Avengers Endgame - the final? ...

Last weekend I watched the much-anticipated movie 'Avengers Endgame' with my family who are avid fans of the movie franchise with its 22 movies to date in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This series of American superheroes are based on the comic Marvel series that predates the movie franchise.

Just in case you're not aware of this billion dollar earning franchise, they gave us the Superhero characters such as Spiderman, Ironman, Thor, Captain America etc. and the female superhero characters of Black Widow, Captain Marvel etc.

There'll be no spoiler alerts in this blog but suffice to say that it was a fitting end to the movies series (although I hear that there may still be some more in the making) and quite unexpected in the ending with much to consider in the three-hour long movie finale.

One of the interesting considerations, for me, was the protagonist's claim of saying "I am" which is considered a biblical reference to saying that he was God as he considers his victory. However, when things don't quite go as he had wanted it to go, his nemesis says the same but the consequences are different.

It definitely had a nostalgic feeling to the movie with references to past movies and characters, and so for those who weren't aware of those connections then the final movie may not be as meaningful unless you knew the relationships that were forged in prior movies.

Enough said, this Marvel superhero series reminds us that although there are no intergalactic superheroes (that we are aware of) in reality we can be those superheroes in the lives of those who count most to us by making those decisions that count for our families, in caring enough to call out bullies etc and working as a team to make things happen for the greater good. That's what I learnt from this movie series. Over and out...

Life Conference 2019

This is the second year that our family will be attending the Annual Life conference which started last night from 23 - 26 April 2019 with the theme or focus on Here - Now.

This time it's being held in our new Central campus with Masterclasses spread out over the city with some at Auckland Boys Grammar school, at the different church rooms and other venues close by.

I'm really encouraged with the different conference venues for Adventures kids which has a primary and preschool programme and also an Epic teens conference with a no parents allowed policy (ha ha).

There are four Masterclasses focus as: church, community, business, and kingdom. Last year I attended the community Masterclasses with my beloved and learned a lot and so decided to attend this year again although I may be able to skip into some other Masterclasses as well.

I think the neat thing about this conference is that last night we were reminded about focussing on the Here - Now in understanding that we can learn from our yesterdays and anticipate our tomorrows but that what counts is what we're doing Here and Now. I

n fact, that was the message last night by our Senior Pastor Paul de Jong who has done some miraculous things in having our campuses realigned and relocated in Central and in South Auckland with so many volunteers and donors making it happen. A truly blessed vision for the city and the nation.

I'm looking forward to the messages over the next couple of days in helping me to realign the things that I need to do with the purposes before me. Family, church family, the books, studies, work, creativity etc. all need to align with God's purpose for me with more to come ...

Celebrating Easter ...

Concert at Life Central with Kim Walker-Smith (Easter Friday night)

 Our Easter holiday celebrations were quite special in starting at our local Life church on Thursday night with "The Watch" reflective space and on Easter Friday we watched a "Jesus" movie as a family during the day and at night we attended a celebration concert at our Life Central campus with Kim Walker-Smith, an American Christian singer/songwriter and worship leader with a powerful voice.

On Saturday we rested, for me as an observation of the Jewish Sabbath and then yesterday we attended our morning service at Life South church with Easter messages about a man called Jesus (God, the son in human form) creating the most significant event in Earth's history of living, dying, resurrecting and then his transfiguration into heaven.

After the service, we also were served with cute Easter eggs and morning tea with Easter hot crossed buns and it certainly had a celebratory feeling with all the messages about how Jesus' life story gives us hope that there is life after death and hope for a better tomorrow.

This week we also have our Life Conference 2019 event from 23 - 26 April of which we as a family attended last year and decided to pay in advance a year ahead (early bird special) to attend again this year as a family with an extra ticket for a friend.

This year, the event will be hosted at our Life Central campus and am looking forward to attending the 3 days and a 4th evening event with many other people arriving from national and international communities. Time worth spending and learning ...

"The Watch" Easter reflections ...

Last night I attended our annual Easter reflective evening at our local Life church in South Auckland, called "The Watch" with my family.

Last year was the first year that I attended and enjoyed it so much that we decided to attend it again, as a family, on the Eve of Easter.

