Hidden gem of a poem on a bridge...

 

Here's a piece of poetry etched into steel on a bridge that I frequently walk across. It's interesting how it's placed at the beginning and the end of the bridge, and it's the first time that I've encountered poetry etched onto a sculpture on a bridge.

It doesn't say who the author or the sculptor is, and many people walk past it every day and would be none the wiser.

I think it's one of those hidden gems that it just takes one to have a close look and then be presented with a poem; it's so neat to see.

I'm sure that there are more of these hidden gems placed around, but it might take a good eye, some patience, and not being rushed to be able to 'catch' these moments.

Which reminds me that I'd been so busy with so many things on my plate that I quite missed the annual poetry day last month. So I thought I'd write a poem about the poem that I'm blogging about and see how it goes:

Poem etched on a bridge

Many don't see you as they run, walk, cycle across the bridge

holding hands, exercising, talking, laughing, puffing away

you hold your space, waiting, watching, wondering if someone

will behold your secret, your hidden gem, a poem of a fish.

A little hand wonders at your markings as she places her hand

on the words that she hasn't quite deciphered, so young, patient

whilst her grandmother pulls her away to see the funny birds.

A sad figure with tears stops but doesn't see you, eyes afar.

Another walks past but then backtracks, missing the words 

but seeing the deliberate rust above the anonymous sculptor's

artwork, then rushes away to capture other thoughts 

then you see her slowly walking, reading the words suspended.

Time stands still as she ponders, continues walking, absorbing.

Ash-grey hair poking out of a sun-bleached hooded jacket.

Life has been kind to her, and she reads between the lines that

someone had taken the time to present a moment of beauty.

She sighs, sees the expanse of the bridge ahead and wonders 

how a moment of slowing down allowed her to experience 

the delight of a poem carefully crafted and etched into a bridge

whilst others rush past into their day, missing a rare beauty.

 

Kelly-styled white stitched bag...

 

I've been really enjoying the space of working with Babylon leather and stitching this Kelly-styled bag from a kit.

As a creative practitioner, I find myself looking towards my next project, whether it's a painting, a sketch, or crocheting a scarf, visiting a museum or viewing an exhibition; the creative possibilities are endless.

This is currently my favourite thing to do, as it reminds me of the skills that my mother taught me of hand stitching or hand sewing with a creative project in mind.

I know that it harkens back to the creative DNA that was passed down from my matriarchal ancestral line, with my great-grandmothers from Samoa, weaving mats and making tapa cloth whilst learning the skills and tools entailed.

Passed down to me through my mother and now to my daughters, with my youngest announcing that she was the first in her photography class to complete her photography board ready for examining at the end of the year.

This gave me great satisfaction in knowing that the creative gene has been passed down to all three of my children, each having completed senior years with art or photography and creativity as a part of their educational learning journey.

Now looking forward to making a Berkin-styled bag as my next project with a different colour and size. What's so neat is that I don't have to think about cutting out the pattern or priming the resources because that's already done.

All I need to do is follow the video instructions and try to keep in sync with the sewing of it, then relax and enjoy the creation. But that's another journey and I'll post on the finished product of that too when the time comes...

Over 1 million views and new novel work...

 

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A big THANK YOU for the 1,000.000+ views on this blog. I hope that it is of some use to regular readers, especially if you're interested in some of the topics that I regularly blog about.

I'm also encouraged to announce that I'm working on my second novel. The first I wrote back in 2012, and it's still making its way towards printing. Now that's another long story.

Perhaps the two go hand in hand someday, but currently working on drawing the threads together with memories, ideas, character arcs, timelines, places and events.

There's so much to take into consideration, and even more so with some parts radiating out from my life experiences and also with the ways that I view the world.

It's been some time in the making, as I knew that it would have to do with an epic journey of sorts and of finding what I was looking for from the get go.

I'm also interested in how it draws from my PhD indigenous research and some of the things that I discovered along the way. It's also informed by my growing up in Aotearoa NZ and some of the profound things that I learned about Samoa as well. 

That's enough to go with as I continue to sort and check out pieces of the puzzle or mystery of this novel. Not to mention that I will have different 'voices' and perspectives in the novel with so much to write about. The world is a writer's oyster...

New sponsored child with 'World Vision'...

I received an exciting letter this month and wondered why it was so thick. As you might know, if you've been following my blog over the years, was that I was inspired to sponsor children not only overseas but also within my own country.

With the overseas organisation, I chose to stay with World Vision, as it's an organisation that I have known since growing up in church, and our Sunday school used to sponsor children in those early years.

When I started having children of my own, I thought that it was important to be able to share the burden with other mothers overseas who needed support and over the years, I've been able to sponsor children in different overseas countries.

