suva, we’re all trying to maintain HQ buildings and not necessarily succeeding.

For these reasons, and an expanding ocean of more, the suggestion of a PEC was made in 2010. A Pacific Ecumenical Council. This would potentially sweep us all up, put us in a big hairy sack, say a prayer, shake us up a bit, spill us out and see where the coconuts rolled. Who knows what the Lord might do in the aftermath of that? Could we share rather than territorialise space? Could we deliver programmes more effectively and avoid duplicating them? Could staff with certain talents operate out of their safe little boxes?

Now anyone reading this who has been seriously involved in the nitty gritty of structural re-envisioning and re-organisation – especially of the Church and ecumenical variety – will be falling about with hilarity at this point and doing the ‘Yeah right!’ line. It can be so, so hard to contemplate different ways. Strata upon strata of complications emerge over the years. I’ve done some of this and I know.

Except, friends: in this case, there is to be a bright and bushy tailed new meeting this very year in April, (only eight years after the original mooting – come on…), to – and I quote from an official document - ‘re-ignite the process’.

And because God persists, adamantly, in keeping me far more ecumenical than cynical in spirit, even though there’s every reason to be more of the latter, I can’t help feeling a bit excited! Whatever else Learned Council got up to, if it did indeed manage to re-ignite that particular spark, well hallelujah.

Would you join me in a song?

‘Let there be P-E-C and let it begin with me…..’

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

And in other more casual news...

My hilarious god-daughter sent me a scary, special edition of The Boston Gazette...

...and Suva's latest supermarket chain is boldly declaring what you would naturally expect of your mission partner.

Indeed. A bonanza every day.

Please, no autographs.

Twenty Eighteen

Well here we are. Six days in on this side of the planet. I'll just share a few Xmas and New Year pictures, not least because I'll be glad to have them on the blog for reminiscence next year. Let me start though with this beautiful piece of artwork which appeared from nowhere - though obviously somewhere - on the College noticeboard. Thank you, whoever brought this Nativity scene to birth. It's been a lovely addition to campus. 

We had a Christmas Eve communion in the College Chapel followed by a mini feast - naturally. Here I am with Radini Elesi rejoicing that the Christ candle is lit - always a great moment. The College youth group stayed up all night as far as I can gather, but I went home and to Dudley Church the next morning, then back to House 12 to cook and welcome Shelley, Ramesh and family who came over on Christmas Day for food and a bit of a party. The sainted Shelley is such a  good friend and helps me in numerous ways and so I said to her, 'Please - don't cook or bring anything! It's my turn - just come and enjoy'. As if... Not a culturally appropriate  request at all! So we feasted on shared chickens and fish curry and ice cream and made foodpacks to give away. Xmas Day ended with a breezy walk [waddle] along the seafront and a paddle.

It was a lovely Xmas Day. The 3 year old in the spotty dress and above paddling is IndoFijian philosopher Wendy Wati. She got her leggings a bit wet, as you can see, and reflected seriously on this unhappy circumstance to me and her big sister, We were in new Xmas day clothes you see. A problem... She was speaking in Hindi, so I needed a bit of help with translation. But basically, it went like this.

'Well, [sigh...] it was my own doing because I went to the sea, the sea didn't come to me'. 

#EarlyYearsWisdom

At New Year it was my turn to head Nanuku way for a New Year's Eve party and Watchnight service. At midnight there's a general sprinkling of baby powder on the gathered throng and visiting of homes. Shelley very kindly let me stay over and Rosie did fish curry and roti for New Year's day breakfast. Highly recommended.

A sadness was theft from loved ones in Nanuku settlement. Our chief steward and his wife had their son and family staying for Xmas. He's a headteacher and lives on the school compound in another province quite far away. He brought a laptop, phone and some work with him to deal with over the holidays but there was a break in while the family were fast asleep - no-one heard a thing - and it all went. So distressing. So horrible. It's easy enough to break into houses in an  informal settlement of course: security is minimal and residents fight a losing battle protecting themselves and their precious but hardly lavish property. Snarling, barking dogs are the best alternative to Securicor. But this is dirty business. And during Xmas to a faithful Christian family living right next door to the Church, whose home is full of love, welcome and ginger tea to all comers? Please... 

Primal rage courses through veins and heartbeat quickens. Grrrr! I swear if I met those thieves I'd do something that would quickly become a discipline case for a Methodist minister. Then the entrapment of twisted logic starts. Why couldn't they have sneaked a laptop from a rich tourist's suite in town at the Grand Pacific or the Holiday Inn instead?! 

OK God of Justice [and mercy...] help us out here.

There isn't a record in the Gospels of whether anyone took their chance at a minimum security stable and tiptoed in to bag the gold, frankincense and myrrh. Always possible I suppose. The Nanuku incident felt a bit like that. 

Holy and Ever Present God:

you and you alone are the One who truly knows

your people's hearts, motives, sins and sufferings.

We dare to believe in your righteous rage

and penetrating gaze: we cannot hide from either.

Restore, we plead, the honour of your name

by bringing good out of evil, hope out of despair,

and striking the hard places until healing waters flow.

Yours is the justice. Yours is the mercy.

Ours is the witness in this New Year

to Jesus and his far, far better Way.

This we commit to, yet again. 

Confidence shaky but Covenant solid,

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen