Tufui Kama (second from left, front row) with friends and relatives who helped to clean up the streets of Ōtāhuhu. Photo / Supplied
A group of proud Tongan community members have come together to clean up the mess left from Mate Ma'a Tonga parade celebrations in Auckland at the weekend.
The Tongan rugby league team took on the Kiwis at Mt Smart Stadium, on Saturday night, with a sold-out crowd of 27,000 fans.
Despite losing to the Kiwis, Tongan fans came together to support their team on the streets of Ōtāhuhu in South Auckland.
Tongan business owner and licensed immigration advisor, Tufui Kama, received a phone call yesterday morning from a niece who had travelled through the area and said to her: "Aunty, I think we need to do a clean-up because there's so much rubbish here."
Kama had also seen online posts that condemned the Saturday night parade celebrations for the mess left behind.
"I felt really bad as a Tongan that we made the mess and I think the least we can do is clean up," she said.
Yesterday morning, she headed to Ōtāhuhu with her husband, niece, other family members and friends from church.
"There were no more than 15 of us, but what we were doing was representing the wider Tongan community."
Kama also put the call out on social media about cleaning up Ōtāhuhu that day and community members from around the city responded.
"An old man with grandchildren drove all the way from Henderson and there were families that saw my post," she said.
"I knew immediately that if I posted something, then people would come to Ōtāhuhu right away."
Kama and those who turned up divided the streets among themselves. The clean-up was complete in about two hours - just in time for church.
"God is about service - serving others. I felt because it was a Sunday, what we did was also a service for God."
Kama said she is a firm believer in the idiom "just do it" - which is why she and others moved to clean up, rather than blaming whoever was responsible.
"I wanted to thank the people of Ōtāhuhu for understanding us Tongans celebrating who we are and our team.
"I wanted them to know that we did play a part. We came and cleaned up, took away the beer bottles and the rubbish that we left."
The rubbish bags collected were due to be taken to the local dump today.
