Samoan language week celebrations ...

Pre-launch flyer at Otara Library for Samoan language week

Malo le soifua ma le lagi e mama i lenei vaiaso faapitoa mo le gagana Samoa i Aukilani, Niu Sila. (Blessings in living and the heavens be clear in this important week for the Samoan language).

It has been a very busy week this week with Birthdays and also in supporting our annual Samoan language week celebrations.

So much so, that we have supported our early morning karakia (prayers) at Te Wananga o Aotearoa this week with the theme of Samoan language week whereby a team hosts the karakia with team members saying the greetings in Samoa as we support in singing pese (songs) and hymns in Samoa

As well as wearing Samoan patterned pea (top and or long wrapped skirt), ie faitaga (formal men's skirt attire), lavalava and other Samoan accessories.

This week, my beloved and I have been blessed with the privilege of visiting schools such as Robertson Road school, in Mangere, in their mainstream and bilingual units with pre-launch readings of our new book in both the Samoan language and in English.

It's always such a privilege to be able to share our stories and to discuss the ideas behind the story but also to answer questions from students and interact with our next generational leaders in our communities and families.

A big thanks also to Leota Alice, who is an amazing Samoan librarian with a Pasifika portfolio who invited us to visit Mayfield school in Otara with a Pasifika library team including Hana (Samoan librarian extraordinaire) and Henz (supreme Maori guitar man) and we were able to share with those children about the 100 years commemoration of this sad event in Samoa's history but also how it became the impetus for Samoa to become the first Pacific to be independent in 1962.

Now also looking forward to launching the book tomorrow, that although it is a very sad story about the incompetence of the New Zealand administrators at the time, we are now able to enjoy the independence that our forefathers fought for in recognizing the atrocities that occurred because of one ship that was allowed to dock in three different Harbours in: Fiji, Western Samoa (as it was known at the time) and Tonga.

At all of these islands, thousands of people died but Western Samoa suffered the most losses in the world per capita with Fiji and Tonga numbering in the thousands but this information has not been easily shared in our histories.

And so this is why we do what we do, in sharing and shaping the minds of our leaders of today and informing our leaders in schools, for tomorrow. Lest we forget. Ia manuia ma ia soifua.(Blessings and farewell).

Birthdays week in our aiga/family...

Celebrating my dad's 82nd birthday with our close aiga (family)

 As well as celebrating Samoan language week, this week with our friends and family, it's also birthday week with my dad, my mum and my beloved all having birthdays within a 7 day period.

It's definitely a blessing and our children like it with all the preparation, planning and fanfare that we celebrate and we get to share as a family.

One life lesson that I learnt from my parents in growing up was that we celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, passing exams etc. as a way of honouring God and honouring the person who's special day it was.

So much so, that my family still continues with this celebration that has taken us overseas for our weddings, family trips for celebrating birthdays, family reunions etc. and it's also a time of creating amazing memories and instilling hope and love for the future.

Although I know that with some religions and within families, birthdays and other such rituals aren't celebrated, I've found that it's becoming increasingly important for us to share in celebrating important occasions so that individuals feel loved and cared for, honoured, respected and supported especially in the need to feel valued in our society that often overlooks people of difference.

So to three of the most special people in my life (apart from my children) I honour you and thank God for gifting me with you as the three most important people who have blessed me, taught me so much about life and who I hope and pray continue to blessed in your lives. Ia manuia lo tou aso fanau (happy birthdays to you)...

K (Korean) dramas on Netflix...

I've just recently discovered "K" dramas on Netflix, something that I was introduced in our eldest's interests a couple of years ago but in not being a huge TV fan (i.e. I've got lots of other more interesting things to do instead of sitting in front of a box) it was a pleasant surprise.

Initially, it reminded me of the US dramas that we had back in the 1980s with no expletives (swearing), nudity, illicit sex etc. that seemed to escalate those dramas into a disinteresting frenzy of relationship breakups and makeups.

Interestingly enough, I've found some of the popular K Dramas to be quite the opposite and are refreshing with little to no swearing, no explicit scenes and with more emphasis on the emotional states of the characters, developing the characters with plot twists, interesting storylines and it's taught me a few things about Korean culture that I hadn't been aware of.

One series that I've finished watching was 'Inheritors' also known as 'The Heirs' and I couldn't help feeling that some of the scenes were emotionally heart wrenching and almost painful to watch as the main characters act through torturing, harrowing scenes of societal and hierarchical blackmail.

To the point that they will replay scenes of heightened emotional loss, or loneliness with the main characters crying in almost all the episodes through dysfunctional family relationships or breakups/breakdowns and interestingly enough both female and male, with lots of plot twists that have you wondering about what will happen next.

