LocationsA Grandmother’s Fret and a Common Hope for Tuvalu's future
November 1, 2025
Miliama Lupe of Funafala, Tuvalu. Her story reflects the strength and continuity of communities adapting to climate change with hope and partnership.
When we first met Miliama Lupe, she was sitting with a group of women in the community hall at Funafala, speaking softly as the afternoon light slipped through open beams. At 71, her voice carries both the calm of age and the quiet certainty of someone deeply rooted in her land.
“We came here in 2019,” she said. “Before COVID. At that time there were only a few families here.” “But then when the pandemic arrived, more people returned, reminding us that our roots are here.”
Funafala is one of Funafuti’s 30 outer islets, a 40-minute boat ride away from Tuvalu’s capital atoll. Only eight families live there, life governed by the tide: mornings are for fishing; afternoons are spent on plots of small gardens; and nights are for talking under the open sky.
Their community hall, also serving as a makeshift kindergarten, had been set up for our arrival that day. The lunch spread was laid out, children peeked from doorways, and a handful of women sat waiting to greet the team from the UNDP Pacific Office, led by Resident Representative Munkhtuya Altangerel.
The visit was all part of the UNDP mission to Tuvalu, on occasion of completion of the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project Phase 2 (TCAP 1A), a groundbreaking initiative in the region wherein eight hectares of new land have been reclaimed and raised on Fogafale, designed to protect Tuvalu’s communities from rising sea levels and to remain above projected sea level rise beyond 2100.
But beyond the ceremony, the journey to Funafala was about hearing stories like Miliama’s and the everyday realities behind Tuvalu’s climate resilience
As we walked around the island, I saw signs of support and progress such as water tanks near the houses, solar panels that have been put up, and also the Wonderful Garden Funafala project where vegetables were grown and sent back to the main island. They were low-key, but indicative of a degree of partnerships reaching even the far reaches of the Pacific.
“I like to be here,” says Miliama, simply. “We have to find a way of enjoying the rest of our time here.”
In the years before she retired, Miliama was the Manager of the Tuvalu’s Women’s Craft Centre, where generation after generation of women turned skill into livelihood and pride.
A group that she helped decades ago, long before the younger members of today’s council is, she says with affection, the Tuvalu National Council of Women.
Munkhtuya Altangerel, UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji Resident Representative, with Miliama during the visit to Funafala.
There is a mix of nostalgia and satisfaction in her voice. It’s a reflection of a generation that has quietly laid the groundwork for Tuvalu’s progress, through community, cooperation and caring. When the conversation turns to climate change, her tight smile softens.
“A little bit scared,” she admits. “Not for myself, but for my kids, my grandkids. I worry about what will happen to them if Tuvalu really goes under the sea.”
But she also carries hope, one grounded not only in faith, but in the power of partnership.
“It’s good that countries are helping Tuvalu,” she says. “We can’t do it alone and we really need to work together.”
It’s a sentiment that reflects Tuvalu’s enduring belief in fesoasoani or helping one another, a spirit that now extends across the region through partnerships with countries and institutions committed to safeguarding Tuvalu’s future.
Miliama has watched Tuvalu change, from the days of limited aid to now, when partners like Australia and New Zealand have stepped up their support. “Before, when we separated from the colony, we received only little assistance,” she recalls. “But I was really glad when I heard the news that Australia is now helping Tuvalu. It made me feel so happy.”
Yet, even with opportunities to move abroad through new migration schemes with the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Treaty, Miliama remains deeply attached to her home.
“We didn’t apply,” she says of the visa programmes. “Because we love our home.”
Her children, even nephews and nieces work abroad now, sending support when they can. But her peace, she says, comes from being here, in the land and sea that raised her. “When you’re 71, you have peace of mind,” she says with a laugh. “I feel peaceful.”
In Funafala, every path tells a story of the people who returned when the world shut down, of children who visit during school holidays, of women who once wove mats that carried the nation’s identity.
And in the middle of it all, there is Miliama, a voice of grace and continuity in a changing climate. Her resilience is a reminder that adaptation in the Pacific is not only about reclaiming land. It is also about reclaiming the human story of partnership, belonging, and the hope that no matter how the tides turn, Tuvalu’s spirit will endure.
“We can’t do it alone,” Miliama says softly.
“We can only help each other."
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