New Year's Eve celebrations in 2019...

For the last day of 2019, we'll be having a countdown at my parents' place in saying goodbye to the old year and hello to the new.

It's also a time for reflection on how things went in the last year in preparation for new things to happen for this new year.

I'm looking forward to 2020 as it's the start of a new decade with many things to look forward to.

For example the start of University for our eldest child in pre-law school and my youngest sister starting her Master's degree in Indigenous knowledge in having been their academic mentors over the years.

We are also looking forward to a year of graduations with my beloved's Masters graduation ceremony as well as my sister's Social work degree graduation and mine in the Certificate in Maori and Indigenous art programme.

In these last few hours of the old year of 2019, there's a lot to be thankful for and also considerations for the new year ahead. Tonight at church there is a New Year's Eve service that I've attended over the years but for tonight I'm looking forward to praying it in with my family with good wishes for you...

Prayer Breakfast week...

This morning I was blessed to attend our PIC (Pacific Islanders Presbyterian church) weekly prayer breakfast group that meets regularly on a Monday morning from 6 - 7.30am at the church.

It was a group that was pressed upon my heart to found some 20+ years ago and though numbers are small, the prayers are fervent as where there are two or more gathered, God is also there.

Over the years, it's been neat to see so many answered prayers and some prayers took many, many years before the answer was a "yes".

A couple of examples was a senior couple (both since passed away) who prayed for their children to come back to God in the sense of seeing them fellowshipping in church.

When the mum passed away they started to return to be with their aging father and when he passed away some of them continued with one even becoming an elder of the church and continuing his father's (parents') legacy.

Another was a prayer for Niuean women to be permitted to be elders of the church by their own Niuean EKLS (Ekalesia) or congregational group as they did not permit women to be elders due to their cultural structures. Those were overturned a couple of years ago and now women can become elders.

It's been a humbling experience in seeing so many seniors who joined the group pass away and then others step up and join in for a time of reading a bible passage, reflecting on the 'Our Daily Bread' reading and then praying together over the various prayer requests of the day.

In addition, this week there will be three groups meeting to dedicate time in prayer over the first week of the year with the Niuean, Cook Island and the English speaking Prayer breakfast groups praying on different days and times of the week. For the Prayer Breakfast group, it will be starting on Wednesday for the rest of the week.

It's a time that the groups get together to pray ahead and dedicate the year ahead for God's blessings. What will you be doing in preparation of 2020?...

Last days of 2019...

Buying new diaries for 2020 signals the last days of 2019 as we begin preparations for the new year's eve celebrations with family.

A habit I've acquired over the years has been to pick out two diaries. One for my daily appointments and another for my daily reflections and devotions.

And already I've started adding appointments for the new year with planning already underway but as they say 'you make the plans but God has the last say'.

I have given electronic or virtual diaries a go i.e. on my mobile phone but I've found that it doesn't quite capture the information that I want in the same way that a hard cover diary does.

Plus I'm able to carry important papers within to the various meetings that I go to. So, unfortunately, I'm not quite paperless as there are still important considerations that I make on paper.

What do you do as you undertake preparations for the new year? I know that I have a lot to be grateful for in this passing year as I look with anticipation forward to the coming year. All the best for your new year ahead as this old one passes to the next...

Happy Holidays...

I hope you had a neat Christmas day and Boxing day celebration and relaxation with family as I over these holidays with my parents, children and one of my brothers visiting from Australia.

It has also been a time of sadness with some of our families due to three funerals in our family during this time and our thoughts are with them too.

It's interesting that Boxing Days sales have now outstripped Christmas day sales as many people now flock to the shopping malls to pick up Boxing day bargains the day after Christmas and the sales now stretch through for a week.

To me, it seems like a massive sales gimmick to get shoppers to spend even more money but the crowds that are packing shopping mall carparks and full shopping malls tell the story that it's most appreciated after Christmas day close down.

I for one, am happy to just relax and enjoy the holidays without racing out the day after Christmas for more shopping frenzy. I think I'll leave that to those with hefty bank balances and who enjoy shopping till you drop, it's just one less thing I'd rather not do these holidays.

So happy holidays everyone and as they say "be kind to one another"...

