Have you ever heard of polyfest before? This is an event that is run in Auckland and there are many performances from different cultures especially polynesians. Yesterday, the year 7 & 8 students from our school were really lucky to have a trip to the Polyfest. I will give you more information about the Team 5 trip to polyfest yesterday.
There weren’t many stages on yesterday but there were a lot of stalls and most of them were food stalls. When we sat in line, waiting for our tour guides from Aorere College there were other schools sitting on either sides of us. When we meet our tour guides we were split into different groups before they lead us around the area.
One of the stalls we went to was the AUT stall where there was a man and a woman who talked to us about what we can learn about in the future at their University. I enjoyed this stall because one of things they showed us was an app that someone in Fiji created about the weather warnings because of a cyclone that hit their island years ago. I think this app was really helpful to the people of fiji because before they had it they had no way of knowing whether it would be a good day to go out or not. In the future I would like to help make a difference in New Zealand or even my own country; Tonga.
The purpose of our trip wasn’t only to have fun and enjoy ourselves but it was also to learn about our cultures and other companies that are sponsors for polyfest. Although there weren’t much performances from different schools, my favourite stage was the diversity stage. The diversity stage is where the Fijian, Kiribati, Tuvalu and many more small islands.
I think it is important to join your cultural groups for this event because it gives you more of an understanding of what your culture does and performs for traditional occasions. Next year I will be joining my culture group for polyfest so that I can learn more about our traditions. If you still don’t have a good idea of what your culture is about make sure you join next year if you are keen.
