'Grounding' with our natural environments...

Holidays are now over, and we're onto the first week back in Term 2. One of the neat things that we did do over the holidays was to go on a walk at one of the local parks called Totara Park.

The neat thing was that my youngest invited a friend, and we were able to explore the park as well as to enjoy lunch at another local park afterwards.

I think it's really important to get out into the sunshine near parks and waterways, especially when studying indigenous knowledge and information.

It reminds us of how our ancestors were able to accumulate knowledge without the need for digital aids, and also thinking processes that were natural and not recorded through digital means.

Sometimes it's about getting back to nature in seeing the sun, walking through and seeing native flora and fauna, hearing birdsong and listening to the ebb and flow of tides. It reminds me of the importance of  'grounding' ourselves in a spiritual sense but also in a physical sense to remind us about what really matters.

This is in our relations with our Atua (God), within ourselves and with others, our relationships with the environment, and with information as well as our spatial relationships too. To not be reliant on digital information but to believe in ancestral intelligence...

Last days of the school holidays...

This week, my three children went ice-skating, and I tagged along, as it was the last week of school holidays and uni holidays. It was so nice to go out together and to have fun.

Whilst they were skating, I had time to run out to do some quick shopping and also grabbed a snack at the local eatery that included carrot cake, a hot dog, and chips.

After skating, we went to lunch, and they chose to go to one of our favourite spots, which was the local Vietnamese Cafe. This time, I decided to stray from my usual Hinamese chicken on rice with its special soup.

Instead, I chose a combination soup with egg noodles as I'm not a big fan of noodles, but I simply love their flavoursome soups. We all chose different dishes, but couldn't finish them, so we were able to take the leftovers home.

My youngest has improved immensely in ice-skating, and I must say that although I did ice-skate 'once-upon-a-time', I'm most reluctant to take a fall and instead enjoy long 5km walks instead.

I must say that it's quite endearing to see my children taking me out, which still takes a little getting used to, having been a provider for them growing up with my beloved. However, it's also satisfying and a blessing to see them growing up, taking responsibility and showing love.

Today, they also baked a cake to commemorate the 62 years of marriage that could have been (although my dad passed away a few years ago). It still was very special and a blessing to know that it meant a lot to them, which brought tears to my mum, too. It certainly was a blessing...

Attending Auckland Careers Expo 2026...

 

Today I received an invitation to attend the 'Auckland Careers Expo' through the 'Inspiring Future Aotearoa' organisation that I volunteer at.

It's an annual Expo I attended with my adult students many years ago, and it's happening in two months on 17 June, all day but 11 - 12.30pm (my slot).

The venue is at the Auckland Showgrounds in Greenlane near the city centre, and I'm really looking forward to attending as a SamoaNZ author, artist and academic.

It's also after my PhD graduation and will be neat to represent and encourage 15 - 18 year olds to pursue their strengths and goals, as well as to never give up!

This will be my first time attending as a contributor, and that's neat to be able to share stories and to talk about my pathway to becoming a writer, artist and academic with a short-cut story.

Knowing that life was never meant to be easy, but that inspiration comes in many forms, and that I've been blessed to be able to do the things that I enjoy with my family's support.

I also want to encourage listeners to sometimes take the risk to do things that might not be the well-trodden path, but that can be very supportive of helping them to reach their goals. Having supportive family members is also a very big plus as well...

Cyclones concerns...

 

Last night I watched the weather report that was concerning regarding the cyclone that was expected to wreak havoc on parts of NZ. This was especially worrying as Whakatane (the place that I'll be travelling to at the end of the month) had issued a state of emergency with flooding, constant rain and battling the storms.

In parts of Auckland, people were racing to buy up bottles of water and other supplies in case of being stuck in homes with no electricity or water. We were asked to shore up supplies and to stay at home and not take any unnecessary travel in case of high winds and constant rain.

The storm was expected to hit Auckland last night, at around midnight, but by then I had already gone to sleep as I was so tired from my 5km walk with my beloved in the morning and a one-hour treadmill session whilst my family did some sparring and boxing.

I woke up early this morning to a calm day with light rain. However, my place of work had already issued a statement to say that there was to be closure at all of our North Island campuses and satellite sites for the weekend, including Monday.

My birth church also issued a statement on social media to say that there was to be no church services in light of the weather warnings, and instead, we would be gathering on a social media platform (as we did during COVID). 