I think one can get emotional invested in a character that they particularly feel sympathetic too or empathetic and so I've continued watching to see what becomes of their choices. I've also found that the programmes are a comment on society as norms and boundaries are pushes in the seeming relationships between the older more traditional generation with their social morays as opposed to the younger generation who often rebel or do not follow the same well trodden path of their forebearers.

It's been interesting to also observe the roles of women in how they often portray women in both being of virtue, obedient and often subservient to the male role but still portray powerful women in corporate roles and as mothers as well. I must say that it's also been interesting to see the culture of respect for elders which is similar to Samoan culture although with different practices, such as the bowing and a very real comment on the social hierachy between those who are corporate inheritors and those who live from paycheck to paycheck.

Definitely something I'm currently interested in but for a short season as I've still got a PhD thesis to start/finish writing...

Standing for local school board of trustees...

Pic Source: Pixabay

 Today, I handed in my 400-word brief and nomination form for a local school's board of trustees elections as it's the closing date for candidate's expressions of interest to be voted on for upcoming elections.

Over the years I've been on several schools boards of trustees ranging from primary, intermediate and full school campus. At one time I had put my name into three schools that my children and sister were attending and the unthinkable happened and I was given the opportunity to stand on all three boards.

Suffice to say that it was a quick learning curve in being a chair in one, a vice chair in another and a member in the third. It was a crazy juggle as I had to manage my monthly board meetings around my family activities, work and studies. This time around, I've decided to stay with the one and will see if I am successful.

For me, the importance of being on a school board is about staying abreast of what is happening in the education sector especially with the upcoming changes and to hold the school accountable for various budget considerations, the annual reporting and the list goes on. 

It also gives me an insight into how the power relations work within the school as I keep an eye on my child's learning and how things are going for the students in the school for all students but particularly for Pacific and Maori and minority and/or vulnerable students.

It's important to keep an ear to the ground on what's happening in the school and to challenge any questionable situations or actions that might negatively affect the learning of students. On more than one occasion I've had to challenge or call out questionable negative attitudes of some educators but by in large those are few and far between as we have many dedicated and ethical teachers out there, who care about doing the best practice in their classroom. 

Prof Rangi Matamua ' Living by the stars'...

Prof. Rangi Matamua in Manukau speaking on 'The Gathering of Matariki

Last week I had the privilege of attending an evening community event, with some members of my class, to listen to eminent Professor Rangi Matamua discuss his understandings of Matariki (the constellation) with Maori cosmology and understandings of astronomy, it's origins and storying.

It's a New Zealand and Australian Roadshow called 'The Gathering of Matariki' which is in partnership with the Royal Society (Te Aparangi) and Marsden Funding (Research) to share his indigenous Maori knowledge on Matariki with 20 different venues booked solidly for this event all over New Zealand and Australia.

It was so fascinating to listen to and the fact that he was funny and obviously was used to speaking at local community events. It was refreshing, entertaining and well worth the wait. It wasn't at all academic, although many of the concepts were interesting in the depth of understanding that one would have in having studied the stars for some two-plus decades.

The things that I took away from the talk was that there was a depth of knowledge in the Maori narratives that he shared around Matariki and the obvious blending with European stories about the nine-star clusters. I also made me consider that this information would have been passed on from one generation to another and that it would have taken centuries for this body of knowledge to have informed earlier generations on planting, harvesting, fishing, trapping etc. in local knowledge of the environment and the seasonal and lunar cycles that appear every year.

Two other things that stood out for me was his statement that 'we' are conduits of information from our ancestors and then passing it on to the next generations which is why he is sharing this information openly with communities, for free, and that we should do similarly.

He also reminded me that we should 'look up' in meaning that often we forget that there is a huge universe out there and the stars that are able to guide for some, encourage for others or inspire etc. I know that whenever I go to Samoa or American Samoa, I only have to look up and see the roadmap that my ancestors would have used those many centuries ago and now I can see those same stars too...

Community Food Hubs: from garden to table...

Food Hub menu at Papatoetoe

I love the idea of having community Food hubs like the one out in Papatoetoe, where people can go to learn about growing fresh veggies either in their own back yard or in local community gardens.

With the concept of 'garden to table' so that you are able to grow your own veggies and then take it straight to the table after cooking rather than store-bought food. This is like going back to basics when food was sourced locally for consumption, like back in the islands.

This is a concept that has recently been promoted in schools for the past few years and it's encouraging to see children growing veggies in small school garden plots and then learning to turn those into meals with food to share for friends and family.

