New year brings Niue to Nu-Way

Macon has so many “sister cities” it could qualify as a sorority.

We have siblings scattered from Kurobe, Japan, to Elmina, Ghana, to Ulyanovsk, Russia, to Macon, France.

It’s about time we have “sister island,’’ too. I’ve got the perfect candidate.

Niue.

Niue is a pint-sized island in the South Pacific. It has limestone cliffs, sparkling emerald waters and is one of the largest coral islands in the world.

Even if there was such a thing as a sister island program, you might wonder about the eligibility of landlocked Macon.

We would have to bend the rules, of course. We can claim to be surrounded by multiple bodies of water. We have a river to the east, a couple of lakes to the north and west, a swamp to the south, various creeks and swimming pools.

If N-I-U-E was a four-letter clue on “Wheel of Fortune,’’ we would have to buy plenty of vowels from Vanna White. If you were to ask any of the island natives how to pronounce it, it would bring a smile to your face.

This is how they say it: “Nu-Way.’’

And that’s where we come in.

Ian Latham is honorary consul general of New Zealand, which represents Niue in its diplomatic relations. On Saturday, Latham was the special guest for “Niue Island Day” at the Nu-Way in Mercer Village.

The tiny island is more than 9,000 miles away, so this event gave new meaning to Nu-Way’s slogan: “I’d Go a Long Way for a Nu-Way.”

Even Saturday’s icy roads to the north couldn’t stop Latham from traveling from his Atlanta office for some of the restaurant’s “famous flaky ice.’’ Community leaders and invited guests were there to break buns at the century-old hot dog establishment.

It was a light-hearted day for international relations. A Niue flag flew in the front window. Coincidentally — or perhaps not — its colors are yellow, blue and red … the same as Nu-Way.

This all came about through the “citizen diplomacy” of Alexander Smith, a junior at Stratford Academy, with the encouragement of his father, Christopher, a Macon attorney.

For Alex, this was not a high school geography assignment but rather a curiosity about the world. That’s refreshing to see in a young person.

He gets plenty of that from his dad. Chris is a global kind of guy. His mother, Teresa, a well-known Macon artist, is a former Miss Alaska. His wife, Lyubena, is a native of Bulgaria. And, for the past 10 years, Chris has served as honorary consul of Denmark. Last February, he was knighted by Queen Margrethe for his loyal service to the Danish government.

A few months ago, Alex became interested in countries governed by a premier, which is similar to a prime minister.

In his research, he came across the name of Niue Premier Toke Talagi. The tiny island has about 2,000 residents, most of them of Polynesian descent. It was discovered by the notorious Capt. Cook, and is located about 750 miles east of Fiji and 300 miles south of American Samoa.

Alex found a website with a tourism video. It touted the island’s natural beauty, unique fauna and reputation for deep-sea fishing and whale watching.

The word “Niue” means “behold the coconut.” It is one of the smallest independent nations in the world and is working toward becoming fully organic. In 2003, Niue became the first country to offer free wireless internet to all its citizens.

“We originally thought it was pronounced ‘Nu’ because of the spelling,’’ said Alex. “We were watching the video, and the lady said ‘Nu-Way.’ We just looked at each other and laughed.’’

Chris was able to purchase several Niue flags from the Amazon website. He contacted Nu-Way owners Jim Cacavias and Spyros Dermatas about setting up a special day.

Alex later asked me to sign a copy of my Nu-Way book, “There Is More Than One Way to Spell Wiener” to the citizens of Niue. He mailed the book, along with a formal letter, requesting a photograph of the premier (who is currently hospitalized) holding it during a session of parliament. (I guess we now know there is more than one way to spell Nu-Way.)

“There’s even a restaurant there called The Crazy Uga,’’ said Chris. “But it doesn’t mean our beloved Bulldogs. It’s the name for a coconut crab.’’

Alex said when he reached out to the folks in Niue, he understood there were no guarantees they would reach back.

“At first, we thought it would just be fun to send a message,’’ he said. “We were looking for any sort of connection at all. My dad likes to use the word ‘synergy.’ ’’

“When you do something like this, it’s kind of like throwing a rock in a pond,’’ said Chris. “You never know what kind of ripple effect it will have.’’

Latham praised Alex for his initiative.

“It was unlikely and unexpected, but when you think about it, why not?” he said. “These are the kinds of things that stick. They’re important. They make the world a smaller place.’’

I propose we adopt a sister island. Maybe we’ve found our girl.

Said Chris: “It’s always good to have friends from a beautiful tropical island.’’

This story was originally published January 7, 2017 at 4:06 PM with the headline "New year brings Niue to Nu-Way."