It's a time that individuals, couples, families and groups can come together to church and reflect at different stations about the true meaning of Easter.

In my younger days, I had a Catholic friend who introduced me to the 'stations of the cross' one Easter where we attended a church which had several visual images in various areas around the church that depicted the different stages of the Easter story and the journey that Jesus took on his last days on earth.

For myself as a Christian, it's about putting aside some time to consider or reconsider the importance of the Christian faith in my life, of seeking a time of quietness and solace in re-engaging with the reasons for why Easter is special to me. Quite apart from the easter bunnies and easter eggs etc. it's a time to reconnect with a God who sacrificed His life for ours.

The contemplative evening that we attended last night had only three areas named as: Salvation, Communion and Prayer and as we walked into the space, soothing music welcomes us in, we were each given a card with the details of each station and thoughts to reflect on as we moved to different areas for reflection.

At the Salvation area, in a seated area, we were encouraged (through the card) to consider the time that we first made that decision to become born-again Christians, the lessons and blessings that we had learnt since that time and where we were now. On the card, we were able to write down our reflective thoughts about this which brought back many memories for me in my faith journey.

At the next station, I moved into the communion space with our youngest and read out the notes, shared a prayer and then eat a small piece of bread and drank from the small communion cup. It was a symbolic reminder of Jesus body that was broken on the cross for us and His blood that was sacrificed for us.

We then moved into the prayer space where one could pray individually, with others or one could ask for prayer from leaders who were stationed there to support. Again, it was a beautiful place to contemplate and consider where my life's journey had taken me and it allowed me time to commune with my saviour.

Upon leaving, I felt refreshed in my faith and renewed in the reminder for the real reason for the season, the transformative impact that the Easter story has had in my life, in the world throughout history and for generations to come ...

Pasifika Debate: Auckland is the best place for Pasifika ...

Today I attended a Pasifika live debate co-hosted by the Auckland City Council Development and Safety Committee and the Pacific Peoples Panel that I'm privileged to be a member of.

It was held at the Western Springs Community Hall and started at 10.30 am with many interested parties in attendance.

The moot or topic of debate was: (that) Auckland is the best place for Pasifika people to live and there were six people in the panel who argued for and against the statement.

The areas that the debaters were asked to focus their discussions on were three of the topic titles of the Auckland City Councils 10 year plan of: affordable housing, belonging and

It was really interesting because there were a mix of views on the affirmative (agreeing) team: a Fijian Indian economist who had argued that affordable housing posed an opportunity for Auckland Council to look at different models of making this possible (as in his authored book); his Cook Islands team debater discussed how her grandfather saw opportunities of living in various well to do suburbs giving his two granddaughters the opportunities to go to higher decile schools; and the final speaker was a seasoned Samoan debater who was able to tell her story of living in South Auckland and going to University despite many adversities. She discussed many neat things about living in Auckland from a strengths-based basis and that the adversities built resilience within our communities.

The negative team's first speaker is Samoan and a member of our Pacific Panel and spoke about how difficult it was to buy a house in Auckland although he was an accountant and that it was the opportunity for him to go to Switzerland that gave him the opportunity to buy a house. He also had a lot of stats that demonstrated that Pasifika people were struggling with gaining affordable housing; the second speaker was Fijian and further added about the difficulties that Pasifika people would continue to have in living in Auckland and the final speaker was Samoan and discussed that there were many different opportunities outside of Auckland like going to University in Otago and living overseas that provided other places that Pasifika people were moving too as a result of Auckland no longer being a viable place for affordable housing.

The adjudicator or rather the chair of debate was of Samoan descent a speaker of te reo Maori (language) and is a seasoned speaker and debater who was formerly a Pacific Panel member but took the opportunity to work within Auckland Council. He kept the audience laughing with his anecdotes and point scoring (or the lack thereof) and that allowed what could have been a very serious discussion, a very Pasifika flavour that allowed us to reflect upon the seriousness of the issues but also to be aware that we were in a warm cordial environment.

In the end, both sides won although most would have said that the affirmative team won due to Auckland being having the largest concentration of Pasifika people in the world (in Auckland city) and that Pasifika people had voted with their feet (as the first speaker of the affirmative discussed).