The added bonus of our local Papatoetoe Food Hub is that not only is the food grown locally but a cafe has been set up so that those who may not have the time to cook are then able to purchase well made, healthy foods for a fraction of the price that they might do in a restaurant. Group meetings can also be had at the venue and it has a nice atmosphere for friends to get together either indoors or outside.

I've also heard that in some church communities, community gardens have become a source of food for sharing with local communities through shared meals or soup kitchen outreaches. This then brings families from the community into shared spaces to share weekly meals together and to get support if needed.

Yesterday, I enjoyed the veggie soup meal with my beloved enjoying the various curries at the Papatoetoe Food Hub and found out that next week they are opening from Monday to Thursday from 10 am to 2-3 pm.

It's definitely an initiative that I'm supporting and hoping that we get to see develop all over Auckland...

New book - a labour of love ...

Cover of our latest edition to our historical series 

During Samoan language week celebrations from 26 May to 1 June, we'll be launching our latest book called 'The 1918 deadly epidemic in Samoa' on 31 May 2019 at Papatoetoe War memorial library.

It's been a labour of love, since 2016, when I became aware of the 100 years commemoration of this event that devastated Samoa's people at the time and also affected my aiga (family) through the sudden death of my great grandfather in Fale'ula.

So over the last couple of years, I read reports, eye witness accounts and as much material that I could get my hands on to begin to write the story with as much detail as I could to give a view of what occurred to bring about this fatal disease to Samoa.

One thing that was so evident was that a captain of the ship purposely continued on his travels with sick passengers on board perhaps not realizing the devasting effect that it would have on three nations: Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa with thousands dying at each of the ports that they called into.

The really sad part for me was in realizing that it was avoidable with American Samoa closing its borders during that time with no ships coming in or out of the port. As a result, no lives were lost on the American Samoa islands but their cousins and family on the Islands of Upolu and Savaii lost many.

I also got to take my family to view the site of the mass graves in Vaimoso and to pay a silent tribute to those who had passed on. I also continue to take my children to visit the grave of their maternal great, great grandfather in Fale'ula in passing on this story.

So that as we come to launch this book and celebrate Samoa's language week, we also think of those who lost their lives untimely and those who have left a legacy for the new generations to come. It wasn't a story that I learned about in school or at Uni but in my family and one that needs to be told...

Happy mother's day to our beautiful mothers ...

 I had such a neat mothers day with my family and especially with my mom yesterday who flew in from Samoa earlier on in the week. It's so special to be able to share such a special day with my mum of whom I have been blessed with from above and have learned so much from and who has shaped my life since birth.

Some of the things that I learned from her was her strong work ethic in growing up watching her multi-tasking and cooking some wonderful meals with love. Although my mum's fairly shy in not liking public speaking, she made up for it in her creativity. She taught me handcrafts such as to sew, crochet, knit etc. and we enjoyed creating blankets, scarves, jumpers etc. growing up.

She was creative and an exacting seamstress as when she was much younger she would not only sew dresses for us (including my intermediate and high school uniform) but she also helped me with my ball dress and 21st birthday dress and sewed dresses for other ladies although she preferred to keep it as a leisure time event.

My mum has always been supportive of my different pursuits, a behind the scenes cheerleader, supporting me to start my first Master's degree although I wasn't sure about it. She helped me to look after my children in their formative years and they too have a very special relationship with her as well.

I hope that I can be as patient, supportive and caring as my mother has been with me, with my own children. I hope that I can inspire and encourage as much as she has to me and I can pass that on to my own too...

American Samoans in Alaska and around the world ...

Photo credit: Pixabay

This week I had the pleasant opportunity of meeting an educator from Alaska who was on a research trip to New Zealand with an interest in Pasifika resources for school libraries in Alaska.

She had contacted me with a particular interest in our books in the ancient Samoan stories series and with our new Samoan historical series.

Having been a teacher librarian in a high school library many, many years ago, I remembered how I had tried to make the library more user-friendly for Maori and Pasifika students and how it was important to get books, CDs, posters, magazines and other resources that were relevant and appropriate for them to use in having been a high user of libraries growing up.

This reminds me of the fulfilment of a wish to share our indigenous Samoan stories with our next generations in remembering how privileged I'd felt when I first learnt about these stories outside my compulsory education years and now sharing them with our current generation to pass these important stories on.

And as a diaspora (having being brought up away from the motherland) Samoan, I know how difficult it is to find Samoan language or even English resources about Samoa. Therefore, it has become important for us to consider the important stories that we are able to share and then to print resources and send them out.

