When Mika Sela saw New Caledonia's glaringly empty hale at the Hawaʻi Convention Center, the Fiji delegate took his kava bowl and sat alone.
The Indigenous Kanaks of the French territory were forced to pull out at the last minute from the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture due to deadly unrest. The violent protests began when France’s parliament took up changes to New Caledonia’s constitution regarding voting rights.
But New Caledonia's absence from the festival hasn't gone unnoticed.
"You feel sad when you see that because when you come through, you can see all these hale, and they're all beautifully decorated as they should be," Sela said. "But there, they (New Caledonia) need our support."
Sela's act of solidarity has drawn other Pacific Islanders from Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia to New Caledonia's hale.
The once empty hale is now adorned with gifts, artwork and people who drank kava while they sang in harmony.
"It's a simple act of being present," Sela said. "You don't want visitors to come and say there's nothing here for New Caledonia because of the hard time they're facing right now. I think all the Pacific countries have been through these hard times."
Indigenous Pacific Islanders have long fought for the revitalization of their culture and language after foreign powers colonized many regions of the Pacific. Delegates from the 26 Pacific nations emphasized the struggles of New Caledonia.
In the corner of New Caledonia's hale, Kaitlin Ngeremokt McManus painted a canvas representing the unity of the Pacific Islands.
The artwork encompasses four hands connected by roots, symbolizing the rootedness and value of Pacific Island culture. The roots form the circle of a compass with a star in the center. McManus said it's a navigation chart to honor the legacy of Pacific Islander navigators.
"Our ancestors were navigators," she said. "They sailed the ocean that connects us."
McManus, a Chamorro and Palauan artist of Guam, recruited other Pacific Islanders to add their motifs to the canvas.
"We were sad, but we were grateful that we're here with so many people to unify and so many people who are just like us and are in solidarity with those who are oppressed," she said.
There are two days left until FestPAC ends, and Sela said he plans to occupy New Caldedonia's hale every day until the end of the festival.
He said the unity of the Pacific Islands for New Caledonia was the event's highlight.
On a recent Tuesday, delegates from all three regions of the Pacific Ocean came together to sing. Sela said this is "a Pacific notion of presence."
"I realized that it's now a space of healing. It's now a space of community and family," he said. "We didn't plan to go this way. So it's really interesting to observe this and how it's unfolding."
