The importance of land, fanua (Samoan), whenua (Maori)...

The deck out back of our house in Fasito'o-uta facing the sea

 As I reflect upon my short time with our families in Samoa having returned last week, I can't help but be supportive of those who are fighting for their lands here in Mangere, Ihumatao (New Zealand) and in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Although they have different issues, the principles are the same of indigenous peoples standing as protectors of land that is sacred and/or is significant or important to them through generations of occupation where placentas, battles, burials, cultivation, livelihood etc. have occurred on the land over centuries.

However, over the years this stance has been termed and storied by the media as angry protestors protesting often against government regulations be it pertaining to the use of lands or waterways etc. This has divided many communities with the idea of protesting being a force of resistance against political powers.

For me, since working within an indigenous organization and learning to understand indigenous research, I've come to understand the Maori concept of kaitiakitanga which means guardianship or being guardians of lands, waterways etc. and that often this does not equate with ownership which is why the term protectors from an indigenous perspective is more accurate description of the stance that they are taking.

That's because from an indigenous perspective it is our responsibility to look after the environment that has been passed down to us with ancient stories, often called legends or myths from a western perspective, but in my research as a geographer (those many years ago) in Samoa, those stories weren't seen as myths at all but as historical stories that tell the histories of the environments personified often as living beings.

That was why I began recording our Samoan stories to be shared with our next generations to preserve those histories and now have shared them with the world in books as important stories that document the histories of environments.

And as indigenous peoples take the stance of trying to protect the environments from further development or desecration, they are also taking a stance to protect the stories of those environments so that the ancient stories can continue to be told and understand to the next generations...

The fight over indigenous lands in Ihumatao....

Standing in solidarity with our Ihumatao whanau (extended family)

Yesterday I went out to Ihumatao with my lil' sister to support the group out at Ihumatao. It is certainly a very difficult land issue as there are many perspectives to this block of land and it has a long history that I've learnt about over the years.

Over the past couple of years, I've taken my classes out there to listen to Pania Newton, their leader and to have an understanding of what happened historically.

This year I joined up with another class for our students to learn about the history and the importance of the land from a kaitiaki (Maori guardianship) perspective in anticipation that this would be happening soon as the corporate group would be getting pressure from their own senior managers to act on the development monies that had already been assigned to developing the 480 houses that are planned for the land.

Why this is important is that there are spiritual connections and aspects to the land and important stories of the voyaging and settlement of this particular are that I never learned about as a Geography major back at Auckland University and even with a Masters degree in Geography it didn't at all mention or even grapple with the notions of spiritual connections with whenua (land) for a lot of indigenous cultures.

So much so that I've since learned that when indigenous people lose their lands through shady deals, corruption or it is forcibly taken (stolen through legal means by a colonizing government or power) etc. there are spiritual repercussions upon the indigenous peoples of the lands. You just have to read through reports of places all over the world where indigenous peoples have been restricted to reservations or spaces in which they don't have spiritual connections to to see that it is quite damaging, dispossessing and cuts at the heart of indigenous peoples.

There are now academic writings about indigenous peoples who have been dispossessed from their lands and begin to suffer trauma, much like what's happening at Ihumatao where there are young Maori people fighting for their lands to remain as they are but the trauma of having a police raid, made to look like angry protestors and corporate developers saying that it is legally there corporate lands, although historically it was stolen from mana whenua (original peoples of that particular land) and given or sold to white settlers at the time.

That's why I'm encouraged and encouraging people who know of the importance of what these young people and old are fighting for to unite and meet up at Ihumatao. My only proviso is not to get arrested as my beloved in still in Samoa and I have a noho Marae on the weekend but as a Uni student this is what we did to support those who were guardians of important things to us.

If you are interested follow the Ihumatao social media links, subscribe to their email to keep up to date as it is now day 3 in the occupation or protest and it may get ugly before any formal resolution can be made.

Just like with Maunga Kea in Hawaii which is now into it's 7th day of protesting. The fight is international over valuing the proper of use of land for indigenous peoples is very real...

The Lion King movie...

Tonight my family went to watch the highly anticipated, Disney's newest from animation to real live-action movie and were interested in the results. For me, I wanted to see what would happen to the original story because when it first came out in the 1980s, it was an epic movie that was the first of it's kind that I'd ever seen at the time.

However, after we watched it, it was interesting to compare thoughts about the movie in how it carefully followed the original storyline and scenes to a tee in some parts and added scenes in others. In my opinion, the realistic scenery with its natural beauty was well designed but somehow the facial expressions of the animals showing emotions didn't translate as well.

There were also a couple of iconic scenes from the original missing i.e. when Rafiki (the baboon) hits Sima on the head with a stick and the tropical drag song which was quite funny in the original was also missing.

And with Beyonce playing Nala, the song that she sang wasn't iconic for me as the original and they also added another song that felt quite foreign to the film that wasn't in the original. All in all, I had mixed feelings that there were some nice moments and I'd still highly recommend the movie for the next generations...

