Recently appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands Kathryn Graham made a courtesy call to meet with the Aitutaki Island Government and visited several community based projects funded by the NZ Government on Friday.

Member of Parliament for Amuri /Ureia Toanui Isamaela said he was pleased to host Her Excellency during her visit to look at progress on an agriculture project funded by NZ.

He said it was an opportunity to show her what they were doing in their constituency in the Pa Enua and to ensure that the funding received is being utilised responsibly in the interests and benefit of the people.

“This project is in the second phase of implementation providing sustainable agricultural development initiatives to local communities to support their daily livelihoods and to promote healthy lifestyles.

“In addition, it will also upskill and encourage young people of the importance of growing locally and to participate in activities that support their lifestyles.”

In a statement, MP Isamaela said stage one is already completed as seedlings were prepared by the project co-ordinators and distributed among the community including the elderly, farmers and women growing tomatoes, watermelons, cucumbers, capsicums, corn and bok choy.

He said the initiative was very successful and was a follow up to the very successful Covid-19 Home Garden Scheme facilitated initially by the Amuri community when borders were closed in 2020/2021. He said that for the Revitalisation Project, they are still purchasing and acquiring resource equipment and materials and will probably start the project late December early January 2025.

Other projects currently undertaken by the Amuri/Ureia constituency is the Solar Panel Streetlight Project which aims to improve lighting around the villages in the interests of addressing safety issues to our road users. 50 solar lights were sponsored from the MP’s Constituency Fund and we are in the process of distributing these to our constituency.

And the Vainetini organisations on Aitutaki have combined to support the Home Care Scheme for the Elderly which Amuri/Ureia has been actively involved in for the past 12 months.  

He said groups of volunteer mamas go into the homes of single elderly men and women to assist with cleaning, hygiene, maintenance, washing and general support to improve their quality of life.

This project has been hugely successful and carried out on a voluntary basis due to funding limitations from government agencies.

“Since our involvement, we have been inundated with more requests for support mainly from single elderly people who can’t fend for themselves and to some extent, have been neglected by families and Government agencies responsible for their wellbeing.”

Another project is the upgrade of the passageway inside the Amuri/Ureia reef to reinstall new safety lighting to guide boat owners in and out of the restricted and dangerous reef passageway.

“This project is an absolute priority so we will be looking for donor sponsorship to assist our boat owners with better access, safety and visibility through the purchase of compatible marine safety lights that will be anchored on existing rocks surrounding the passageway.”
And their final project for the next three to six months is a proposed beautification project involving the planting of varieties of flowers throughout the homes of their constituents to encourage beautification as well as small business initiatives to support the tourism industry as well as provide plants and flowers for functions.

He said a local committee was formed recently with the assistance of a local expert from Rarotonga who held several workshops on the island to encourage and promote the concept of ‘green fingers’ as another alternative activity to boost leisure and economic benefits for the people.