< back

A POWERFUL VOICE FROM THE FRONTLINES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Pelenise Alofa Pilitati, from Kiribati, is in New Zealand

WHAT:
INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY
Pelenise Alofa Pilitati lives in Kiribati, where her yard fills up with seawater everyday at high tide. Nothing grows there.

Pelenise is a passionate speaker who talks about how climate change is affecting Pacific people now. At the Copenhagen climate change summit three months ago, she was one of four climate witnesses at the Oxfam International Climate Hearing hosted by Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson. Pelenise is in New Zealand for a week and a half and is available for TV, radio and print interviews.

WHEN:
THROUGH MARCH 14
An interview can be arranged around her existing meetings, or you can catch her at the Pasifika Festival in Auckland on March 13, where she will be at Oxfam's 'Hung Out to Dry' installation, as well as speaking from stage.

WHERE:
PELENISE IS BASED IN AUCKLAND WHILE IN NEW ZEALAND

CONTACT:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW, PLEASE CONTACT
JASON GARMAN ON 09 358 5902 or 021 202 5096.

BACKGROUND:
Pelenise Alofa Pilitati - Chairperson Church Education Director's Association in Kiribati (CEDAK), Managing Director, Kauaoki Foundation Enterprise, Kiribati.

Pelenise Alofa Pilitati is a respected community leader in Kiribati, one of the Pacific nations most threatened by climate change. As Chairperson of the Church Education Director's Association in Kiribati (CEDAK) she is acutely aware of the impact climate change is having on the future prospects and outlook of young people.

"The future of Kiribati is in our hands - we work very hard each year to support and help students to be successful. We want our children to love their country and love to serve their people. But what is the future of our children when our country is being threatened by global warming?"

Pelenise is also the Manager of Kauaoki Foundation Enterprise, which specialises in promoting healthy nutrition to the community. Most of Kiribati is less than 4 metres above sea level and is already suffering from erosion and salination of gardens and fresh water supplies because of tidal surges and sea level rise. Pelenise does health promotion and cooking demonstrations for the public every week - in the public square, at hospitals, community maneabas and associations. She sees this as an important part of coping with climate change because diets are forced to adapt as traditional foods become unavailable.

Pelenise has also started a literacy school called the Dream Weaver Language and Pre-school. She has been training teachers to teach literacy and has started a school where both children and adults can learn to speak, read or write in English. Pelenise believes that knowledge of the English language is a key to many opportunities and a necessity in the years to come when i-Kiribati will be forced to move elsewhere because of climate change.

Pelenise was in New Zealand in August 2009 as part of Oxfam's "Voices of the Vulnerable" panel discussion, co-hosted with Te Papa. While here, she appealed to the New Zealand public to take stronger action on climate change in the lead-up to the Copenhagen conference:

http://www.youtube.com/user/OxfamNZ#p/u/11/yq_wHDTMyQA

In October, Pelenise organized a large event involving over 2000 students in Kiribati as part of a Global Day of Action:

http://www.350.org/node/11179

More recently, Pelenise was at the Copenhagen conference where she was one of four climate witnesses at Oxfam's International Climate Hearing hosted by Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson (Pele is the one with the white flower in her hair):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfam/sets/72157623007020608/

Pelenise is passionate about the issues, about her people and the Pacific.

"Some of my friends have migrated to Australia and New Zealand looking for greener pastures but I refuse to migrate. I chose to return to Kiribati and to stay in the Pacific so that I could help my people. And if helping my people means speaking to all the leaders of the Pacific including Australia and New Zealand, then I count that my privilege. If it means talking to the whole world, I will gladly do it. If I have to shout it, I will shout the loudest."