For me, it highlighted the diversity of Pasifika peoples' perspectives with knowledge that some Pasifika people were succeeding in various areas but by far many were not and it is with this in mind that many are working hard to challenge the inequities in various spaces and to discuss and plan for the future ahead of us for a growing population of Pasifika people in Auckland.

There is so much more to be said but that is for future conversations. Suffice to say that it was a hearty debate that had many people talking, with a buzz that continued into the lunch served afterwards and a lot for Auckland City Council Representatives to consider for Pasifika peoples futures ...

"The Deadly 1918 Influenza in Samoa" upcoming book ...

The cover picture of "The 1918 deadly influenza in Samoa"

Our next book has been a labour of love for me and it's way overdue since working on it for a couple of years but as it's a more personal story.

I wanted to ensure that the right information was conveyed for audiences and lots of hours went into researching the background of the book.

It's the story of my great grandfather who was buried in Faleula in a lone grave next to a church on a corner.

Many times I've taken my children to visit the grave and view the site as well as to tell them the story of their ancestor. Oftentimes I'd drive past the site and acknowledge my mother's grandfather of whom we knew not.

Not much is known about him except that it was an aunty who told me of his story in knowing that I was very interested in historical information about Samoa and also about our family histories.

In researching the information behind how the Influenza epidemic took such a devastating toll in Samoa was sad and the details quite horrific in that thousands died and yet many Samoans in recent times were unaware of this huge scale tragedy.

I also came to learn that some families have lost knowledge of their gafa (family genealogies) or were incomplete because key members of the family and holders of the knowledge had died during this time and no one was able to carry that information into recent times.

I am so grateful that I had family members who were able to share the information of my great grandad with me so that I can pass on his story to my children and beyond as it has shaped our Islands to what it is today.

It is the second book in our historical series and I hope that this series it will be able to inform our Samoan children, and other interested readers, of some of the important historic events that happened in Samoa. Lest we forget.

"Auckland - the best place for Pasifika to live" live debate 18 April ...

 This Thursday 18 April, I'll be attending a live debate which is being co-hosted by the Pacific Peoples Advisory Panel (which I am a member of) with Auckland Council. The topic debate topic will be "Auckland - the best place for Pasifika to live?"

Venue: Western Springs Garden Community Hall, 956 Great North Road, Western Springs, Auckland

Time: 10.30 am to 12.30 pm (light refreshments will be served)

Register: For planning purposes (seating and food arrangements) please register your attendance with sonya.inger@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz by Tuesday 16 April (today).

The following information includes information from the Media Release:

It's going to be a facilitated panel of well-known and up and coming political, economic and cultural commentators and they'll cover important issues to our Pasifika peoples that are relevant to working and living in Auckland i.e. housing affordability, belonging and civic participation.

After the debate, the panel will summarise key points and suggest recommendations on how Auckland Council can address issues that are raised and explored during the debate as our Panel advises Auckland Council on its strategies, plans and policies to deliver better outcomes for Pasifika peoples. The panel also strives towards building a stronger connection between Auckland's Pasifika communities and the Council.

Looking forward to attending this event and the interesting perspectives and issues, challenges, celebrations and discussions that are going to be highlighted on the day. I would definitely recommend this as the place to be this Thursday coming...

My RAM for today - wheelchairs back to Airport terminal ...

My RAM (Random Act of Kindness) for today was picking up some wheelchairs at our local International airport and wheeling them back from the carpark to the Airport terminal.

This morning my family went to take my parents to the airport for their return flight to Samoa as it's faster for them to go via wheelchair rather than to slowly walk over to the boarding gate with people racing past them.

I've learnt that it's faster to go to the carpark to source wheelchairs than to ask staff to look for one for us and to have to wait for ages whilst this is happening.

I know that people are probably busy meeting up with their family members or friends etc. and then end up leaving wheelchairs in the car park but spare a thought for the next disabled person who needs a wheelchair and then has to wait whilst staff try and locate it or are too busy to and then the poor person has to find somewhere to sit whilst awaiting their turn.

