Mana Mangere Writers workshops...

 

A big thank you to the Mangere Otahuhu local board for sponsoring our upcoming 4th Mana Mangere writers' collection of short stories and Poetry.

This particular collection for 2021 (as we had a rest in 2020 due to the global pandemic) is our response/s to the COVID-19 pandemic with the theme of "Intergenerational Echoes".

This year, we have 9 workshops whereby writers or emerging writers can come together at our local library and can either write, discuss, read or consider opinions on their writing.

It's a safe space where feedback can be given with editing and proofreading which is offered free of service without having to pay someone to do it.

It's also open to any i.e. the very young, teens, adults, seniors and anything in between with the goal of capturing some of the experiences that different people in our society had during the COVID-19 lockdowns of level 4, 3, 2 and 1.

I'm thankful to our local librarian manager, Sonia Munro, who has made this possible with the help of Renee Tanner, who is our local arts broker who's support has been very helpful as well as Lemauga Lydia Sosene who is the Chairperson of the local board, who's been supportive right from the beginning.

We're looking forward to launching this book hopefully in May/June of this year and hopefully outside any lockdowns although we could still launch it online through Zoom or even Facebook live. A very big thanks to so many who have supported us right from the start in our families etc. who've made this dream possible for our local writers...

Hunger for Colour Donations...

 

This weekend, I was able to go out with our middle youngin' to check out a new (but old) initiative that I became aware of on a Facebook post of a collaboration between Resene (paints) and the Salvation Army.

The idea is the opportunity for people go into the stores and swap food cans (including pet food) for tester pots of paint which come in a variety of colours.

In learning about this, we took with us 7 cans (the maximum for each family) and dropped it off to the Manukau branch and picked up 7 test pots of pastel water based paints.

I think the best part of it was in choosing the colours, apart from the fact that the cans were going to an important cause and there were a couple of families who did the same.

The colours we chose were for a project that we had discussed at the beginning of the year of re-painting a dolls house that I had bought over 15+ years ago complete with furnishings and dolls that we had bought over the years. Now it will be getting a new lease of life and painting over the white coat that it has had for years.

So if you are considering to start a small painting project that could do with a few pots of tester paints then why not check out the website on: www.resene.co.nz and give to an important cause with a swap of food cans. It could bring a little more colour into your life...

Sibling love and support...

Yesterday, I had the privilege of acting as chauffeur for our three youngins' as our eldest took our youngest for a shopping treat out at Dressmart, a labels outlet shopping experience of our eldest teenager with our 9-year-old.

With Uni yet to start for our eldest and a teachers' only day at school for our youngest, with our middle child yet to start at her new high school. it set the scene for a neat girls' day out.

It was neat to see them interacting and trying on different clothes, sports shoes, eating sushi and boba tea with a lot of love and a new experience for our youngest (I'm not partial to labels especially with multinational companies paying minimal wages for sweatshop labels labour).

This pic was particularly funny for me as it looked like someone with their hands in their pockets but instead, it was a Converse hoodie hanging up on a rack.

Afterwards, it was time to return home all suited up with shopping bags and ready for rest and relaxation. It was also neat to see how sibling relationships have grown over time and prayerful for those relationships to continue into adulthood. A real blessing to see...

Auckland at Alert level 3...

 

On the way home from our Valentine's day dinner we were surprised to find out from our eldest that we were going into Alert level 3 as she'd also been notified whilst on a Valentine's evening out.

Whilst returning home, I checked on the 'Unite against COVID-19' App' and found out that it would start at midnight and continue until midnight on Wednesday unless otherwise announced.

That was surprisingly quick as we had learnt only a few days ago that Melbourne was going into Lockdown and now we are also. It does mean that most schools and Early childhood centres are closed except for children of Essential workers for which provisions must be made for them by schools/centres.

It also means that those who are able must work from home and all precautions must be made whilst out and about with the encouragement of wearing masks and ensuring to check the Ministry of Health website in case you were at any of the places in question that the three infected South Auckland positive case family members went to.

Those places include: Papatoetoe high school that the daughter of the couple attends. That school is closed for a deep clean (I assume) with close contacts notified to self isolate and get tested. A location at Auckland Airport in Mangere that the mother works at, with the same applying and several places of interest including locations outside South Auckland that members of the family attended.