Happy Christmas Eve with family...

Wishing you all a safe and Merry Christmas for 2019

I remember as a youngster looking forward to Christmas Eve on the night before Christmas when our family/s would get together to count in Christmas day or sing Christmas carols with the excitement of what might be under the Christmas tree for us.

And I see the same anticipation in our children, especially our youngest, in looking forward to what tomorrow might bring.

These important family traditions and times of making special memories with our children ensure that they know that they are loved, not so much for receiving presents but in being esteemed in our love for them during this special season.

In my formative years, I remember our Samoan Youth group (Mangere PIC Autalavou) would hire a large bus for Christmas Eve, for many years, and start at around about 6-7pm and we'd go Christmas caroling to many of our church families and wish them a Merry Christmas up until midnight.

That tradition has since stopped to make way for new family activities but I remember those special memories of spreading joy and love in our communities as well as having a special time with my church family and enjoying our time together.

Enjoy your Christmas Eve and the real reason for the season in the birth of baby Jesus who gave peace on earth and goodwill toward all people as we join in on celebrating this festive season together with our families...

MERRY CHRISTMAS to one and all...

Tau'au-Filisi Family's Merry Christmas card

This Christmas we're spending with our family, three generations under one roof with grandparents, parents and our children enjoying this festive season together.

However, what has been sad this year has sadly been the number of loved ones who have passed before Christmas and the sadness that they will be feeling with the absence of loved ones.

This particular Christmas card pictures us with my beloved sitting as Santa Claus in a shopping mall that we thought we'd surprise him by arriving to take a photo with him.

It's funny because growing up, as with my beloved, we weren't brought up believing in Father Christmas or the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, Jack Frost etc. as our parents were from Samoa and such things weren't taught to us until we got to school.

So it was very interesting to visit and then watch the wonderment in some of the children's faces in believing that they were meeting the 'real Santa'. What's even more neat was that we got to take a picture with him as a souvenir for his first time as Santa.

And so HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS to one and all this season. God bless...

Thank God it's Friday...

One of the owlets with a Samoan tattoo theme

I'm so glad that today is the last official day of work for 2019 with holidays beginning for the next three weeks whilst contemplating what 2020 will bring or rather what needs to be started for 2020.

It's a week after our youngest finally finished school for the year and whilst busy with her end of year events at her school, I spied this owlet sculpture displayed in the school office and administration building and did a bit of research as to the neat art that it features.

I found out that it was one of the 60 owlet (90cm) sculptures that was a part of the 2018 'Big Hoot' arts event whereby 47 larger owls (1.65cm)  and the 60 owlets were painted up by emerging and established artists around Auckland for exhibiting then auctioned to raise funds for the Child Cancer Foundation.

Mesui Moala, a sports and design tutor, assisted a group of the school's senior students in late November 2017 to design the owl over a number of weeks and this was the finished product. The art piece features traditional patterns or designs from Tongan, Samoan, Indian and Maori cultures.

The school would have purchased the beautiful owl from the auction and it is proudly displayed next to the front door entrance. It's neat in that it is set right at the front as if to greet visitors and its quite striking with its beautiful designs.

This is inspiring to in contemplating my next art projects over the holiday break and to begin preparations after Christmas to begin painting up our next book after some R & R (rest and relaxation).

Let the holiday festivities begin!...

Remembering loved ones this Christmas...

I am mindful that there are some families who are mourning for the loss of loved ones this Christmas and the last thing that they are interested in is listening to Christmas cheer and laughter.

In my own family, we have two funerals this weekend with the loss of an Uncle and a first cousin both with beautiful families who will be missing them this close to Christmas.

In Samoa, I am aware of the 75+ families of those (especially the young) who died through the measles epidemic in Samoa.

This Christmas will be a difficult time for many families in experiencing the loss of so many little ones in their untimely deaths.

In times like these, it is important to be mindful of their needs and to allow them space to mourn and grieve during this festive season.

And in a sense remembering that it is a space that we never quite feel comfortable to talk about and yet it is the only appointment that we will all experience at some time, so that if at all possible, it is important to take the time to speak about it with loved ones where possible.

