Learning to be proud of our cultures with the MADD team

Mata and I the only Cook Islanders today

Today I learnt about a lot of things but mainly about other peoples cultures such as -Tonga, Samoa, Maori, Niuean and Africa. Petia and Leah asked everyone to split up into our cultural or ethnic groups and we had to write down some of the things we do in our culture.

After that we had to stand up with our groups but there was only two Cook Islanders which was me and Mata. The first group to go up was Africa which was only represented by Samuel. It was fun learning about his country and his greeting. Next up was the Niueans and they had a big group and Aarmione was reading what they wrote and then the three boys did a haka lead by Bono. Next was the Samoans which was awesome because after they finished talking they did a dance which was really cool.

Mata and I were after them and it was fun. Mata was a little shy but for once I actually wasn’t but we didnt do a dance. The Tongans were next and it was fun learning about their culture. Last but not least were the Maori group. We learnt about what is special in the Maori culture. They also showed a hongi and pukana which was awesome.

I feel that going to MADD Messenger is helping me to be more confident because for the first time in forever I was actually not shy to stand up and talk to a big group. I also had fun learning new things about others.