Te Kinakina: E Ngara i te Ngari: Remember where you come from, Stories from Cook Islanders in Tokoroa

Twelve Cook Island women share stories about how their families came to live in Tokoroa and subsequent events in their own lives here. In doing so we see how important the Cook Island community is to Waikato, and to Aotearoa as a whole. The Cook Islands consist of 15 islands, as represented by the 15 stars on the nation’s flag. Tokoroa is one of the largest Cook Islands towns anywhere in the world, including in the islands themselves. Hence, Tokoroa is often called ‘the sixteenth star’. This book came about from a communal creative writing project hosted by the South Waikato Pacific Island Community Services in Tokoroa, led by Vaughan Rapatahana, with support from the Ministry of Education Te Tahuhu o Te Matauranga and Read NZ Te Pou Muramura as part of the Writers in Communities programme.