The letter I received from World Vision explained that the child that I had sponsored for some years in Bangladesh was now exited from the programme. They had fulfilled their goals of becoming self-sustaining within the World Vision programme that the community had been able to sign up to and no longer needed the support of the sponsors. 

It was so encouraging to see the community's 'thank you' video, and I was encouraged that the goals of receiving better sanitation, educational supplies, growing food, having small businesses, and children's educational goals had grown so much that they were able to exit the programme.

I think one of the goals that really stood out for me, as a sponsor, was finding out that they had been able to stop 123 child bride marriages that otherwise would have taken place. If anything, it's things like that that compel me to continue to support the education of children and especially girls in third-world countries.

They've now given me another option to support another child in another area in Bangladesh, and I'm happy to support. I've now signed up to support areas where the need is greatest, and I'm happy to support any child. 

If it's something that you think you can financially commit to in monthly, annual or fortnightly payments, then I'd encourage you to do so. I get so much joy in sending Christmas and birthday cards to the child with stickers and encouraging letters to the family. In supporting other families in other countries who need a helping hand...

 

IIRC International Indigenous Research Conference, 2026 Auckland...

 

I am looking forward to presenting at IIRC 2026, the International Indigenous Research Conference taking place at the University of Auckland from 17-20 November 2026.

It is one of the International Indigenous Research conferences that I've been looking forward to attending. I don't think it will be the same as the WIPCE World Indigenous Peoples Conference in Education 2025 that I really enjoyed presenting at in November of last year and having a book stall there, but it still will be very interesting to attend.

The abstract that I submitted was around 500 words, asking for details of Indigenous researchers from potential presenters that align with the overall conference theme of: Kei tua o te pae| Beyond the horizon. Now this is a very interesting research theme, and there are also sub-themes as follows:

* Pae Ahurei - Living Uniquely

* Pae Ora - Living Well

* Pae Tawhiti - Living Lightly

* Pae Auaha - Living Smartly

I'm awaiting further instructions for my conference funding application with my wānanga (Māori tertiary higher learning institute), and also the conference organisers, and the strand that I have been accepted to present at is the 'Living Uniquely' strand, which will again be very interesting to consider...

Kelly-like hand sewn bag...

 

This is the finished product from my attempt to hand-sew a 'Kelly'-like bag. The kit was from a company called 'Babylon Leather' that's based in Portland, Oregon, USA.

I had no idea about how popular 'Kelly' and 'Birkin' bags were until I came across social media posts by Love Luxury based in London and Dubai.

I'm definitely not a connoisseur of fashion, but I like the idea of a French company called 'Hermès' fashioning practical but iconic bags in the 1980s that were named after Grace Kelly (after she popularised it by being photographed with it) and Jane Birkin, a British/French actress who gave the owner the original idea on a plane flight.

You might have read in earlier blogs that I love handcrafting just like my mum and namesake great-grandmother. I've made handmade bags before, but this takes it to a whole new level.

The kit comes packed with all the pieces, equipment, and thread you need for sewing the bag together. In fact, it even comes with a 'dust bag', free gifts of two small scarves (to tie onto the bag) and a long strap for crossbody or carrying it as a shoulder bag.

I enjoyed making it so much that I've ordered another kit in a different colour and a medium bag. The bag pictured is a small bag similar to a small Kelly. It also comes with a lock and key which is a first for me to see. I'll be blogging on the next one and looking forward to the kit arriving at my front door very soon...

Gift giving at birthdays...

 

It was definitely a busy weekend as I worked through with my students, but before my class started, I was made aware that one of my colleagues was celebrating her birthday with a cake and food at the staffroom.

I quickly went to sing "Happy Birthday" to her then quickly drove home to pick up a couple of my handmade gifts and gifted them to her in a box tied with string and a homemade birthday card.

At the moment, I'm crocheting winter scarves (although Spring weather is starting here), and last year I made some woollen bags with some beautiful wool.

I was able to gift my colleague one of each, as I'd known her for around 15 years. She also asked me to take some cake home (which I did), and my family members loved her carrot cake, which is also a favourite of mine...

Tongan language week 2026...

 

Malo e lelei, and happy Tongan Language Week to the many Tongans around the world. Interestingly, last night my beloved and I watched a Tongan commentary about the close links that there are between Tongans and Samoans, which go way back to the Tui Manu'a dynasty of Eastern Samoa that ruled all of the Samoan islands at one time.

I had heard and read about the political power of the Tui (King) of Manu'a, which relates to a group of Eastern Samoan islands. However, I wasn't aware that Tongan scholars had also studied the links between Tui Manu'a and Tui Tonga.

So much so that the three types of Tongan language that are spoken, i.e. that of the language used for the Royals, the nobles and commoners, have words that link to Samoan origins, especially in the language employed for the Royals. That's a blog for another day.

