White Sunday at Mangere PIC...

 If you happened to be in Auckland yesterday and wondered why there were a lot of children dressed up in white around churches Pasifika or Samoan churches you would have just witnessed a small snapshot of a Samoan white Sunday also known as 'Lotu Tamaiti' (Church for children) which is an annual event on the second Sunday of October.

As I understand it, from what I've learnt from my parents and read, some missionaries to Samoa thought that this would be an event that would bring children to the forefront, for a day, in which children would recite bible verses, sing songs and perform plays in their churches in front of their congregations. This would then be followed by a big family feast for the children.

My parents described this day as being like Christmas day for them as each child could expect to get new white clothes for church and after reciting their part in the play or verses they could expect a family feast in their honour (of course there would be the added pressure for them to perform).

For my family, our annual White Sunday was spent at my birth church of Mangere PIC (Pacific Islanders Presbyterian church) and my children joined the many who dressed in white (with black) and recited their bibles verses, sang songs or shared a creative dance and took part in their age groups play. Afterwards, the celebrations continued with a big feast lead by the children.

This is the village setting that I was brought up in from the vision that was founded upon Bob Challis' vision, as the only missionary from the then London Missionary Society (LMS) whom I'd ever met and his legacy lives on having founded the vision of many PIC churches across Auckland. It was the backdrop from which I wrote my first plays and will continue to expand on ...