In my travels, I've found Samoans in:

• USA: Seattle, California (Compton, San Francisco, Los Angeles) etc.
• Hawaii: Oahu (Laie) etc.
• American Samoa
• Samoa
• Australia: (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane) etc.
• New Zealand: (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch) etc.

Although I know that Samoans lived all around the world having met my husband who's lived in India, Asia and Indonesia and with family in Europe, Germany, etc. wherever we go, we take a part of our culture with us.

And as a teacher and educator, I can't but help to share some of the knowledge that I have gained from our fa'aSamoa so that others can have a deeper appreciation of that 'measina a Samoa' the treasures or things of beauty of Samoa to encourage our contemporary generations to pass it on...

Re-claiming, Re-history-ing our past...

The sign at the entrance of the Kingitanga exhibition

 This last weekend I was able to combine my class with other colleagues to visit the Auckland War Memorial Museum whilst on our noho marae or weekend of learning staying overnight at a local marae called Te Mahurehure Marae in Pt. Chev.

This particular visit we were able to attend the last days of an exhibition that celebrated 160 years the Kingitanga movement that started up in the 1800s as a response to the rising tide of unrest in New Zealand over England's people wanting for more Maori land through the confiscation of lands, land grabbing, illegal selling of land etc.

We were told, by the guide, that after sending some tribal chiefs to seek an audience with Queen Victoria, at the time, she refused to see them and they returned with the thought of setting up their own Maori equivalent royal family as a response for two sovereign nations to meet.

Not all iwi or tribes agreed to this or to the Treaty of Waitangi that was signed by some chiefs of various iwi with the Crown through her government representatives and still many Maori do not recognise the Kingitanga movement as theirs.

In fact, since joining the Wananga o Aotearoa in 2009, firstly as a student, I began to learn about another side of New Zealand history that I had no previous idea about as I had learnt US and British history in high school but very little of NZ.

So in my studies, I learnt that there had been an 1835 signing of the declaration of independence by some Maori chiefs prior to signing the treaty of 1840 and there were large amounts of Maori land that was confiscated through legal means that disadvantaged Maori since those early days and still continuing today.

It's a different historical account that we now teach in reclaiming indigenous spaces and drawing from information and sources other than the standard textbooks that got it so wrong during my high school days.

And it's also encouraging in now being more aware of historical events and important Maori leaders and figures who made a difference in re-historying our nations past and giving a more balanced view for future generations to learn about...

Food Hub - Papatoetoe with $6 meals...

Picture credits: Food Hub - Papatoetoe (Facebook page)

Yesterday, I got invited to have lunch with a friend at the new Food Hub at Papatoetoe which is just opposite the new New World store in old Papatoetoe and was delightfully surprised by this neat space and place to dine for our communities.

So if you haven't been in the area for a while, it used to be the old Papatoetoe bowling club that I used to drive past, back in the day, when I used to be a member of the Allen Brewster Papatoetoe Gym.

It's now been refurbished with a place for dining as well as an outdoor space and if you've been around long enough, you might even  recognise the White Lady, a long food caravan that I remember being around when I was at Uni and if you needed a bite to eat in the city and it was late at night when all the food places had closed (before it became 24/7).

There's also a community networking component with food education programmes for community groups, schools etc with the concept of 'food to table' of having community gardens etc. and the food is just simply divine and for $6 a meal - it's probably the best bargain out there. It's presently open only on Wednesday and Thursdays from 10 am to 2 pm and they're soon to be trialing being open on Fridays as well.

So yesterday I had a vegetarian curry (and I didn't even realize that it was vegetarian) with beautifully aromatic spiced rice and a lovely yogurt sauce and then today I took my beloved to have a taste in having lived in Indian for a few years and he absolutely loved it and gave his excellence rating and even had a second serving as it tasted genuine, with a lot of love for all those curry lovers out there.

I decided to have the pumpkin soup with a soup and it was hearty with lots of veggies and a swirl of possibly cream? and with a hotly buttered scone was absolutely filling. We topped it up with a Berry Nana smoothie $3 (small) or $5 (large) and they were healthy servings and took home their $1 afghans that were crunchie and lovingly homecooked.

I have no hesitation in recommending this to our community for a neat day out of the office as there's space for office team meetings/hui or just to take some family and friends for lunch out that is at a reasonable cost that supports our community initiatives with some time out.

The Food Hub has been open since late last year for a trial period of some 18 months hopefully it continues to grow giving further support to local social enterprise and other community initiatives that support our whanau and NGOs (non-government organizations) as well as those working for our communities in government initiatives and education.

Give it a go, you'll definitely be back for more...