So please give some thought to those around us who might want to take some time out, or who need to be alone or may not want to spread Christmas cheer all around as we all mourn and express our experience of grief in many different ways.

Our love and prayers go out to all our grieving families. May God's quiet presence and and ever-abiding love bring comfort and solace in this difficult time. And may His rainbow remind us of the days we did get to spend together rather than those that are lost. God's blessings be with you all...

Crafting ribbon braided leis...

Ribbon braided lei blues designs

This weekend I was also busy making up some ribbon braided leis that I had learnt to do a couple of years ago and then forgot only to go back onto YouTube to be reminded on how to make them again for our student writers.

I think the neat thing about it is that it can be quickly made up and is easy to pass on to teach our younger family members.

I've particularly noticed how Tongan mothers and family members have taken the braiding of ribbons into leis with lollies to another level by the intricate designs of their braided ribbon leis that incorporate the lollies or in many cases, foil-wrapped chocolates.

You only have to check out 'Pinterest' to see the various designs and at the various graduation and prizegiving events that I've visited this year to see how resourceful and artistic their creations are. The recipients proudly display them and many pics are taken with family and friends.

In fact, I'll be checking out how to make some over the holidays as a project of mine to learn as I have a few graduations to look forward to attending next year...

Frozen II movie of Indigenous Sami narratives...

It's been really interesting since teaching in the Indigenous research space for the past few years and in researching my doctoral work in indigenous studies these past couple of years in noticing a definite shift of focus in accepting (sometimes very reluctantly) of indigenous cultures and their knowledge as being equally credible and often far-reaching in being more sustainable to our natural environments.

Yesterday, I took our youngest to watch 'Frozen II', a movie that she had been wanting to watch having enjoyed Frozen I. Since school had finished and she had done well in prizegiving as well as positive comments on her school report, I thought to out her out on a treat in which she also received a Frozen II handbag before watching the movie.

We both enjoyed the movie and it was very interesting to later research the story behind the movie which is about the indigenous Sami people of northern Scandinavia. What was more interesting for me was the inclusion of a narrative about how colonial cultures often blame indigenous cultures for starting wars and this is apparent in the movie.

Without spoiling the movie, it does take a turn from the first movie and doesn't have the iconic songs as the first that are as memorable but it does tell an interesting story and takes the movie watcher on an interesting journey.

I'd highly recommend the movie, this summer, for families and especially if you've little ones who enjoyed the first movie. The relationship between the sisters is strong and the ending might not be quite what you had imagined...

Launching 'Navigating Journeys' by Mana Mangere writers' collective...

Mana Mangere writers and guests at our 'Navigating Journeys' book launch

Yesterday we celebrated launching our latest 'Mana Mangere writers' collective' book "Navigating Journeys". It's the third collection so far and we were very proud to showcase the talents of our community writers both youth and our seniors.

It was held at our local Mangere Town centre library of which also happens to be the venue that we regularly meet at for our bi-monthly meetings and where I grew up and regularly visited as a student growing up in Mangere.

The neat thing about the book launch was that we got to meet the families of some of the writers and then listen to writers reading out their poetry or short stories. I especially liked listening to the youth as there were many stories written from the heart about their life experiences and the seeing the world through their eyes.

I would like to especially thank the staff at the Mangere Town centre library for providing the support and making it happen. To Lemauga Lydia Sosene, the chairperson of our Mangere-Otahuhu local board, who has supported our writers' group right from the start with her plea for us to "amplify" it next year and invite the community to our next book launch, a much-appreciated thanks!

To all the writers, I hope they enjoy their break over the Christmas and holiday break and we look forward to coming together in Feb 1st for our first meeting to start looking at what we will be working on in the coming months.

And an especially big thanks to God who makes miracles such as these things happen, as when I see the smiles on the young writer's faces with the support of their families, I know we're going in the right direction and you never know what can become of something that God blesses in time to come...

'The Greatest story ever told' production...

Last night, our family went to view Life church's Christmas Production called 'The Greatest Story ever told'. It was a fantastic performance at the City campus auditorium playing to a full house.

I particularly loved listening to the Christmas carols and the digital sets together with the theatre like setting made for an engaging performance by all actors, singers, and dancers. The performance included an aerial dancer, a dancer dancing with an adult length hoop, a balloon drop and much more.

