Flaxmere: Cook Islander’s second home
August 2022
Flaxmere is young Cook Islands’ policeman Ricky Opo’s second home – and he is dead keen to get back for a visit.
He is especially keen to visit his old school Flaxmere College, to see all of the changes it has undergone since he left Flaxmere three years ago to train as a policeman in the Cook Islands.
Ricky credits the college for his position today – a warranted constable at age 23 – especially given when he arrived in Flaxmere aged 13 he did not speak a word of English.
“It was pretty hard; I didn’t know what was going on. When I first got there, sometimes teachers would talk to me or ask me a question and I didn’t know what they were saying, so I’d just nod and smile.”
But within a very short time, the school’s ESOL class had his English up to spec, and by Year 12 he had completed all three NCEA levels, a year ahead of almost all of his peers.
He says credit for that must also go to the school on his home island of Pukapuka (his first home ahead of Flaxmere), which provided him with an excellent education from years 1-8, although in the Pukapukan language. “It’s a really good school; all of the kids that come over to Rarotonga for college do really well too.”
Ricky landed up in Flaxmere almost by accident. His parents took Ricky and his six siblings on a two-week holiday from Pukapuka to New Zealand to visit family. While there, his mum Ngereteina Opo, made the decision that she and the children would remain in Flaxmere for the children’s schooling. Dad, Brian Opo, returned to his job as sole police officer on Pukepuka.
Ricky remembers the move being quite a culture shock. Pukapuka is very remote, some 1150 kilometres north west of Rarotonga, with a population of about 400. There is just one flight between the two areas every six weeks, and intermittent ship visits. So Flaxmere and wider Hawke’s Bay felt hugely different – size, people, language, climate . . . pretty much everything.
What made it work for him was being surrounded by family, the staff at Flaxmere College, and making some great mates.
“I loved that college . . . I still love that college. All of the teachers were so supportive and friendly, they made me feel very welcome and helped me in any way they could. That was not just for me though; they were like that for everyone.”
The principal during his time at the college, Louise Anaru, gets special mention. “She was amazing; Miss Anaru was with me every step of the way.
“I want to say thank you to all of the teachers and students who helped through my years at Flaxmere College, I really enjoyed by time there.”
Now he is back in the Cook Islands, on Rarotonga, and is just over two years into his police career.
“Growing up as a kid, I always wanted a job that meant I could help people, which is why I took the opportunity to follow in my dad’s footsteps. I knew that police officers do lots to protect and help our people.”
He is taking his career one step at a time, but he does have ambition. “My dad wants me to get higher than his rank, senior constable, so that means I want to get to sergeant.”
Given he learnt English from scratch in just a few months, went on to pass his NCEA levels with a year to spare, and speaks three languages (Pukapukan, Cook Islands Maori and English), no-one will be surprised if he goes much further than that.
In the meantime, he has one very important short-term goal: To take a holiday in Flaxmere at the end of this year. He will catch up with all of the mates he made at college that he stays in contact with via social media, and spend time with family. High on the list is visiting the college. “I really want to see the new buildings as well as the teachers. They were talking about the rebuild when I was there – I’m so happy they’ve been able to do it; even if it wasn’t while I was still there.”
He says he will never forget the Flax school model:
F: Focus on learning
L: Lead by example
A: Act with respect
X: Excel in all we do
Anything else he will do while back in his second home for a bit? “Maybe watch some rugby. When I moved back to Rarotonga and couldn’t just turn the TV on and watch rugby I was a real sook about it for a while. You get used to it though; now I just check the scores on social media – that works.”