If you've read in my earlier blogs, I have Tongan ancestry that we have lost connections to, as my maternal grandfather was a fluent Tongan speaker, as was my namesake and great-grandmother Eleni. I was told by my mother that often when they were arguing, they would speak in Tongan so that others weren't able to understand them. An interesting strategy to employ when not wanting others to know.

I was also aware that both of them spent time in Tonga and that we had a Tongan connection with one of my great-grandmother's sisters marrying in Tonga and living there. Sadly, we no longer have that connection, but I'm still proud to have that Tongan connection, which is estimated in my DNA to be about 10% (ancestry.com).

It is great to know about the Tongan connection and the commentary also confirmed for me some of my own research that I was aware of back in the 1980s of connections of Samoa with the location of other islands i.e. Tonga meaning south (of Samoa) and Rarotongan meaning (lalo - under or beneath Tonga) and Tokelau meaning north east as the island of Tokelau is positioned north east of Samoa. Something new to learn...

Candice Owens a great debater...

 

I don't usually comment on other YouTubers' posts, etc., but I thought for this particular online debate that I would make an exception. The highly viewed (well over two million views) weekend debate, with over three hours online, was between Candice Owens and a guy called Andrew Wilson, with another commentator known as PBD or Patrick Bet-David as the moderator.

I've been fascinated in the depth and breadth of the online investigation that YouTuber and public commentator Candice Owens has gone through since the public assassination of her good friend Charlie Kirk, whom I didn't even know about a year ago. 

New Zealand is a long way from the States, and our politics are markedly different, with our Te Tiriti o Waitangi or Treaty with Tangata whenua or indigenous peoples of this land. I found it interesting that Candice Owens, a young black woman who strikes me as very knowledgeable about global and internal politics within the States, was debating a white older man who didn't seem to be as knowledgeable, but he seemed to have a certain arrogance about him during the debate.

I won't go into the details of the debate, but in my opinion, and in that of many other online commentators, Candice Owens won hands down. I watched Wilson use bullying tactics, deflect questions, pivot when he knew things weren't going well, heckle her, and he had an incessant shaking of his foot, which really told of his nervousness, or rather, it was telling of the overt amount of stress that he was experiencing.

On the contrary, Candice Owens was the real master debater. I had watched her on an earlier online debate take on a group of young liberal debaters as a conservative woman and stand her ground really well. 

Her cool, calm demeanour must have been off-putting to Wilson because he seemed so agitated by her and his comments to her reflected that, especially in a comment when he said that he thought that "all women were retarded", which he reportedly said was a 'tongue-in-cheek' comment. I thought that that particular comment revealed more about his character and conceding the debate because Owens didn't flinch at all and annihilated him in front of a global audience. A deeply embarrassing debate for him.

I think that the late Charlie Kirk would have been proud to have had a friend like Owens. Someone who deeply cares about the murder of her friend and would try to find out the truth about his public assassination. She even put her life on the line, as I'm sure that the powerful people behind his murder would not be happy and are probably agitated by her asking further questions about the case.

My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family for protection and blessing, as not only was she pregnant at the time of the debate, but she's also a mother with children who count on her to be present for them. This was no mean feat, and I'm glad that Owens is a role model in many respects for young women who have a faith and a passion to live authentically despite the evil that surrounds us...

Passing of a well-respected rangatira (leader) Mr Stirling...

I'd like to pay homage to a rangatira (Māori word for leader), a kaiako (teacher) and a beloved teaching colleague for many years, Mr Te Kepa Stirling, as I knew him.

I started high school, and he was the Māori teacher at my high school, Ngā Tapuwae College (before it became a kura - school of Māori immersion), with his late wife as a school councillor. 

They were big proponents of te reo Māori (the Māori language), and I remember taking his class to learn Māori words, especially the Lord's Prayer. He also played the guitar, and I remember he had one finger missing but still played waiata (Māori songs) with gusto and had the rest of us singing along.

He was a formidable teacher and one that you didn't want to mess around with. He was a no-nonsense guy, but then when I got to know him better, I learned that he had a good sense of humour with a real heart for his people and te ao (worldviews) Māori.

There was a big restructuring of the school back in the 90s. It became one of the first campuses nationwide, with the school's name changed to Southern Cross Campus, encompassing the next-door Māngere Intermediate school that I had earlier attended. A primary school was moved onto the campus from down the road, and the rest was history.

The Māori bilingual classes then applied to become a kura and were next door to the campus and kept the name Ngā Tapuwae, where it became one of the most sought-after schools of Māori immersion that scored high marks for their students. Mr & Mrs Stirling's daughter, who was a couple of years older than me, became the principal.

After leaving high school, I went to Uni for several years and completed my first Master's degree, then returned to train as a high school teacher. I later met Mr Stirling both as experienced educators (he more than me), and we both worked on Ministry of Education contracts.

