Brandyn

My Mum's life in Niue

Some of the things my mum did while living in Niue, was go to the bush with her mum to plant taro & pull weeds. She liked to go into the bush to collect pomea (red shelled peanut), she would put them into a cleaned out cornbeef tin & roast them over an open fire.

She liked to pick fruits “kolivao”, “fua V” & collect “fuatava”& passionfruit.
She liked to drink coconut & eat the coconut flesh, as well as eat “niutupu”
She also liked to go down to the sea, when it was low tide, with an empty jar, a piece of taro & a hammer to collect “ugako”.
When it rained, my mum liked to play with her friends & cousins in the big pool like puddles & wash under the house spouting.
Rain water was collected in a tank for drinking & washing, but the water had to be boiled & cooled before you could drink it.

My mum's favourite foods to eat, were tinned corn beef, cooked pork, fish marinated in coconut cream, takihi (baked taro & pawpaw with coconut cream), raw fish, uga, kapia (tapioca), breadfruit, cabin bread & coconut bread.

Some chores my mum had to do, was wash dishes, wash clothes, sweep the floors in the house, with a tafikaniu (broom), feed the pig & husk coconuts.

One thing my mum didn’t like was the long drop (toilet).
My mum, still speaksNiuean, she believes it’s her only way of keeping in touch with her culture, as a NZ born Niuean.

My nana’s life from 1942-1954 in the village of Hakupu.

Niue Island, at the time had a subsistence economy.

Nana’s favourite foods were cabin bread, tins of corn beef or fish, rice & sometimes bread.
These were all imported foods.
Niuean foods were taro, kumara, bananas, kapia (tapioca), ufi (yams), ika (fish), puaka (pig) & polo’s (deadly nightshade).
My nana only played a few games, because girls weren’t allowed to play in their free time.
They were expected to do chores, such as picking up mei leaves every morning before school, lighting the fire, to boil the kettle for a cup of tea, help with the cooking, collect food or fire wood from the bush, washing & weaving table mats.
My nana went to Tuatea Primary School, learning maths, English, science, geography & culture.
Hot skim milk was provided, for morning drink.
My nana had to wear a school uniform, which was a pink pinafore with a white blouse for girls & a white shirt with grey shorts for boys.
Language spoken at school was mainly Niuean.