Election 23: Pasifika ECE service impresses candidates

Agnes Loheni, third from left, with Carl Bates, fifth from left, with staff and children from Born & Raised Pasifika.

National Party list candidate Agnes Loheni was in Whanganui recently and is returning to Auckland with a favourable impression of the River City, according to Tony Stuart, Whanganui National Party branch chair.

Loheni was especially impressed by her visit to Born & Raised Pasifika Early Childhood Centre, in the former Aramoho School premises. The daughter of Samoan immigrants in the 1960s, Agnes felt an immediate connection to Born & Raised Pasifika.

“It’s wonderful that the tamariki have the opportunity to be educated in different language groups,” Loheni said.

“To see learning taking place in Cook Islands Māori, Fijian, Samoan, te reo Māori and English was really heartening”.

Loheni was also impressed that the former school dental clinic had been repurposed as a community library, giving Born & Raised Pasifika extra reach into the community.

Loheni and Whanganui National Party candidate Carl Bates enjoyed the cultural performances by the tamariki.

Bates said Born & Raised Pasifika was proof that initiatives from engaged community organisations could succeed and prosper.

“Born & Raised Pasifika provides a fantastic model for multicultural education, allowing youngsters to celebrate their own fanau’s culture and the other cultures around them.”

Bates has met the management of ECE centres and services on several occasions since he was selected as National’s Whanganui candidate and promised to be a strong advocate for all sectors of ECE if he is elected next month.