Weekend
Using Cook Islands experience to develop young leaders
Saturday 22 April 2023 | Written by Supplied | Published in Features, Weekend
Fifty-four young leaders from New Zealand and Australia connected with Cook Islands students for a week-long leadership programme. Student alumni Joel Taylor describes their experience in Rarotonga.
Utilising our diaspora: Rangi’s journey of community service and governance
Saturday 8 April 2023 | Written by Derek Fox | Published in Features, Weekend
Caren Rangi, a highly qualified Cook Islander who lives in New Zealand, has just completed seven and a half years on the Board of the Cook Islands Investment Corporation (CIIC) – one of the government’s most powerful agencies. She shares her journey of community service and governance with Rarotonga resident and prominent Kiwi journalist Derek Fox.
Evans heads to Harvard for yearlong sustainable development studies
Saturday 8 April 2023 | Written by Matthew Littlewood | Published in Features, Weekend
Jacqui Evans will soon depart for the United States for a year-long course on planning for the new environment. She talks to Cook Islands News journalist Matthew Littlewood about her passion for the environment, and what she would like to see changed.
The journey to becoming Cook Islands’ first dental surgeon
Saturday 1 April 2023 | Written by Melina Etches | Published in Features, Go Local, Weekend
A visit to the dentist or dental therapist doesn’t have to be something to dread.
New Australian diplomat ready to embrace Cook Islands culture
Saturday 25 March 2023 | Written by Matthew Littlewood | Published in Features, Weekend
Australia’s new High Commissioner to the Cook Islands is looking forward to embracing the local culture.
The Cook Islands that vanished?
Saturday 25 March 2023 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
If historical sources are to be believed, at least three islands in the Cook Islands have vanished into thin air. One of these, Tuanaki, is said to have submerged with all its occupants, as recently as 1842. By Rod Dixon.
The opportunity of a lifetime: Trip through Panama Canal
Saturday 4 March 2023 | Written by Joanne Holden | Published in Features, Weekend
A Cook Islander who hitched a ride on the Anuanua Moana as it sailed from the southern United States, over rough seas in the Gulf of Mexico, and through the Panama Canal has described the voyage as akin to ‘getting a chance to go to the moon’. Joanne Holden reports.
Daring to dream: Young women turn ‘side hustles’ into fulltime businesses
Saturday 18 February 2023 | Written by Melina Etches | Published in Business, Features, In Depth, Local, National, Weekend
Businesswoman Ana File-Heather who is the founder of the Taki Tahi ‘start-up’ project facilitated a free online business incubator ‘Dreambuilder’ course for Cook Islands women last week.
Unlocking dyslexia
Saturday 28 January 2023 | Written by Melina Etches | Published in Features, Health, National, Weekend
Early childhood school days for some children have been and are a real struggle. It is particularly harder for those with dyslexia – a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words.
Redefining ‘sexagenarian’
Saturday 28 January 2023 | Written by Melina Etches | Published in Features, Weekend
Aging is not an option, it is inevitable. However, what aging looks and feels like is definitely a choice. Close friends Elizabeth (Etu) Chase and Deb Te Kani who are aged in their early sixties have transformed their body shapes and sizes and mastered the art of incorporating health and fitness into their daily lives, redefining their expectations of a sexagenarian.
Learning the Holy Land’s agriculture way
Saturday 14 January 2023 | Written by Losirene Lacanivalu | Published in Features, Local, National, Weekend
Ministry of Agriculture staff Cecilia Samuela-TouAriki and Piriariki Maao are still counting their blessings for the opportunity to have set foot in the Holy Land a month ago.
Stand up and speak: Domestic violence no longer a taboo topic
Saturday 14 January 2023 | Written by Losirene Lacanivalu | Published in Features, In Depth, Weekend
Domestic violence should no longer be a topic of taboo, but an ongoing discussion among church, community and political leaders.
Cat-astrophic: International vets on desexing missions in Aitutaki
Saturday 14 January 2023 | Written by CI News Staff | Published in Features, Weekend
Aitutaki’s cat population has ballooned in the nearly three years since Covid-19 stifled an initiative recruiting overseas veterinarians on desexing missions. Joanne Holden reports.
Moving forward with the environment
Saturday 14 January 2023 | Written by Matthew Littlewood | Published in Features, Weekend
The new director at Te Ipukarea Society, Alanna Smith’s passion for the environment runs through almost everything she does.
Paying close attention to the warning signs
Saturday 7 January 2023 | Written by Matthew Littlewood | Published in Features, Go Local, Weekend
Brent Fisher has been at the forefront of water safety in the Cook Islands for nearly a decade.
‘She was the glue that kept our family together’
Thursday 5 January 2023 | Written by Melina Etches | Published in Features, Memory Lane, Weekend
E puera tiare kua takupe, Ki te ara tiroa o Takitumu, E tiare Maori kakara.
Making her voice heard
Saturday 26 November 2022 | Written by Matthew Littlewood | Published in Features, Weekend
Teherenui Koteka wants Cook Islands and Pasifika people to survive and thrive in the topsy-turvy world of creative arts both here and abroad. The playwright talks to senior journalist Matthew Littlewood about her latest work and her aspirations for the future.
A life on the water: Setting sail on Serenity
Saturday 22 October 2022 | Written by Al Williams | Published in Features, Weekend
Kiwi skipper Scott Farrand has lost count of the countries he’s visited, although it’s his first time in the Cook Islands. He is aboard one of several leisure yachts docked at the port in Avarua.
‘Scurrilous rags’ and ‘brimstone belchers’ – Cook Islands’ early newspapers
Saturday 8 October 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
An ‘insatiable lust’ for reading matter among Cook Islanders led to the appearance of Rarotonga’s first newspaper Te Punavai in 1843, printed with the help of the Sydney Morning Herald. Later in the century came Te Manu Rere, Te Torea and Ioi Karanga, all generating controversy and landing one local editor in prison – the first inmate of Rarotonga’s newest jail. By Rod Dixon.
Connecting people, places and possibilities
Saturday 20 August 2022 | Written by Rashneel Kumar | Published in Features, Weekend
The resumption of commercial flights between Rarotonga and Tahiti a week ago has opened doors to opportunities other than tourism as Cook Islands looks for closer ties with traditional allies French Polynesia.
