Te Maeva Nui cancelled for 2020

This year's TeMaeva Nui cultural dance festival has been cancelled because of the coronavirus situation.
Although the country is Covid-19 free, the social distancing and ban on large gatherings made rehearsals and costume-making impossible.
So here are a couple of flash-back videos, from 2011 and 2013 as a reminder of the singing, dancing, drumming and all-round excitement.





See more on this story on the Cook Islands News website.

Rarotonga's water

Rarotonga's water issues have been around for a long time.
I've just remembered this video, published in 2011, saying back then that Rarotonga was very lucky compared to many countries.
We usually had enough water and the streams and springs were not polluted - with industrial or farming pollutants at least. Our main problems were wastage (30 to 70%!) and lack of storage.
Even in times of drought the rivers up in the mountains usually had water in them – it was just harder to get it into the reticulation system.
Government was well aware of this problem and in 2012 announced a project to refurbish the water system by:
- upgrading the intakes
- increasing storage facilities
- treating the water to make it fit to drink
- upgrading the distribution system
The hope was to have this completed by 2015/16.
China, New Zealand and the Cook Islands were to cover the costs, estimated to be about $60 million.
(More details here:
http://ici.gov.ck/sites/default/files/downloads/TMV%20Facts%20&%20News%2002.pdf)
Fast forward to 2020 and we're not there yet.
The project has been beset by problems and the cost has ballooned to $90 million.
The ring main around the island was completed but shoddy workmanship by the Chinese contractors meant that a large amount had to be repaired - by a local company. This is still going on. The intakes are on private land and some landowners are unhappy with lack of government communication about access.
And some people are complaining about the proposed system of disinfection.
There is an excellent opinion piece in Cook Islands News by Jaewynn McKay here:
http://www.cookislandsnews.com/opinion/item/75457-you-can-t-live-without-water
I am completely in favour of chlorination - it's cheap and efficient (and it will kill coronavirus as well as the other harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites present in 'pure' mountain streams).
People are entitled to oppose it but, hey guys, buy yourself a water storage tank and collect rain water.
Don't stop the rest of us having safe water delivered to our taps.

The story of Te Are Manu

Te Are Manu is the only vet clinic in the Cook Islands and it's now a busy, well-equipped place.

But it didn't start out that way.

In July 2017 we leased a building behind the Ministry of Agriculture in Arorangi.

Cook Islands Investment Corporation did a great job of cleaning and painting our new clinic.

The back yard needed clearing of discarded rubbish.

Volunteers and board members put together donated shelves and sanded and painted second-hand cupboards and tables.

We also had an operating table and trolleys to be assembled.

Early volunteer vets and vet nurses organised the supplies that were now coming in.

The Te Are Manu sign on the main road showed we were getting ready for business.

Donated vet supplies were now arriving from clinics overseas, mainly in New Zealand.

A washing machine, dryer and fridge were donated by previous Rarotonga residents now living in New Zealand.

Although we weren't yet officially open we had our first furry patient.

Pinot Gris came along for a check up and de-flea.

On 13 October 2017 we had our official opening ...

and after a rousing imene tuki, board chairman Trish Barton and board members asked Tinomana Ariki, the ariki of Puaikura, and Taamo Heather, the landowner representative, to cut the ei.

We were now officially up and running.

The Aronga Mana of Puaikura nominated Te Are Manu for a Village Pride award.

We put our $1500 prize towards buying a van for the clinic.

The back of the room was organised into an office space and a work space.

The main purpose of our clinic is to look after sick animals

and our operating theatre was well-set up for this.

Many generous vet clinics overseas have given us equipment that's surplus to their needs.

Our volunteer vets and vet nurses make full use of the theatre.

Our lovely new operating theatre was originally set up by CareVet

for the SPCA dog de-sexing team and is now fully functional.

Dr Sean Owens and Dr Jessica Sanchez from the University of California at Davis have set up a diagnostic lab to help detect parasites in animals.

Te Are Manu doesn't work in a vacuum.

We assisted Aitutaki Vet Trek, an American group, including two vets and two vet nurses, travelling to Aitutaki for a cat de-sexing programme. They've gone two years in a row, 2018 and 2019.

We also work closely with the Cook Islands SPCA – Te Are Manu is the vet clinical side and SPCA is the animal rescue and shelter side.

Whenever we have enough volunteers Te Are Manu sets up a stall at the Saturday morning market.

This means people can meet our volunteers and learn about our services.

And we bring along kittens and Sonny the clinic dog - always popular, especially with children.

The yard at the back of the clinic has always been a place for our dogs to play and especially clinic dog Sonny who mentors young pups spending the day with us.

In July 2018 we started building a kennel for our recovering animals – cats as well as dogs – to make things less stressful (and smelly) for everybody.

The kennel is now in use and can be accessed directly from the new operating theatre.

We couldn't do all this without our volunteers.

The vets and vet nurses come from all over the world, mainly New Zealand and Australia but we've also had people from England, Ireland, all parts of Europe, the United States and even Singapore. It's a real united nations.

They are all dedicated professionals willing to donate their time and expertise to help our furry friends here in the Cook Islands.

Meitaki maata – thank you all very much.