I would highly recommend this family-friendly show with all its artistry to any who have the opportunity to view it this Christmas (although I did hear that it was sold out) but they may add other days which they have already done.

It definitely gets me into the Christmas spirit and also reminds us of what the true story of Christmas is really about...

Secret Garden Thai Restaurant with staff from my old school...

Last night I had a nice dinner at 'The Secret garden' restaurant in Otahuhu with staff from my former primary school where I am in my first year of serving again as a board of trustees member.

One of the community services that I've been involved with over the past two decades has been as a Board member of local schools in Mangere where my family members attend. It's my second stint as I was a board member at my old school as the first was when I was in my twenties when my youngest brother attended and now with our youngest is attending there (at the request of my dad) and I got elected for another term, a few months ago, to serve my community.

Again, it's a privilege to be able to share what knowledge I have in supporting the education of our young ones in schools in wanting them to get the best out of the resourcing that is provided from the Ministry of Education for them.

Over the years, I've been a board of trustees member of many schools in the area and have seen the good, the bad and the ugly but it's really about ensuring that the children have the best educational experiences that can be offered to them at their schools.

In having been a former high school teacher, Dean, Library manager, School Production Producer etc. in the state school system, I was able to see from first-hand experience what could be available for children and although curriculums change over the years, there's still the expectation of families and the state that the best care is given to children in these formative years of their education.

I'm especially interested in supporting low Decile (Ministry of Education ranking of school according to the socio-economic status of local parents) schools in wanting to support children in their education and have been in some confrontational situations whereby senior managers are asked some pressing questions which sometimes are not appreciated but need to be asked.

Suffice to say that it's sometimes what needs to be done but it's also nice to step into a school where staff get on well and there are some neat stories about the positive support that good teachers can give to needing students.

All in all a neat evening and thinking to bring my family for a night out. Maybe at next year's graduation...

Framing Malu watercolour paintings ...

My Malu inspired watercolour painting

This Christmas I'm taking some time out to begin framing up some of the watercolour paintings that I had the opportunity to paint this last semester in my Cert. in Maori and Indigenous Art class. This particular painting is one inspired by the Malu (Samoan indigenous tradition female tattoo patterns) which I cannot get (my namesake's story) but it's been a neat journey to study the patterns and meanings.

It's also given me the inspiration to continue with the studies that I'd started in now feeling ready to begin painting up the book that I've been working on over the past few years on Samoan tatau (indigenous Samoan tattoos) origins in our 'tala o le vavau' series or ancient Samoan stories.

It's such an important story that I don't want to get it 'wrong' but at the same time, it's taking that leap of faith and courage, moving it forward having started the Samoan historical series. The last book from the origins series was 'Fale Samoa'. So I guess I'm ready to begin after this book launch and during the holidays and now with my malu lima (often controversial) it's time!

Again, I'm so thankful for God's hand upon us for the various talents that we are bestowed with the purpose of using it for the betterment of understandings and for others and also for praising His name in all that we do with a humble heart.

So without further adieu, (as they say) I'll be blogging about the artistic journey going forward having started from humble beginnings and with a long way to go. I've learned that you can never be perfect at what you do but if you never try, you'll never know where it can take you ...

End of year prizegivings and lolly leis...

Today we celebrated with our youngest at her school's prizegiving ceremony which was neat to attend and also to see the proud parents, caregivers and recipients celebrating with their family and friends.

Our youngest received a certificate for being top in her class in literacy as she loves to read and is a voracious reader. She also received a certificate for competing in the Weetbix tryathlon last week (the only one representing her school).

What was so neat was that she took the initiative of her own accord and made an appointment together with a letter she wrote to the principal explaining the benefits of the competition in hoping that there would be a team to represent the school but because of the school already being committed with other programmes we still encouraged her to represent her school although the school was not officially entered.

I've also trained myself to get 'ula lole' or lolly leis/necklaces ready as it's a more recent phenomenon that I've now become used to whereby children receive these delights upon receiving prizes at prizegiving.