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Samoa sites and sounds...

The iconic Clock tower in Apia

We always enjoy our times in Samoa, especially during the holiday week/s when we can refresh, catch up with our beloved families in the motherland, inhale the Samoan lifestyle and for some (like me) it's a great excuse to exhale and detox from work-life stress or other hindrances that help us to forget to relax and enjoy life.

These holidays we went to visit my parents and their/our new family home and also to celebrate a significant birthday with my beloved's mother in Samoa.

I think the celebrations in Samoa are always funnier, entertaining and just so 'Samoan' with lots of laughter, fun and smiles all around.

The food is always refreshing and tastes so much more flavoursome with fresh ingredients not usually from a can (although there are a lot of canned goods to choose from).

We loved our 'oka' (raw fish in coconut cream), taro, breadfruit (especially smoked), pawpaw, fish, seafood delicacies like limu (tiny balled clusters of seaweed) and pork (often plentiful at celebrations) with so much fresh fruit produce a tropical chefs delight.

And watching the South Pacific games (on TV) there was entertaining too especially listening to some of the Samoan commentaries i.e. the boxing competition commentary was especially entertaining. Not to mention watching the highly anticipated 100m, 200m track and the final 4 x 100-metre relay that brought Samoa so many silver medals.

A highly recommended holiday break and recharge for families or just the intrepid journeyer. Although I must say that Samoa must have so many cars per capita as whenever we go there there's always road works happening with peak hour traffic - never a dull moment...

Spiderman - Far from home movie 2019 review...

These holidays, if you're feeling bored and want to take the kids out to see a movie that has a low key adventure and an interesting storyline then I'd recommend the latest 'Spiderman - Far from home' movie that I took my kids to watch a couple of nights ago.

And if you're an 'Avengers' movie fan then this movie continues the story after 'Tony Stark' has died in the last long 3-hour movie saga story previous to this movie (this will make sense to Avengers fans) and explains what's happened in the interim.

I enjoyed relaxing into the story and having Zendaya as the lead actress was neat in seeing a woman of colour take a lead role in the movie franchise story. Although with this storyline who knows what will happen next as there's a question posed in the story as to who will take over the Tony Starks void that has been left behind.

But I'll leave that to the next Marvel movie franchise storyline to reveal in the not too distant future...

Aotea Square with Auckland City sights to see these school holidays...

Aotea Square in Auckland City near the Night Markets

It was neat to take my youngest two out to town for some movies and a bite to eat on this the first week of their holidays before we fly out to Samoa on the weekend.

What was neat to view on our way to the Queen Street Cinema was the Night Markets outside the Aotea Centre packed with mostly Asia foods and places to sit, talk and eat.

Because we live out in the suburbs, we don't venture out to the city much with the crazy car parking costs (free out in the suburbs) and the packed motorway that doesn't really seem worth the effort after an hour often stuck in traffic.

However, it was just nice to go into town in reminiscent of how I'd spent 5 years in town attending Auckland Uni (as it was known then) in my late teens, early twenties and working on Queen Street as a Uni student whilst studying.

That's another reason why I'm the preferred driver when we drive into town and now currently attending meetings at the Town Hall for Auckland Councils Pacific Advisory Panel with our term set to end in the next couple of months.

There were some light features on trees nearby in the Aotea square and the Town Hall was lit up with some laser light art. Definitely, nothing to compare with the large scale laser lights show in Sydney (Darling Harbour and surrounding Opera House etc.) that we witnessed a few years ago but still neat to see.

Alternatively, people were also ice skating in the rink with lots of eateries close by if wanting a little bit more than market foods. I was actually surprised at how many people were out and about in the chilly evening as we were.

Afterwards, it was nice to drive back home at a leisurely pace with no traffic congestion at night and away from the hustle and bustle of city life and looking forward to Samoa...

Nothing beats the open museum of being in Samoa...

Samoan artefacts on display in Auckland War Memorial Museum

Last weekend, I was a driver for my beloved's class field trip to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and although I have been a few times over the past few years with my class, there's always something new to view or to learn about.

We all went to see the Pacific section with the various Pacific Islands artefacts on display and although there were many symbols of Samoan culture, the displays don't quite capture the vibrancy of the culture and the intricacies of learning faaSamoa.

So although it is always interesting to learn something new from the artefacts I'd say that the best way of understanding and learning about Samoa is not from books and Museums (although they do have a place in society) but travelling there and experiencing the culture, the food, scenery, faaSamoa in action etc. nothing beats the open museum of experience in Samoa.

And that's why we hope to continue taking our children on regular trips to Samoa, to learn where their ancestors, grandparents and parent (dad) were born, to taste the foods, meet our families, experience village life and learn about things that they wouldn't otherwise learn about whilst living in New Zealand.

