Tongan music teacher talks brass band tours and climate activism

Tongan teacher Mia Kami, a former activist and singer-songwriter, opens up her students' minds through overseas music tours.

Kami has travelled to Aotearoa this week with the Tupou College brass band, for the Pacific Festival of Brass at the NZ National Brass Band Championships.

The Championships date back to 1880. Tupou College is the youngest band to qualify and compete in the B grade.

"A lot of these kids have never travelled. It's just a beautiful experience, seeing them in a completely different environment."

She says it's been a treat, watching their faces light up from the moment they boarded the flight over to New Zealand.

"I overheard one of the boys, he was sitting next to the window seat. And he looked out and he was like, 'Oh, my gosh, it's the wing of the plane'," Kami said.

Although she is taking a temporary break from activism to work in education, environmentalism is still close to Kami's heart.

In 2018 she wrote the song "Rooted" to be used for an anti-logging campaign in Papua New Guinea. Although the song wasn't picked up by that campaign it prominently featured at the 'Our Oceans Conference' in Palau.

Kami describes it as an "anthem of resilience and this anthem of hope."

"We're here to stay like you're not moving us like you can try and do this to our, our people, our land, our oceans, but at the end of the day, we're not going anywhere," she said.

Kami encourages young people to fight for change, and says her song was to honour those who struggle to protect the environment.

"The work that they're doing is really important and they deserve to know that."

Kami said preparations are underway for the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga, in August. She has high hopes tangible action will be seen when Pacific leaders gather for their annual meeting.

"I'm just hoping that whatever comes after is productive and effective, and centres on the up-and-coming generation," she said.