For the next three rainy days, my two bubble family/s will be hunkered down and out of circulation as the variant that has been revealed in South Auckland is one that is dangerously transmissible and has taken many lives like those in Europe, South America, USA and South Africa.

Stay safe Auckland and keep abreast of the news with afternoon announcements from the Prime Minister, in the next 3 days, as they try and trace the origin/s of this variant for this family and any other infected persons and to seek if it has been transmitted widely within the community/s...

Waitangi Day - long weekend...

 

This long weekend is our second long weekend observed in Auckland after our Auckland anniversary last weekend which was very much appreciated with many families enjoying time together now many schools and work are back into full swing.

Interestingly enough, Google also put out an image of a marae (a traditional Maori meeting house as pictured) on our Waitangi day that annually falls on the 6th of February.

It's commemorated as the day, in 1840, when representatives of the Crown (meaning England as a sovereign state with Queen Victoria) signed a treaty with many representatives of Maori iwi (tribes) from around the country.

What we find out later, in my own studies, was that there were two versions i.e. the English version and the Maori version of which many Maori paramount chiefs signed and they both have different meanings to what was understood about the treaty partnership.

Fast forward to today and still that partnership is honoured at a beautiful place called Waitangi which is located to the North of Auckland of several hours drive, and many government officials and Maori iwi representatives join together to celebrate the occasion on this day.

As for my family, we take it easy and realise how blessed we are in living in this country especially as the pandemic war wages across the globe killing hundreds of thousands for which we often pray about but thankful for our relative safety, isolation and the growing positive relations that are being forged between the various ethnicities in our small country...

Ministry of Education's Pacific Education Innovation Funding...

 

In a surprising miracle this week, our Samoan Early childhood centre received a letter of success for a last-minute application that we applied for in November from the Ministry of Education's Pacific Education Innovation Fund.

This Innovation Fund was launched in September of last year with the purpose of supporting the development of innovative practices in Pacific bilingual and immersion education in schools and in Early learning centres like ours.

I thank God for this amazing opportunity as it allows for me to share the knowledge that I've gained in Indigenous research teaching and experiences in education contracts over my many years of teaching and learning in education to support the design of a curriculum that would be beneficial for our community of learning and also innovative in it's practice.

There are so many possibilities and I thank the panel who read through our application and could understand the genuineness but also the possibilities of what this funding would be able to do for our communities as I hope to pilot this project with our Samoan centre and then share the ideas for our neighbouring Cook Islands and Niue Early childhood centres to also apply for upcoming funding...

Watching the 'Croods 2' movie...

 

Last night, we had a 6 girls' night out watching the latest movie of the 'Croods' followed by a dinner shouted out by our eldest. I liked the first movie so thought that watching it on the last public holiday before school started would be a neat way to finish the holiday period.

I enjoyed the movie as a whole (no spoiler alerts) but still preferred the first movie over this one although the three teenagers preferred it with all its action scenes and interesting themes of tradition vs modern conveniences.

I actually felt like it was two movies in one as there was a totally different location for the second half of the movie as compared to the first half. Other than that, I think that it is a recommended family movie for a low key take it easy action movie with some interesting themes to consider...

Changing direction of PhD...

 

This long weekend, as well as catching up on a lot of paperwork that I write for my work, the boards that I'm on and correspondence that I keep, I'm also working on some writing and especially with the goal to finish my doctoral studies next year.

It's been a long and arduous journey since my first attempt in 2007 and haven't really stopped since with so much to consider writing about and much to reflect upon.

However, the saddest part for me is that with this global pandemic much of the fieldwork and tofā sa'ili (indigenous research) that I wanted to undertake in Samoa does not look like it will eventuate and I don't have much of a say in it.

With the international borders closed and the cost of going into quarantine and time lost, I'll be looking at changing my fieldwork to incorporate a New Zealand based albeit Auckland location.

This is really sad because the whole basis of what I wanted to do was to have my research-based in Samoa where all of the important cultural concepts originated but then again, I can work it to my advantage by looking at it from a more diasporic Samoan approach.

So now I'll have to rewrite some of my chapters and make some new considerations as to what that might look like but the exciting thing is now to work on finishing the work that I started those many years ago and then hand it in next year.

With so much to do and so little time, there's no more time for excuses or for waiting around for international borders to open or for a vaccine, it's just time to start towards the finish line with the goal in mind - completing this and with God's blessing and support, it can be done...