Young Pacific Leaders showcase a decade of growth

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Marking the 10th anniversary of the Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) initiative, the “2023 YPL Amazing Race: Alumni Voyages” is a program focused on celebrating a decade of the program and outstanding Pacific leadership. The “YPL Amazing Race: Alumni Voyages” will convene YPL alumni who have participated in previous conferences, small grants, exchange programs, and workshops since the initiative’s launch in 2013.

Confirmed YPL Alumni from Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Islands of French Polynesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, and the American-affiliated Pacific including American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Hawaii, were invited to apply.

Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka, who is one of two awardees for the American Samoa delegation for the Young Pacific Leader’s Alumni Voyage program, had her first encounter with the YPL program was in 2019 where she and (now DOC director) Petti Matila were selected as the American Samoa delegation for the YPL General Conference hosted in Suva, Fiji.

After facilitating a workshop on integrating science and culture in New Zealand, Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka, currently the principal of South Pacific Academy, posed for a photo with her daughter, the youngest “Young Pacific Leader”.  [courtesy photo]

From then, Sabrina was inspired to stay connected with the organization and the newly founded network. Using what she learned from the conference, she worked with a team to secure an award of $10,000 through the YPL Small Grants program that went towards building Finafinau — the American Samoa environmental organization that works through the youth of the territory.

Sabrina continued to represent American Samoa in 2022 at the YPL Civic Engagement Workshop in Australia, Tech Institute in New Zealand, and the Marine Sustainability Workshop in Hawaii.

Now, out of all the recipients for the past ten years, Sabrina, the founder of the nonprofit Finafinau, the principal of South Pacific Academy, and a budding author and editor of Pacific literature, is now representing American Samoa at the Alumni Voyage.

 “I am extremely grateful to be part of the Young Pacific Leaders program because they had a gargantuan impact on my life. As an alumni of YPL, I became empowered to empower others. Learning from my fellow Pasifika people inspired me to be a change maker, to be a community leader. Now, I am inspired to uplift my community, especially our youth, because it’s our turn to be mentors,” she said.

Through a series of challenges, Alumni teams will compete over the year culminating in a final in-person capstone to be held in New Zealand in November 2023.

Sabrina is part of Team #1 Muamua Log — with Mr. Karan Narayan from Fiji and Ms. Winona Lennin from New Zealand. Currently, Muamua Log is in first place for the YPL Alumni Voyage Leaderboard and they hope to secure their reign in November.

The year-long program will showcase ten years of YPL by highlighting alumni and the impact of their work as well as continuing to build networking opportunities throughout the Pacific region.