It’s Vanuatu Bislama Language Week
To celebrate and support New Zealand’s Pacific Language Weeks campaign, AUT’s Office of Pacific Advancement, (OPA) works alongside students to elevate their personal experiences of Pacific culture, practices and language; taonga to be protected and sustained.
The taonga are often ancient and deeply significant from cultural, spiritual and social perspectives and are practices shared by others in the AUT community.
For Vanuatu Bislama Language Week 2026, three AUT students and graduates, whose family ties are to Vanuatu, proudly showcase a taonga of the Melanesian Island nation, the bright green, national dress.
The colour represents the green of the Vanuatu flag, which symbolises the richness of the island’s' soil and vegetation, and is especially fitting alongside the theme of this year's Vanuatu Bislama Language Week:
Tokbaot klaemet jenis – Hemi tru samting mo yumi mas lukaotem gud laef - Talk about climate change – it is real, and we must look after life.
Recent AUT Bachelor of Computer Science and Information Science graduate and former Manaaki Scholar, Maeva Nikita Robert, is from the the province of Malampa in Vanuatu’s North-East.
Of her national costume, Maeva says, “When I wear this dress, it marks my identity. Everyone will know that I’m a Ni-Vanuatu, especially when I’m living away from Vanuatu.
“Many people don’t know that Vanuatu is the only country to officially have three languages; French, English and Bislama. We speak to each other using Bislama on a daily basis and we also have our own dialects in each village,” she says.
Bislama is a creole language that originated from English and various Melanesian languages, and it serves as a lingua franca for many people in Vanuatu.
“Thinking about my language, it’s so important to know it because it’s where you come from and who you are - it’s your identity. Wherever you are, you’re not just carrying yourself, you’re also carrying your grandparents and your ancestors.
“For me it was a huge jump coming from high school in Vanuatu to a big country like New Zealand. But I love it here. To students still studying back home in Vanuatu, I say, if I can do this, you can do this too. The sky is the limit.”
Suzanne Kaltongga, who is from Vanuatu’s Shefa Province in the country’s capital of Port Vila, is set to graduate from AUT with a Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing). She says the distinctive bright green clothing “ties all of us from Vanuatu together.”
“It would be recognisable anywhere in the world by other Ni-Vanuatu. The dress means a lot to me, especially living away from Vanuatu. It makes me very proud to be from Vanuatu. There are different versions of the dress, depending on the occasion. This one, with these kinds of sleeves, is mostly worn at very formal occasions.
“I chose to study nursing at AUT because with my nursing skills I can go back and help my people and my country. I’ve seen first-hand how much is lacking in Vanuatu in this area.
“For those studying language, I say just do it as it’s a connection to your country.”
Greetings and other resources for Vanuatu Bislama language week, including email signatures and printable posters, are available on the website of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.
AUT’s 2026 AUT Pacific language video series as they are launched, watch on the AUT Pacific YouTube channel.