What's even more neat is that teachers are gifted them by parents/caregivers and especially children who haven't received any from by their families, there are teachers or other parents who give them away to unsuspecting children and it always brings a smile.

I also encouraged our little one to give away some of hers after the ceremony to children that didn't have any that she would like to gift them too and that made it even more special in celebrating together with them.

So afterwards we had a celebratory lunch with ice cream and later a cake for dessert with Christmas just around the corner...

Back cover of new book 'Navigating Journeys'...

Christelen Filisi's art piece for back cover of new book

I just wanted to give a 'shout-out' to our middle child, Christelena, whose art piece features in our 3rd community prose and poetry collection on the back cover.

What's so neat about this artwork was that I'd the privilege of watching her artistic flair and talent develop this year with Pasifika patterns when I watched her doodling (as I did many years ago) which I first witnessed during a church sermon a few months ago (yes I've been guilty as well).

This is her third large piece in a series that she's been working on and when I was considering the artwork for the new book 'Navigating journeys', I saw her working on this and asked if she would give permission for me to feature one of her works on the back cover (paid commissioned art).

She chose this art piece and it complements our front artwork nicely as with the theme. I was really impressed by how she chose Pasifika patterns and namely Samoan artistic iconic patterns to build up the body of the artwork that tells a story in itself.

It reminds me of our many Pasifika students who have been brought up in our families who are artistic through the environments that they have been nurtured in i.e. dance, art, creative arts, performances etc. and the list goes on.

It's about nurturing within them a belief that they are able to create and be creative within environments and opportunities that we can support them in eg. in schools, church, joining groups developing art, performance, writing, directing, filming, designing, collaborations etc.

And looking forward to our book launch this weekend on Saturday 14th Dec at the Mangere Town Centre library from 1.30 - 2.30pm where we get to celebrate with our community and youth artists, writers and poets in launching our new book. There's never a dull moment...

Reading "The Pacific in the wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neil"...

At the moment I'm reading 'The Pacific in the wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neil' written by Meaghan Wilson Anastasios which was gifted to me by one of my students in both sharing a love of reading and learning about the Pacific.

It's a very interesting book because it was based on a TV series that aired last year which traced the voyage/s of Captain Cook in NZ and around the Pacific. Sam Neil hosted the series and I had been interested to watch it but decided that it probably would not say much about the indigenous peoples' viewpoint so I thought not to catch up with it.

However, upon reading the book, I was quite surprised that there was a definite interest in the indigenous peoples' viewpoints and how Captain Cook had made mistakes in his actions and even more importantly, that Captain Cook hadn't discovered anything because there were already people populating all of the islands that he visited which must have been astonishing for him.

I think as a teacher of Indigenous research, it solidifies for me that there is a reawakening of a lot of scholars and teachers in the reworking, rewording and rewriting of history books to give credit to those who had already lived upon the lands that colonial powers thought they'd "discovered" back in the 1700s+.

The so-called 'Doctrine of discovery' or ideas surrounding seemed to be based on an arrogant belief that colonial powers were the superior culture and would conquer and subjugate nations that did not share the same 'enlightened' beliefs or who did not have technology that could kill in an instant eg. weapons such as muskets and knives etc.

It's now interesting that indigenous cultural knowledge holders are being called upon to assist in sustainable living as people search for answers on how to 'save' this planet from ideologies of developed countries that are actually killing it through pollution, over-forestation, gaseous emissions through cattle etc.

I would recommend this 400+ page book to those who are interested in the different viewpoints of Captain Cook's voyages with discussions by Sam Neil (famous NZ actor) and indigenous peoples perspectives at the various Islands that he came in contact with as those islands were never the same...

Book Launch of 'Navigating Journeys' next Saturday...

Our latest offering from Mana Mangere writers' collective "Navigating Journeys"

 Next week Saturday, I'm looking forward to our final book launch of the year that features our third collection of the Mana Mangere writers collectives. The titles of our collections so far are:

1. Mana Mangere Voices (2017)
2. Sense of Belonging (2018)
3. Navigating Journeys (2019)

This year, I decided to invite some more youth writers to join us in contributing to the theme 'Navigating Journeys' and we were able to work with 13 student writers aged from 5 - 18 years old. This was alongside 7 adult writers from the group who contributed their poetry and/or stories.

