Message in the music

ACC isn’t the name of a record label. It’s the name of the organisation that helps people in New Zealand get back on track after injury, by paying for treatment and providing all sorts of other services that help with recovery.

However, ACC may have played a part in helping kick-start the career of budding Samoan songwriters recently, through its involvement with the 2008 Polyfest held in Manukau, Auckland, during March.

For the sixth year running, ACC supported Polyfest, the festival that pits school-aged teams from different Pacifi c communities against each other in a test of song, dance and oratory skills.

As part of the competition, contestants on the Samoan stage had to write and perform a song about ACC.

“This was about us getting out and about and forming relationships with the communities we serve,” says ACC’s National Pacifi c Manager, Taulalo Fiso. “But there was another important aim – and it wasn’t about ACC making a move into the music business,” jokes Taulalo.

Instead, he says it was all about spreading the message to Pacific people about how ACC can help them if they get injured.“What better way for young people to learn about ACC than to hear it fi rst-hand from their peers, communicated through the familiar cultural mediums of song, dance and oratory?”

Thirty-five schools took part in the competition on the Samoan stage, and around 90,000 people came to Polyfest. That’s a lot of people who hopefully learned something new about ACC at the festival. And if they didn’t hear about ACC through the songs on the Samoan stage, or the ACC messages broadcast regularly on each of the other four Polyfest stages, chances are they picked up a message or two while having their hair done.

Yes, you read that right! Another initiative at Polyfest that ACC was involved with, along with NiuFM, was ‘Fale Manaia’, or ‘the house of beauty’. This saw festival-goers who correctly answered a simple quiz about ACC go into the draw to have their hair and makeup done by qualified stylists.

Not just any old stylists, mind you – as well as scissors, these stylists were also armed with information about ACC, which they shared with their ‘customers’ while they were in the chair. Draws were held hourly, so the stylists were kept busy styling - and talking - throughout the festival.

Taulalo says ACC’s activities at Polyfest were all part of a broad push to reach out to Pacific people in a more culturally relevant way. “We’re committed to serving the Pacific peoples of New Zealand,” says Taulalo, “and that means engaging them in the most effective way possible.”

As well as the main Polyfest festival, ACC also supported the Showcase performance at the Telstra Pacific Event Centre on Saturday, 29th March, where the winning school from each Polyfest stage performed.

“Polyfest has become a real highlight on the Pacific calendar,” says Taulalo, “and we’re proud to be involved with it.”

Building a Community Grapevine

What is ACC? And what does it do? Although ACC has been around for a long time, and each day helps thousands of New Zealanders who have been injured, lots of people don’t know that much about it.

In a way, this isn’t too surprising. Unless you actually get injured, there’s little reason to use ACC’s services.

But one of the concerns ACC has is that many Pacific people don’t seek help after getting injured. This means a lot of Pacific people may be missing out on all sorts of assistance they’re entitled to, that can help make their recovery smoother and easier.

Everyone in New Zealand can apply for help from ACC. It doesn’t matter if you’re working, retired, a student or on a benefit. And mostly, it doesn’t matter how your injury happens – at home, at work, on the road or on the sports field.

Because ACC wants to make sure more people know about the help it can give them, it recently signed partnerships with six Pacific communities – four in Auckland and two in Wellington.

These partnerships will help ACC spread information about its services amongst Pacific people. In other words, the partnerships will act like a community ‘grapevine’ that connects ACC with the people.

ACC’s National Pacific Manager Taulalo Fiso says it makes a lot of sense for ACC to use community organisations to help get its messages across.

“On our own, we simply don’t have the links and community networks necessary to reach everyone in the Pacific community. That’s why we’re teaming up with organisations that do.”

The communities and organisations that ACC has signed partnerships with are:

■ Au-Uso Fealofani (Samoan Methodist Churches – Northern Region Synod)
■ Malaeola Community (Samoan Catholic Churches)
■ Auckland-Manukau Tongan Methodist Parish
■ Pukapuka Community of NZ
■ Mission Choir
■ Pacific Island Women’s Project Aotearoa Inc.

So what exactly will these new partners be doing? Taulalo says ACC will deliver workshops to leaders and representatives of each partner, outlining the key messages ACC wants to share with Pacific people.

It will then be up to the partners to share these messages in the most effective way with the communities they serve.

Taulalo says the signing of the partnership agreements is a big step forwards that will help ACC’s goal of delivering better service to the Pacific communities of New Zealand.

“We want everyone to get the help they’re entitled to if they get injured,” says Taulalo. “Helping people become more informed about ACC is the first stage of ensuring this happens.”

PARTNERSHIPS SIGNED AT PASIFIKA
The setting could hardly have been better for the official signing of the partnership agreements, which took place at the Pasifika Festival at Western Springs, Auckland, in March.

“It was fitting that our relationships with our new partners kicked off in this setting, which is a true celebration of Pacific community spirit,” says Taulalo.

As well as hosting the opening night function at which the agreements were signed, ACC was also out in force during Pasifika, sharing its messages with the crowds.

“We had a marquee in five of the villages at Pasifika,” says Taulalo, “as well as slots on each of the ten village stages. It was an honour to support this tremendous occasion, and hopefully we introduced a lot of people to the services that ACC offers, too.”

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