So that was my RAM for the day in seeing so many wheelchairs waiting for staff to wheel them back to the terminal from the carpark, I  took our eldest and decided to wheel some wheelchairs back to be used for the next passenger to use as often we get into the thought that someone else gets paid to do this job but I also know that when I was a waitress that I appreciated it when people would clear their own table and then it would be one less thing for me to do for the busy day ahead.

So please spare a thought for those who work in our various service industries and a thought for our people with disabilities and if you are able to do a RAM for them, then you just made one more person happy for the day...

Supporting Friday Gumboot Day ... squish, squish, squish...

Supporting gumboot Friday

Today's 'Gumboot Friday' and it's a neat initiative that Mike King and 'I am Hope' have started to raise monies for free counselling for kids.

Monies are being collected on different sites such as our local Kiwibank online banking site or other social media sites that are accepting monies on their behalf.

Yesterday, our youngest reminded me of her school's support for the day and the fact that she didn't have any gumboots to wear so we trudged off to our local Warehouse to buy some.

There we met with many other parents taking their children to buy gumboots either 'cause they couldn't find them or they don't fit anymore or it's just a good reason to buy another pair of gumboots.

It was really interesting too with all the different types of gumboots that were available like the full length 'I mean business' black gumboots, the polka dotted midway gumboots that our youngest decided to buy and my wanna be gumboots with the dainty flowers that are slip ons.

Not to mention the many gumboots that are Disney licensed or themed gumboots like the pink flamingos on a black background or the glittery gumboots etc. There were definitely so many to choose from that it could take a whole day to try on different pairs for comfort and fit.

So after choosing our gumboots and making sure we left some behind for the next discerning buyer we went home and our youngest wanted to sleep with hers because she thought it was such a novelty but went to sleep without them.

Only to then put my gumboots on to jump into the car onto work then upon taking a few steps to my workplace, I realised that these were the squishy kind of gumboots that go squish, squish, squish every time I walk anywhere.

Oh well, what can I say. Happy Gumboot Friday! squish, squish, squish...

Supporting the Arts in South Auckland ...

Large NZ sheep sculptures outside Papakura library complex

This week had some time with our local Arts committee to read through, discuss and approve (or seek more information on) funding for local arts projects that would benefit access, participation and target groups for our particular local communities.

I must say that it is a privilege to be with like-minded people who support and understand the importance of the arts in our everyday lives and it's been really interesting in being able to discuss and provide guidance with the many interests I have had over the years in the arts.

I think of growing up in my local church and learning Cook Islands, Niuean and Samoan dance/s; being able to both write, direct and perform plays, creative dances, participating in choir singing, art installations etc. in recognition of the talents that we'd been gifted with in song, dance, music and many performances in different languages.

Then joining a band at school and playing lead guitar whilst singing and performing, learning piano, going to orchestral concerts, watching live plays/drama and learning an appreciation for theatre whilst, reading and writing and learning about them.

That was later transferred to writing, directing and producing school productions on limited budgets for sell out crowds of supportive families. Directing and the choreography of creative dances and teaching drama, watching inspiring movies and going to inspirational music concerts or art exhibitions.

So now in being able to support our local communities in their community arts projects and passing on and maintaining diverse cultural arts in dance, music, performances, drama, movement, art exhibitions, art installations, sculpture, photography, painting etc. sometimes it's taken for granted that these things happen around us without seeing the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make these things happen especially when resources are hard pressed to find and the artists are limited.

That's why such committees and these resources are so important to play a role in supporting the accessibility of the arts in our local communities and all I can say in the way of applications is to add the detail of the thinking and the budget:

• of why it's important and the reasons
• who benefits and the details on accessing the group
• the details of the budget with business quotes
• explain if there are any conflicts of interest
• to be connected to target communities eg. youth, Maori and Pasifika, Refugee, isolated communities for access and participation
• have people of expertise who will support applications with letters of recommendation etc.

And with our local population growing in numbers and particularly in our region of South Auckland being one of the most diverse places in the world (population wise) it's no wonder that the arts plays an important role in sharing our diverse stories, talents, movements, voices, music, art etc. with the rest of the world...