Artist realises his dream

Feature

VAKA Pole’o plans to be the first Tongan to take home a three-year graphic design degree from New Zealand this year.

But he has paid the price for the privi lege of being an overseas scholarship stu dent by selling everything he owned to

achieve his dream.

“I sold my truck, my fridge, all my instruments. Everything’s gone now just to get me to New Zealand,” says Vaka.

With a wife and five children to sup port, money is scarce in the Pole’o house hold. But Vaka and his wife cannot legally work for extra money because of tight

immigration laws. The New Zealand Overseas Development Assistance scholar ship set up through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs funds the 39-year-old’s tertiary fees and provides over $500 weekly living costs.

The weekly rent on his Papatoetoe home is $275 and after food, travel and other costs, there is little money for outside interests.

“If my kids want to do something like go on a school trip they can’t,” says Vaka.

Vaka ran his own sign-writing company in Tonga providing signs for local shops, billboards and taxis. He had a comfortable lifestyle, owning his home and growing his own food.

In New Zealand living costs are much higher and there is not the support from an extended family. "I have five brothers at home. It’s hard for me. If I need help my family is not here, so everything depends on me .”

His Tongan heritage is a common theme throughout Vaka’s design work and he often creates Tapa books. "Here in New Zealand there are very different materials, and before I came here I had never ever, used a computer.”

One of the terms of the scholarship is that Vaka must live and work in Tonga for three years after he graduates.

His wife, Fuanileva, and children have adapted well to life in New Zealand and will be sad to leave at the end of the year. ”My two oldest kids have been espe cially influenced by New Zealand life, like by the fashions and rap music. They like it here but they have accepted the fact that we have to go back.” ■

Vaka Pole’o (right) with his family