‘Tank yu tumas!’

A joyous and “very noisy” celebration was a fitting greeting to the news that the ni-Vanuatu language of Bislama is now included in the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ language week programme.

A Bislama Language Week has been piloted across New Zealand for the last two years, and the accompanying activities and awareness has garnered good support from the Motueka community.

One of the week’s Nelson-Tasman coordinators is Valorie Patrick, who also hosts the Bislama Yumi Talem radio show on Fresh FM.

She says it is very exciting news for her family and will bring the ni-Vanuatu diaspora together each year.

“Language can be a strong maker of identity and a source of belonging to a specific community,” she says. “Celebrating Bislama will help our future generation to connect with our heritage and understand Vanuatu’s cultural backgrounds.”

Fellow language week coordinator Robyn Aburn says that the celebrations “went off”, with the Vanuatu national anthem, beautiful singing by the women as well as three string bands from Birdhurst Orchards, Focus Central and Wai-West Horticulture.

The group also enjoyed traditional food like laplap cooked by the crew from Heywood Orchards.

“It was very noisy,” Robyn laughs, adding that she felt transported back to Vanuatu by the celebration, which was held on Saturday, 29 March, at the Riwaka Hotel.

The pair are saying “tank yu tumas” to everyone who has supported this journey.
Robyn says it is “such exciting news for our Vanuatu diaspora and RSE workers in New Zealand”.

“[It] is the result of many years of hard work, starting with advocacy from the National Melanesian Steering Committee and more recently, pilot activities in 2023 and 2024 across the country.”

The first official Bislama language week will be from 27 July to 2 August, 2025, with the theme Tokabaot claemet jenj – hemi ril mo yumi mas lukaotem laef (Talk about Climate Change – it is real, and we must look after life).

Planning for Nelson-Tasman activities will commence soon.