What was really neat was to read the different perspectives of each writer navigating a journey and I hope that readers will also share in the celebrations on Saturday as we will be having it at our local library with families and friends invited to the event.

This year, I decided that the front cover would need to reflect the idea of going on a journey and I used my 'malu patterns' (traditional Samoan women's' tattoo) painting i.e. acrylics on canvas to portray that idea as discussed in earlier blogs.

For the blue background, I wanted to highlight the idea of navigating the deep blue moana or ocean as my past ancestors from many, many moons ago would have done. I then saw some artwork that our middle child was drawing and asked if it would be okay to use it for the back cover (commissioned of course).

As an artist, I always want each book to look unique and for each book's front and back cover to feature as an original art piece that captures the eye with symbolic meanings that correspond with the theme. To also showcase the artistic talent of artists around me is very important in sharing their gifts.

I hope that readers will enjoy our latest collection of prose and poetry with an eclectic mix of perspectives and thoughts on the topic. So if you're free, why not join us next week Saturday with some poetry and prose reading at Mangere Town centre library 1.30 - 2.30pm with light refreshments...

Congratulations to South Auckland 'Weetbix Tryathlon' participants...

A big congratulations to our youngest, and many other South Auckland youth, for accepting and completing the challenge of competing in her second 'Weetbix Tryathlon' at Mountfort Park yesterday in Manurewa.

The event started with our running to register and drop the bike off at the transition bike station and then to wait until the official start at 10 am. The organization of the event is a well-oiled machine with lots of support from family, friends, schools, officials and volunteers.

It was also neat to see one of my students there at the welcoming area and she helped to write our youngest's numbers shin and forearm, making it so real. The neat thing was that there were so many participants from different schools, individuals, teams etc.

For our 8 year old, it started with a 100 metre swim and then they quickly changed and transitioned to a 4 km cycle or twice around the track and finally to a 1500 metre run/walk to the finish line whereupon the would receive a drink and a medal and lots of pics, high 5s and smiles all around.

I asked our youngest if she would like to compete again and she assures me that it's all go for next year as well, Lord willing. She also got to choose her favourite cheesecake to celebrate with and then a deep sleep for school the next day...

Final shared dinner with class...

A big thank you to my neat class for the breakup dinner that we had last night with the sharing of gifts and lovely speeches and then a shared meal before we call it a day with the end of another year of learning on the course.

What's been so encouraging is the learning journey that we've all had in learning from each other and about each other as well as the curriculum lessons that we shared in discussing various perspectives and becoming more in tune with indigenous ways of thinking and doing.

I feel very privileged to have been able to share this space with my students and very humbled for the special gifts that they shared with me and lovely cards and speeches that we shared about some of the highlights over the year.

And now we can all look forward to graduation next year, Lord willing, with some continuing on to the Master's degree course, one moving overseas and many continuing on with their learning journey to other courses.

As for me, it's continuing with my studies and looking forward to acquiring new students to teach and looking forward to what the new year will bring...

'Last Christmas' movie...

"A pinch and a punch, first day of the month." This was one of the sayings that I learned as a kid and we'd literally say and deliver to an unsuspecting victim with an additional "No backs" so that they couldn't return it back to us with another proviso that it had to be said before midday.

Anyway, a happy first day of the Christmas season (month) with lots of Advent Calendars beginning their countdown today with chocolates or other little goodies to eat each leading up to Christmas day. It's something that I've done with our youngest which she looks forward to.

Last week I got the chance to watch the movie 'Last Christmas'. I must admit that I wasn't really expecting for it to be very memorial as often some of the Christmas movies are i.e. from Hallmark where a happy ending is expected but I found this movie to have quite an interesting turn to it.

It also showcases some of the late George Michael's movie that I used to enjoy back in the day and it has an interesting storyline that you have to suspend logic, a bit, to appreciate the ending of the movie with the story that it has to tell.

I'd recommend it as not the usual happy ending Christmas movie that also subtlely asks one to consider being a donor in case of the event of an untimely death. That statement will make a lot more sense once you watch the movie (but then that might be a spoiler alert right there!)...