This Sunday, I think I'll remain at home and be thankful that it was mild for my family, but my heart and prayers go out to those who have been hit and have now a cleanup to content with...

First week of School Easter holidays...

 It was great for me to watch the highly anticipated movie "The Magic Faraway Tree", which was based on books by Enid Blyton, as one of my favourite writers when I was at primary school. In fact, I enjoyed her books so much that I read quite a few of her series before I reached 10 years old.

I took my youngest, and it was interesting to see how the movie had been translated into a more recent time, with the parents having more participation than in the book. I was also interested in seeing how each of the characters featured in the movie, and there were some changes but still translated well.

However, I did find it interesting that features of the tree were not demonstrated more in the movie. As I had bought a copy of three books in one and read it in Samoa before returning back to NZ at the beginning of the year in wanting to refresh my perspective of the book before watching the movie.

I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it for younger children as it still does have a magical quality about it, but not as much as in the books. So these school holidays, with only one more week to go, I might have a look and see what else is on offer for my youngest too...

"Amazing Grace" song by Chris Tomlin...

 This Easter Friday, we spent time as a family, with some of us attending the morning service at Life Church South. There was a special presentation, beautiful worship music and also Communion together. It was definitely a special time together.

After the service, we were blessed with hot cross buns (either chocolate or the traditional sultanas) with butter! We then made our way home and started our BBQ (or rather, my beloved) with the rest of us making different dishes for the lunch preparation.

It was good to have a prayer time together for the meal outside, and a reflection of what Easter meant to us, and so good to have three generations of family together. We later dispersed, with the children playing Monopoly together, and with their complementary music blaring outside, as I watched a movie with my mum.

Into the evening, we had our usual family devotion and were reminded that Easter is a special time in remembering the importance of our faith and the sacrifice that was made for us in the death of the Son of God so that we might have life after this life on earth departs from us...

"Moana" live action movie upcoming...

 

The highly anticipated live-action movie by Disney of "Moana" is set to hit the movie screens in July of this year. I still remember viewing the movie first animated movie of Moana, back in 2015 in Fiji when it made its debut, and I simply loved it.

Now, some 11 years later, the live-action movie is ready for release, and I'm really looking forward to it. With Dwayne Johnson as Maui and Catherine Laga'aia (Samoan/NZ/Australian actor Jay Lagaaia's youngest daughter).

It's a long story but Jay Lagaaia's Samoan parents attended the same church as my Samoan parents until they both passed away. However, Jay had long since moved to Australia with his family, and it's so neat to see that both he and his family have experienced success in their chosen careers.

Only a few more months to go and already I can see a mixture of Māori, Samoan, Tongan and other actors in the cast of Moana. Something to look forward to in July and check out the new movie trailer above. It definitely sets high expectations for the upcoming live-action movie...

Busy postgraduate graduations...

 

This week was very busy with our two classes from the 2025 cohort graduating with a Kaitiakitanga Postgraduate Diploma in Bicultural Professional Supervision level 8.

It's very much like a first-year master's course with academic rigour and from an indigenous Māori lens through the concepts to the knowledge sharing as well.

I'm so proud of this cohort, as some have matriculated into our institute's postgraduate master's programme called 'He Waka Hiringa'. 

The qualification is called an Applied Master's of Indigenous Knowledge, which both my sister and beloved are graduates of. It is so encouraging to see many more go on the journey to see where it will take them.

I'm also looking forward to my own graduation, which is only a few weeks left now. Preparations have been made for our family to travel to Whakatane.

The powhiri (Māori welcoming ceremony) is on Thursday, April 30th, followed by the Graduation ceremony on the following day. There will be more to blog about as we look forward and count down to the travelling days...

PolyFest 2026 Cook Islands stage...

Yesterday, my family came out to support our youngest, who performed at the 2026 PolyFest (Polynesian Festival), i.e. the largest Polynesian Festival in the world.

She chose to represent her secondary (high) school on the Cook Islands stage as one of the principal drummers in their band, and we were so proud of her.

They had been practising for practically 6 days a week for at least a month to get ready for the festival as they supported the dancers in the drum beats.

Cook Islands drumming still remains as my favourite drum beats to listen to, and so to have our youngest as a drummer for their school was a bonus for me too. As I had learned to dance the Cook Islands drum dance when I joined our Cook Islands dance group as a young dancer, which is a lot harder than it looks.

We're now awaiting the results of the competition to see how our youngest school fared in the competition and also to see what they may need to improve on after reading the judge's comments and scorecard. 

