Who are we?
We are a group of friends whose families are from the Pacific and Aotearoa.

We all have different journeys and stories to tell, however, our common thread is that we were all in born in Aotearoa, we're based in Christchurch and we're proud of our unique Pacific identities.

Why did we get together?
Our group came together in April 2000 as a way of:

	exploring issues of identity and the impact on that identity as Pacific daughters born in Aotearoa;
	raising awareness, of our perspectives, in wider communities of the changing face of Pacific peoples in Aoteroa;
	supporting Pacific women in each of our own aspirations and Pacific women's aspirations in general; and
	celebrating a number of Pacific cultures.

Our group wanted to create a supportive and nurturing environment, so it works for us to have a small group of Pacific women.

What do we want to achieve?
Our vision is united Pacific communities in Aotearoa that are more responsive to the changing face of Pacific identities and where families and individuals are strengthened, healthy and prosperous.

We aim to provide:

	a supportive environment for having ours and others' voices heard; and
	forums for fostering cultural pride, building self esteem and encouraging personal development.

What do we do?
We meet as a group to discuss issues, learn about our Pacific arts and cultures and for social activities.

In 2001, we developed plans for our website and in January 2002 we launched www.pacificdaughters.org.nz. We have also contributed to mentoring programmes with young Pacific women and we're considering longer term plans such as writing a book.

We've delivered presentations at the following conferences in Christchurch:

	Pacific Waves Conference 2000
	Youth Mental Health Forum 2000
	Womens Studies Association Conference 2001
	Flaxroots Conference 2002
	Niu Waves Technology Expo 2003

Fa'afetai lava
We sincerely thank the following people / organisations for their support and assistance in establishing this Daughters of the Pacific website:

	Community Employment Group of the Department of Labour
	Zcat9 Web Design Services
	Keith Hansen Design
	Zohl de Ishtar for allowing our group to utilise the title of her book, Daughters of the Pacific, as our name: Zohl de Ishtar, 1994, Daughters of the Pacific, Spinifex Press, Melbourne. You can contact Zohl at deishtar@bigpond.com