CHOGM: More than just an expensive talkfest

The music is blaring, the bouncy castle is in full use and the best of Samoa’s wares are on display at the CHOGM Trade Village in Apia.
In the corner of the central marquee tent a large cake has pride of place. It is decorated with the silver fern symbol of New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Samoa’s coat of arms, Fa’avae i le Atua Samoa, and the words Celebrating 30 years of Partnership, 1994-2024.
The MFAT-funded village is an official event of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, just around the corner but a world away from the high level meetings of Commonwealth Heads of Government.
In a shaded corner of the village Fa’asilifiti Solomona and his wife Sina are making siapo, the art of turning the bark of paper mulberry tree into fine linen-like cloth.
The rest of Apia is humming with the sounds of the sirens of police cars and motorbikes, taking VIPs to and from events around the capital, where there is talk of Britain paying trillions of dollars in reparations to Caribbean nations for the slave trade. But this is a quiet haven.
Solomona still feels part of the historical event that has brought thousands to the island.
“It’s a chance of a lifetime, we’ve never hosted this meeting before, you know when it comes to the Commonwealth.
“This is our chance to promote our traditional skills, our culture and to let the whole world know that Samoa is not just a name.
“Even though we live in a very small rock in the middle of the ocean there’s a lot more to us than just an island.”
Asked what he thinks of the New Zealand navy shipwreck on the other side of Upolu island, Fa’asilifiti says it is sad and unfortunate.
“Maybe they are not familiar with our bays.
“It’s sad because the Samoans you know, we are really dependent on our ocean.”
Of New Zealand’s boat sitting on the reef on the south west coast, he says, “now its ours”.
To the head of the Pacific Youth Council, Miliana Iga, from Fiji, CHOGM is about bringing together young leaders from around the world.
She is one of the 1.5 billion under-30 year olds who make up 60 percent of the Commonwealth population.
Iga says many young people have been unable to attend the event because they can’t afford it, and that has to change.
She was outspoken on the call for a moratorium on seabed mining in the Pacific, saying any decisions made by governments must come after extensive consultation with people who are the traditional owners of the land and sea.
“It is worrying that that is the case. We also have to try and break down all the scientific terms to our people. It will all come down to a whole of society approach,” she tells The Detail.
But she says it is important that young leaders maintain a good standing relationship with government.
“I’m trying to get them to be on the table and hear our voices as well, even though its like knocking on a huge concrete wall.”
Of the many people she met from around the world at CHOGM events this week, Iga says, a young man from Uganda, Kihembo Wilbert gave her the greatest inspiration.
Wilbert, a software engineer with cerebral palsy who communicates by texting, had travelled for 48 hours to get to Samoa.
“His resilience, his strength to persevere. During the Youth Forum he told us specifically, I’m going to take myself to where the meals are, to the reception area. He made sure that he was no different from everybody else.
“I don’t think I’ll forget him.”
Speaking to The Detail by text on his phone, Wilbert said the long trip was worth it, he’s loving the experience, and Samoa is so very different from his home in Uganda.
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