It was approximately a 20-minute dance routine with music, songs, dances, and costume changes. It was also good for me to see other parents as Samoans, Tongans, Māori etc. also encouraging the child to join from other cultures as it promotes a better understanding of the different cultures' protocols, dance and teachings.

This year, our youngest brought along four of her friends to join in the drumming group and she also wants to continue next year and we are fully supportive of her continuing next year. It was so neat to see the commeraderie and the support that everyone gave as such a blessing for an important event each calender year...

Happy 15th Birthday to our youngest...

 

Yesterday, we as a family celebrated my youngest's 15th birthday party after picking her up from school, having finished her Polyfest practice and whisked her away to a family dinner at the Valentines Restaurant on North Shore.

We had an absolutely lovely time together with lovely surroundings and delicious food. There were three generations present with my mum, her grandmother, her auntie, siblings, a friend and we as parents.

This is the party vibe birthday cake that we picked up for her as a vanilla cake with strawberry icing. She also had a restaurant chocolate mud cake, making it two cakes that we took home and celebrated with sparkling grape juice.

Then it was time for speeches, blowing out the birthday candles, and singing that timeless birthday song with present openings and a lot of laughs along the way.

Tonight is her last practice together with the Cook Islands drumming group, and looking forward to tomorrow with their performance on the Cook Islands stage at 12.30 pm approximately.

We'll be there cheering them on, and I'm looking forward to attending the biggest Polynesian Festival in the world with 6 stages of: Māori, Cook Islands, Tongan, Samoa, Niuean and the diversity stage. It will be so busy looking for limited parking but well worth the time and wishing her team the best in the competitions....

Māngere Arts centre Tatau (Tattoo) Exhibition...

Today I had the privilege of viewing two side-by-side exhibitions at the Māngere Arts Centre that featured two Samoan artists on tatau, or the traditional art of Samoan tattoo.

The two artists are: Siah Finai with his exhibition called "Tala mai lo'u Nu'u: Stories of my Homeland/Community/Family".

The second artist is Galumalemana Su'a Sione Sialaoa, and his exhibition is titled "Journey, Truth, and Respect."

Both artists display bold depictions of tatau, and the exhibitions have run from 21st Feb until 11 April. I would highly recommend the exhibitions to those who are particularly interested in the iconography of the tatau and understanding the meanings of this visual storytelling art form.

To me, these exhibitions are so important in ensuring that the information is passed onto next generations and that some of the things that were obscure and hidden, i.e. only those who are in the circles have access to the information, have been shared through this exhibition.

Unfortunately, I was unaware of the live tatau exhibition that happened on Saturday as it would have been an honour and a privilege to have been able to share this with my students but there may be other possibilities in the future...
 

"Made in Korea" with an interest from Tamil...

 

 After returning from my weekend of teaching, I had lunch with my family and had a quick nap, then I decided to relax and ease into watching a Netflix movie. This happens to be my go-to at times when I've completed a full-on day and to be stress-free.

I was interested to watch the 2026 movie "Made in Korea" that features a link between a young lady from Tamil and her interest in Korea. In fact, it was interesting to know that there is a fascination, of sorts, of many people from other nations who, like the young lady who is featured in the movie, want to visit Korea.

I remember binge-watching Korean drama series during COVID-19 and being fascinated by the storylines that adapted their old stories, principles and beliefs into contemporary drama. This movie depicts some interesting themes between the relationships that she has with her family, a Korean family with friends and her maturation too.

I would recommend this movie if you are interested in exploring ideas of familial inter-relationships that are inter-generational and also if you don't mind it being a little bit quirky...

An emancipatory educational future...

 

It's back to the start of our academic year here at our Wānanga or Māori higher educational institution called Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

The pic was taken in the early morning with the sunrise just peaking out behind the building. The shot is of the atrium area with a master carving that is significant to the wānanga.

I enjoy being able to share my journey through the Samoan indigenous lens that my parents and Samoan community shared with me all those years back.

It's indeed a privilege to be able to encourage and support many other indigenous peoples as students at this wānanga in reshaping and recontextualising the histories that we had been told in schools. There is now a lot of information that has been gleaned that informs us of a different reading of history.

It's exciting to see this development since becoming an educator back in the 1990s. I never believed that it could happen, but I am now seeing the fruits of the fighting for an emancipatory education system that values indigenous peoples and indeed the histories of tangata when (first peoples of the land)...