Mangere - Otahuhu Board candidate... Faalavaau Helen Tau'au-Filisi

Putting my name forward in the upcoming Mangere - Otahuhu Board nominations was no easy decision as I was first approached by members of one of the main political parties, in 2000, to consider being nominated into the then Mangere local Board elections but as I was getting ready for our wedding the following year, I didn't think it fair to bring this into a new marriage and declined at that stage but left it in the back-burner to consider for some future time.

It wasn't until the last round of elections, some 3 - 4 years ago, that I re-considered but as I had already committed to 3 school Boards having been elected into all 3 (although one was without an election and we automatically got in with the right amount of candidates), I thought it best not to add another Board onto my already burgeoning portfolios. Two of those schools were in Mangere (my former high school and a local primary school that my children were attending at the time) and a school across the Mangere Bridge.

But it was something that my dad and I had talked about growing up in being a spokesperson for our family/community as he is a fine orator (I am not as skilled as he) and so I decided this time round to honour his wishes and to put my name into the mix (in the 11th hour) and just made the cut off time 2 minutes before nominations were closed.

Why leave it last minute you might ask? it is due to the competitive nature of the elections of which I am not in favour of. I have always been competitive within myself to always see how far I can go as a high school student, University student, Body building (back in the day as a Uni student) in my work, often pushing the boundaries to see how far I can go and now in my work as a self-publishing author producing 5 books in a year for the last two years with future plans for the same. 

And now I'm encouraging my students to do well, my children too for their future successes as it is something that I firmly believe and the reason for this blog is to allow individuals to have access to my writings as a local Mangere resident writing for a global audience.

Therefore you won't see me campaigning on streets and putting my face out on placards and billboards, it's just not me but I'm happy to blog, to talk to people and answer questions and will be discussing some of my thoughts and ideas on the process in the coming days and even post election next two weeks ...