Teaming up with Mr Tee of Tee Thrive, the celebration launched in Māngere, with the journey to Porirua totalling an 810km cycle.
One of the Leads for USO Bike Ride, Chris Te’o MNZM, says the celebration was an opportunity to acknowledge the resilience of our communities.
“We planned to do a cycle in 2020 but due to Covid, we had to delay it; when we look at what our people went through during the pandemic, we wanted to look at how we could provide some inspiration to our community who have supported us for a long time.
We came up with the Polynesian Cycling Celebration as a way to celebrate our people, our culture, our languages and the resilience of our communities.”
Tofilau Talalelei Taufale also leads USO Bike Ride and for him, the journey was about highlighting the importance of Pacific voices in regards to cycling.
“There’s a growth in cycling opportunities across Aotearoa but an absence of Pacific voices in those tables. The communities we stopped at along the way were excited to have us because it provided a vehicle to share these messages with their communities.
We can’t do this alone. We have to provide a united front to our people in the space of cycling and this was an opportunity for us to come together and promote the growth of cycling in our communities.”
Lead for Tee Thrive, Teau Aiturau (Mr Tee), appreciated partnering with USO Bike Ride to launch the celebration at the Māngere Community Bike Hub.
“Launching from Māngere was awesome and seeing the community and the local school participate to celebrate cycling was fantastic.
The partnership with USO Bike Ride was an opportunity for us to connect with our community and encourage our Pasifika to give cycling a go and highlight it as a safe mode of transportation.”
For Mr Te’o, he emphasised how uplifted they all felt by the welcoming nature of our communities.
“No matter how tired we were, our communities always uplifted us. They treated us with so much love and respect. We always say at USO, it’s not just about the biking, it’s about connecting with and to our communities.”
Tofilau echoes these sentiments and says there was always a sense of respect from people in the community when they were out cycling.
“Wherever we cycled, people would give way to us or stop and give us a wave. But these are the values that are normal for us as Pacific communities and is what we bring to Aotearoa.
The way we celebrate and acknowledge each other in a respectful manner is a lesson we can teach to the rest of our society.”
Date: Saturday 26 November 2022
#PasifikaFutures #PFLFamily
[Photos via USO Bike Ride Facebook]