Climate change: why men’s violence against women increases with each rising tide.

There is no hiding that like so many other Kiribati men, my grandfather was abusive to my grandma. He was physically overbearing over Terira. There is a story that my grandma spent a night clinging to the inside of a well while my grandfather, in a rage, raced around looking for his wife.

The Kiribati woman

In my own cultural journey, these points are just some of the reasons I allow myself the title of upholding what it means to be a proud I-Kiribati woman…

Say NO to the death penalty in Kiribati.

For thousands of years Pacific culture has lead to men believing that domestic violence is right and a man’s prerogative. This is absolutely wrong, but it doesn’t take a bill in parliament to change a society’s ways that they have held for thousands of years.

Tong must work harder for Kiribati women

I walked back to the house with two cousins running ahead and a baby cousin on my hip. I was wearing a traditional Kiribati top (tiibuta) and a sarong. I was barefoot and despite my lighter skin, I could have been any other I-Kiribati woman. A baby on my hip, yelling at my younger cousins to stop fighting and going back to my house where my family waited.

Paradise on earth? Welcome to the Pacific!

It’s almost winter here in Melbourne and while the rain falls and the frost thickens, we while away our time by looking out the window and dreaming of holidays.  Holidays with endless sunshine, drinking straight from the coconut and swimming in the ocean at night. The Pacific Islands can give you this luxury and it…