Culture: Sea and community "feels like home"

Rareti and Mwemwetaake Ataniberu with their daughter Isabel (right) and niece Odessa Kantei. The family have been living in Te Puke since 1999. Photo/Ruth Keber

Drifting across the front lawn as I pulled up to the Ataniberu's household my ears were flooded with a language I had never heard before and laid-back-tunes that I could only imagine came from somewhere in the Pacific.

Walking into their modest home, their living room was adorned with hand-made fans and brightly-coloured flowers. The family have been living in Te Puke for the last 15 years after immigrating to the Western Bay from Kiribati.

Kiribati, a collection of islands in the Pacific, has come into the spotlight in recent years as sea levels continue to rise devouring the islands in its path.

Te Puke resident Rareti Ataniberu said she had visited New Zealand since she was a child and visited family during Christmas holidays before deciding to move her family here.
"We came straight from the island to Te Puke," she said.

The mother-of-three said life was generally easier compared with home with "everything being very convenient here".

"Life is easier. Even with water, water supply is not an issue."

But growing up in a small village she said being close to the sea again was "not being very far from home".

"This is home away from home." Her husband, Mwemwetaake, spends his weekends fishing on the local beaches, and brings what he catches home for dinner.

Instead of eating three meals a day back home, like we Kiwis do, meals were dependent on tides and what had been caught from the ocean, she said.

"Most of the men go out fishing at night time, and will come back early in the morning, say 4am, so that is when we will eat, there are no rules, no breakfast or no lunch, it is all the same.

"You just eat when it is available."

However, a big miss from the islands was local fruits and coconuts, she said.

"It's [coconuts] free there and it's our daily dose of vitamins.

"Its a must because we don't use sugar."

Traditionally in Kiribati people would eat a lot of grated coconut, taro and bread fruit, she said.

Mrs Ataniberu said they speak in I-Kiribati (pronounced Kiri-baas) at home and reinforced the language with their children.

"We are forcing it on them," she said with a glee of laughter.

The family often got together with other members of the 50-family-strong Kiribati community and held barbecues and events on the weekends.

A big event was Independence Day, celebrated on July 12 every year, where the entire country would have two weeks off work back home, she said.

Although here the celebrations were cut short to a weekend but were still celebrated.
"It's a part of us [to celebrate]. We need to. It's a must for us. Although we call ourselves Kiwis now, we are Kiribati in some ways."

Having never been back home since the family migrated here in 1999 Mrs Ataniberu said they did not miss it much.

"To be honest, only our families. Life itself is better here. Even though we don't have big jobs we can still live comfortably. We can still enjoy life.

Mrs Ataniberu is studying horticulture and her husband is a local school bus driver.

Fast facts about Kiribati:
Population: 92,000
Capital: Tarawa; 42,000
Area: 811/sq/km (313 square miles) Language: English, I-Kiribati
Religion: Roman Catholic, Protestant
Currency: Australian dollar
Life expectancy: 62
GDP per capita: US $800
Literacy percentage: 98