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This blog is dedicated to all Tuvaluans. Our little corner to share and voice our concerns on any issue, even criticise government.

Monday, 14 May 2012

Gold rush gets tar

Pacific islanders always think of USA, Australia and New Zealand as the ideal place to live given the richness of their lands and the availability of resources. Maybe to some Pacific islanders, it is Paradise.
However Pacific islanders must always think long and hard before deciding to migrate to foreign countries like USA, Australia and New Zealand. First, it will be hard for an outsider to find a good job except as cleaners or seasonal workers. One understands that if a person doesn't earn enough, then he/she will find other means of getting money. That's how crimes resulted.

About one in five female prisoners in the Australian state of Victoria are of Vietnamese origin. Most are in prison for drug-related offences. Many do not speak English. The government department responsible for managing jails in the southern state confirmed that a disproportionate number of Vietnamese-born women are in prison. Figures released to Radio Australia indicate there are at present 55 Vietnamese-born female detainees in the two state women's prisons.That is about 20 per cent of the state's total female prisoner population. Thirty-nine of the Vietnamese have been sentenced and 16 are unsentenced.


If it can happen to Vietnamese, it can also happen or is also happening to Pacific islanders. In the recent years, a lot of Pacific islanders have emigrated to countries abroad but what are the benefits of the move they have made? Although there have been no reports yet of the kind of life Pacific islanders lead in foreign countries, i tell you,  from the stories that these people have shared with their families back home, it has led me to believe that people should think long and hard before moving out of their countries. At special times of the year, Tuvaluans return from overseas to celebrate a loved one's birthday and these are the stories that they have shared with families.
Cleaner: "Life there  in New Zealand is all work, you clean at one place, if you finish there you go to another place, the more places you clean to more money you get. You can't get a job, you die."

In a telephone conversation with an elderly Tuvaluan man in NZ recently, i asked him what is the most popular form of work for the Tuvaluans and other Pacific islanders.

Old man: "I have lived here for more than thirty years, i have been cleaning from the day i set foot here and until five years ago when old age has stopped me from doing strenuous work, This is also the same with my brother and sisters from Tuvalu.We thought we brought our families to better life, better education, but everything here is expensive except for food, most teenagers from Pacific families are just roaming the towns i bet up to no-good and are not attending school."

In Tuvalu there are sex services( prostitution activities) due to our culture and morals that we learnt since childhood. I am afraid that with the exposure to such activities that our young girls are getting in other countries, circumstances like poverty because of unemployment will lead them to such immoral activities.

Please people, think and think again for it.

1 comment:

  1. "USA" should be "the USA." Your first two links are to isolated incidents that do not illustrate a larger trend. The link to your block quote should not be in your block quote, but before. Your block quote is from a story that is a month old. Take up the extra lines after it. Attribution should go after the first sentence of a quote. Who is Cleaner? Who is Old Man? These people need names. Thirty should be 30. Capitalise the personal pronoun, and "services( prostitution" should be "services (prostitution."

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