I thank my parents and also my beloved's family for giving us this space to share with our children as it is such a privilege in knowing that there are many diaspora (overseas living) Samoans who no longer have connections to family in Samoa or homes to visit and instead stay at resorts (although often it is the preferred option).

I'm so thankful to God that we have a home in Samoa in the village of Fasitoo-uta that we can now connect with as well as our families in the various other villages that we visit upon our travels. Being able to stay in the village, speaking Samoan to our families whilst visiting and experiencing the lifestyle which is quite different to Auckland is always humbling.

Visiting the open museum of Samoa rather than a museum display of Samoan artefacts wins every time...

South Pacific Games 2019 - Hosted by Samoa...

The South Pacific Games 2019 is hosted by Samoa from 7 - 20 July with the Opening Ceremony having been completed only a couple of days ago. In fact, I only found out today that Tonga had won the right to host the games but then gave notice a couple of years ago that they wouldn't be able to fulfil their responsibility therefore, Samoa was voted in by the committee and had 18 months to pull it together and organise the games for what has now been hailed as one of the best-coordinated games so far.

There are 24 nations (including NZ and Australia but on a smaller scale) competing in 27 sporting events including some 5,000 competitors and team officials who've travelled to Samoa especially seeking medal wins. We're looking forward to heading out there in a few days to see if we can check out a few of the events whilst we are in Samoa.

Unfortunately, we missed watching the torch-bearing runners before the games and the main opening ceremony but you are able to watch it on YouTube if missed. New Zealand has also committed to showing some of the sports on it's Sky Sports Pop Up 3 channel which will be the first time that NZ has offered this to NZ viewers.

My beloved offered that he had competed in the 1983 games as a distance runner that was held in Samoa with only 15 member nations at that time. In that year Samoa came second in the medals tally beaten only by New Caledonia and if you view the medal tally to date, New Caledonia is already leading with 8 gold medals thus far.

But it's not always about winning and instead also about experiencing another cultural space as many tourists, competitors and officials alike will be converging on Samoa, as my family will be soon, to experience what makes Samoa similar but also unique in the South Pacific Islands nations. Sometimes termed as the jewel of the Pacific or cradle of the Pacific.

And our countdown to Samoa begins (only 4 more sleeps!)...

'Carried away' Auckland Museum's newest exhibition on now...

Today, I accompanied my beloved's class (as one of the drivers) to transport his class to Auckland War Memorial museum. I was quite interested because I had attended earlier in the year and I had heard about a new exhibition about bags that was one show.

This particular exhibition is interesting as I remember how mother, sister and I made different types of bags growing up and I wondered which ones they would be exhibiting in the different styles over the years.

I remember my mum making a crocheted bag for me to take to church with a drawstring tie that was white. I also remembered how she made a diamond shaped needle point-type work on plastic templates that were later sewn together but I haven't seen any of those around.

And as teenage girls, I remember sewing tote bags out of denim as well as sewing a round tote bag. There were also the shoulder length leather bags that we took to church as children and I also remember a round woven plastic pink bag that I got one year.

I would definitely recommend going to see this exhibition called 'carried away' as it does have some traditional woven bags as well as synthetic and innovate bags that might bring back memories as it definitely did for me...

New exhibition at Auckland War Memorial Museum

He Waiata Matariki - Matariki song...

In having worked at Te Wananga o Aotearoa for several years now, I'm come to enjoy singing waiata (Maori songs) which are often so melodic with lovely harmonies (that I bring from my Samoan choir days) that I find myself humming them or playing the tunes on the guitar.

This is one such waiata that I'm learning with my class as we celebrate Matariki which is the Maori new year usually around July when a cluster of nine stars (or seven when the other two aren't seen) in the sky.

The Matariki cluster of stars or constellation is known by other names in the Northern Hemisphere such as the Pleiades and each of the stars has a different name. What I find so fascinating as when I hear the names of the stars and the stories behind them, I know that it is knowledge that would have spanned centuries of observation and understanding that would have been passed down the generations.

Which brings to bear that a lot of knowledge was suppressed during the time of early colonisation and that now there is a renaissance of reclaiming knowledge that was almost lost in time for a new generation to learn from.

I'm only just starting to touch on the amazing knowledge of the stars that would have possibly been common knowledge back in the time of my ancestors' several generations from the present. So that now when I look up into the night sky, especially in Samoa or American Samoa, the night sky is much clearer and I know that it was a map that was used to navigate to different destinations islands in the Pacific.

So that as we sing this song and celebrate this new season, I am reminded that my ancestors lived at a time when the stars shone brightly and told their own stories, quite alike to the story of Jesus Christ's birth whereupon a star was the signpost that something new was happening and the wise men followed the star to rest upon the place where the child was born.

I am so grateful to be born at such a time as this as to be able to learn and share these stories that make us unique and grateful also that my ancestry relates back to a time when they were environmentally friendly and had amazing knowledge of the natural world around them...