I distinctly remember him driving me to visit another colleague, and he showed me a shortcut to the city from where we both lived in South Auckland. Often when I drive down that road, I remember him showing me the road and the good relations that we had. Him as an experienced tangata whenua educator, and me as a fledgling diaspora Samoan educator at the time.

I had a lot of respect for Mr Stirling, as it was from him, his wife and colleague that I heard the Māori language spoken at school, as it wasn't commonly heard in the circles that I had growing up. It's a different story now, as I work and study within Māori tertiary education circles, but he would have been one of the first pioneers and just a year younger than my late dad.

It was so sad to hear today about his passing, as I had attended his wife's tangi (Māori funeral arrangements) many years ago at the kura where there were a lot of educators, students, and families who paid their respects at the time. They also left a special legacy in their vocal advocacy for te reo and te ao Māori, now with a kura onsite where Māori can succeed in an environment that espouses their cultural understandings. 

He reminds me of my dad; they were men of integrity who loved and served their communities. They were proponents of culture and language and believed in the integrity of tikanga/kawa or tū/aganu'u or protocols/traditions that needed to be passed on to the next generations. Interestingly, both had daughters who have continued in their legacies and trusting that this will continue with next generations...
 

Vai, Wai, and the important of water...

In past classes that I've taught, I've asked my students to consider what element they've felt associated with from their (indigenous) perspectives.

For me, it's water or vai in gagane (language) Samoan or wai in te reo (the language) Māori. I've always felt drawn to water, and perhaps that has to do with my Samoan heritage and DNA.

I remember learning to swim with my favourite strokes being back stroke, breast stroke and side stroke. I must confess that my freestyle isn't so great by my beloved's is.

All my children have been to swimming classes and in my 20s and 30, I enjoyed participating in Dragonboat and especially Outrigging or Waka ama, which is a type of canoe with an ama or outrigger. However, nowadays I'm enjoying my 5 - 7 km walks close to water, and this pic is of a beach that I walk around. I find water calming and soothing when it's still. 

It helps me to relax and to enjoy the soft lapping on sunny days near the beach. In fact, I got married to my beloved on a beach in Fiji, i.e. Sonaisali Island, and upon the loss of my late dad, when all of the funeral arrangements were completed, I was able to cry my heart out near water, which I found healing.

In Samoa, it's been a blessing to have been able to build on my late father's communal village of Fasito'o-uta, a house that is next to the open ocean with a view of the island of Savai'i from our outside porch. I've also participated in 'pure' or cleansing ceremonies with past classes when teaching/learning about 'tikanga' or Māori tradition and protocols. Water holds a special place in my heart...
 

Graduation cake for our eldest...

 

Here is a pic of our eldest's graduation cake that I forgot to post about on the day of her graduation from AUT (Auckland University of Technology) Bachelor of Laws.

She also won a top prize from one of her classes regarding indigenous laws that she was particularly fond of discussing with me, given my interest in indigenous research.

She actually had two other cakes, one from her BBF as they had been high school buddies who had both decided to enter law schools but at different universities, though only metres away from each other.

For this particular cake, I went in with my youngest to the cake shop to discuss the design of a book with yellow and pink tapa-type print on the top, frangipani with pink centres on the top.

The mortar board, coloured forest green with ribbon around the scroll, depicts the colour of the hood for law graduates of the university.

Inside the book cake, our youngest chose a marble cake with chocolate and vanilla and the mortal board filling was her favourite - a red velvet cake. The sad thing about our festivities was that I had to work on the weekend of her graduation and wasn't able to spend the Saturday and Sunday together.

However, we had a fun time and with some beautiful memories that were captured by a professional photographer and also our handy phones. I'm so glad to see her complete this part of her journey. It definitely was hard fought and we're so proud that the next generation are continuing on with my late father's wish for them to do well no matter what life's path they decide on...

"Culture is what shapes your ideas" Photograph by Iriyahz Filisi (2026)

 

Photo by Iriyahz Filisi (c) 2026

One of the things that I've been pleasantly encouraged by is the creativity that I believe was passed down through generations on my maternal side. 

Starting with my namesake, great-grandmother Eleni Tuilimu nee: Spitzenburg, to her son (my granddad), who was a jewellery maker, then to my mum, who was an amazing creative, i.e. could sew, knit, crochet, weave, make handicrafts, and amazing cook.

Then passed down to me with my interest in the arts and fine art, handicrafts and creative writing. Then to my children, with the elder two taking art into their senior high school years and now the youngest taking photography in senior high school.

This is a poster that was created by our youngest in her photography class, bringing together her interest in Samoan culture and a wordsmith too. She displayed the depiction of one of the weapons that Nafanua (an historical Samoan warrior woman) was believed to have used in a historical battle that she was, as I retold the story of in one of my books...