Transcript
RAROTEONE TEFUARANI: Education was everything. So young people were leaving because we don't have a high school on the island, so people used to leave to go to Bougainville to go to high school and then from there people would just get jobs or do whatever. But nowadays, because of climate change, people have started resettling in Bougainville. So the Bougainville government has helped us, given us a - well it's in town - it's just a piece of land which all the Mortlocks have settled in and they pay like low rent to stay there. They're not houses, it's sort of like warehouses, like a camp and most of the Mortlock islanders have settled there now. It's very sad to see them because I actually experienced the camp and it's not a good place. Like, to see my people living like that was very sad.
JOHNNY BLADES: Is that because they can't keep up their customs?
RT: Yeah well they chose to go because, I guess, rising tides, food was scarce. Every time there was a food shortage and the government did not assist us with shipments of food. So of course, like, our islanders sort of felt that they were left behind, so I guess they weren't forced but they chose to make that move. But nowadays, because we don't have any ships, it's very hard to go home and once a year when it does go it's like hard for us.
JB: The traditions of Nukutoa, they're at risk of being lost now, aren't they?
RT: Yeah well most of our customs and traditions, they're already dying out. It's very sad to see our young people, like they are living in Buka now and they have forgot. Because we have very strong customs - the men don't talk to the women, the men have their own house. We don't mingle. The men stick to the men and the women stick to the women, it's always been like that. And also like, just our traditions like the people who used to carve our own traditional chairs and masks and all that is just dying out, all our traditional ways - the tapa that we wear, it's all died out now. Tattooing, it's all gone. The last people who knew how to do those things have already died. They never passed it on because all the young people left.
JB: It sounds sad, as you say. Is there any hope that you could pull young people back? I mean because in your article that you wrote a few years ago, which is what drew my attention, you seem to be very concerned about the climate change threat and you wanted to see your community's customs preserved. You were saying it was important that this happened. Do you still feel that way?
RT: Yeah, of course I do. When I wrote that, at that time the Mortlock islanders were not relocated at that time. They were slowly coming, a few at a time. But in 2014 when I did go to small Buka I did see a lot of families, more than I thought were in Buka. Most people did leave and I do see that food shortage, and then they had the - I see where they're coming from, like why they did decide to move because of the food and also like healthcare. There's a lot of old people who do - like when I was in Buka there was an old lady who needed her eyes checked [inaudible] and we had to send a 40-foot boat to go home to get that old lady and bring her to Buka to get her treated for that. She already passed away just this year. But that's what I mean, like I do see where my people are coming from, the reasons why they're leaving but somehow we are still yet to come up with ways to keep our traditions and - our traditions are OK. I guess we do carry them on in town and whatever, but if everyone starts moving then we have to worry. It's the old people that are keeping everything safe for us, like our traditions and whatever at home that we have - they're the ones who are looking after everything. But I do understand why people have decided to move and I don't really see it as a free choice that they've made; if we did have more government assistance it wouldn't happen this way. But in my own little way I try to instill it in my kids in little ways like speaking language - try to carry on our customs and our traditions and keeping the language intact. Our language, too, has changed as well. There's a lot of slang, but yeah, trying to keep that alive. That's my own little way of keeping my tradition and customs.
JB: Would you go back to live permanently one day maybe, when the kids are a bit older?
RT: Yeah, now I'm talking about it, I do. Like, I feel homesick already. Yes I would.
