E nga rau rangatira mā, e huihui mai nei I tenei raa, tēnei aku mihi mahana ki a koutou. Kia ora mai tātou katoa.
I particularly acknowledge
- Members of the Diplomatic Corps
- Dana McDiarmid, Chair of the VSA Council
- Simon Trotter, Council Deputy Chair
- Kate Wareham, Chief Executive, VSA
- Michelle Evans, Deputy Chief Executive
- Chloe Oldfield, Council Member
- Mike Hollings, VSA Kaumatua, and
- VSA life members here tonight
Thank you all for coming to Government House this evening. It’s a privilege to be Patron of Volunteer Service Abroad, and I very much welcome this opportunity to acknowledge your invaluable mahi in the Pacific region and beyond.
The founding President of VSA, Sir Ed Hillary, explained why he was motivated to work in the development space when he said:
If people have ‘plenty’ – more than enough – and someone else has nothing – then you should do something about it.
For him – and for VSA – ‘doing something about it’ did not involve a simple transfer of wealth. Rather, it was about working together in a spirit of partnership and empowerment so that they are able to do for themselves. This enabling is aptly expressed in the whakatauki: Ma te huruhuru ke rere te manu – which translates as ‘Adorn the bird with feathers, so it may soar’.
The people of Aotearoa New Zealand are citizens of a region, linked across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa through shared history, shared whakapapa, our resident Pacific Island communities, and our sense of shared destiny.
Whenever I spend time with Pacific communities – both within New Zealand – or during my official visits to Pacific Island nations – I feel a very strong sense of this whanaungatanga. There is a mutual recognition of our cultural connections – and our shared descent from the great Pacific navigators who crossed vast tracts of ocean to establish communities – from Hawai’i in the north – to Aotearoa in the South – and Rapanui in the East. Sometimes, there are also resonances of our colonial past and emerging future.
To date, my State Visits have included the Cook Islands, Niue and Samoa, where I was delighted to host a reception celebrating the 60th birthday of VSA. Over the next several months, I will also visit the Kingdom of Tonga and the realm country of Tokelau, transiting through Samoa.
Across the Pacific region, New Zealand volunteers are helping to meet our responsibilities towards our extended whanau, by sharing expertise that will help communities to thrive.
Sir Ed would be so proud to see what VSA and your partners have achieved across the wider Pacific since 1962 – and the sheer breadth of your current work – from business, to health, to education and environmental initiatives to preserve our natural world – including the largest Ocean.
He could not have foreseen the daunting challenges you’ve had to deal with – including a global pandemic, the impacts of climate change, volatile geopolitics, and uncertainty around international aid programmes.
In such a rapidly changing world, I appreciate how nimble you have had to be in order to continue supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This must be so challenging. Yet in many ways, your work is more important than ever.
New Zealand is blessed with a strong voluntary sector, but not everyone is up to the challenge of leaving friends, family and home to live and work overseas.
To the VSA volunteers here this evening, thank you for rising to that challenge, and devoting your time, energy and expertise to assist our Pacific partners in working towards their development goals. You are worthy ambassadors for the VSA ethos – and for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Sir Ed often said that establishing schools and hospitals in Nepal was more satisfying than reaching the summit of Mt Everest. I expect the experience of working with people to transform lives and communities has been equally transformative for VSA volunteers.
Tonight, I want to acknowledge everyone who helps make VSA programmes possible: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; other supporters and funders; partner organisations, staff and volunteers; and of course, the families who support volunteers in taking up their service.
In 1992, when Nelson Mandela spoke to global leaders at Davos, he called on the nations of the world to work together in ‘a global offensive for development, prosperity and human survival’.
Mandela believed such efforts should be driven by a sense of basic humanity – but also by ‘enlightened self-interest’ – because a more equitable and just world would deliver greater stability and lasting peace.
At its heart, VSA affirms his belief that it’s in the interests of all parties when we fulfil our responsibilities as global citizens – by upholding the mana of our fellow human beings – and thereby empower them to thrive on their own terms.
Thank you, on behalf of all New Zealanders, for all that you do, and I wish you all the very best as you embark on the next stage of the VSA journey of partnership and empowerment in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
I now invite Dana MacDiarmid to speak.