Samoan fun activity for children living outside Samoa, ...who own a banana tree

So today's weeding the garden ended up being an activity class with Maeva.
Making a ula from a tu moa (inflorescence according to google thank you) of a banana tree.

Step 1: Slash off the tu moa from the banana tree

 Step 2: Peel off the layers and break off the unopened flowers 

 Step 3: Place them in the order you like em on the ula, ie, the nice ones centred and the small ones on the sides.  

 Step 4: Start sewing, make sure you don't let the sap onto clothes,...it stays forever and forever. Get an old cloth and gently dap ula to remove excess sap.

Step 5: Et voila! Ula tu moa for Miss tama'imoa.

Samoa Language Week is next week....so c'mon people....lets think of ways to celebrate it (for those living outside of the Motherland).

You can:

Sing a Samoan Song:

Example,...Moelagi's school sang this at assembly last week:

Beautiful Pese Samoa singing by Moelagi's school

Paradise is a state of mind

when i was a young lass, i came across a lot of palagis who said to me and others on my island:

"you live in such a beautiful/ pristine/ perfect place, keep it as it is"

...after the 60th palagi, you get a sense of indifference, blase attitude and respond with "of course, we love it here in paradise' (and rolls eyes).

But by the 100th palagi, you now get sick of it and want to squash their eyeballs.

My point is, my paradise cannot retain and remain pristine for as long as we open our doors to palagi, development, technology, climate change, deforestation, contested land and titles court cases, HRPP, reality etc.

Now, we also have the palagis who came over before and on their second visit to Savaii, they are disappointed at how much change has occurred to 'their' paradise.

My problem with that is, their disappointment is not for the people or the place, but more so, for themselves and the eroding of the paradise that is in their minds, fading from their memories.

Culture is ever changing, and so do people, change is inevitable. 

I won't link you to the articles I am referring to, because the writer/s will hate me for it but I have this to say:

The paradise in your mind is still there, ....IN your mind.

The paradise that is Savaii, is a living, breathing, dying, moving, thinking place. 

Change happens.
 And while you lament about the loss of a beautiful place.... think about the young man you met  in the 70s/80s in Savaii. He too had to grow up, in 'your paradise' and it is impossible for him to remain savage, climbing a coconut tree and stopping by the roadside to call out, "Hello palagi" with a pearly white toothy polynesian smile, before jumping in the ocean to catch a shark or six.

He too had to grow up, go to school, get a job, or start a plantation, or look after his family, or ride a bus to and from nowhere. He too had to make a living in your paradise.

To retain the paradise in your mind, go and live in that paradise for a year, and I will ask you afterwards:

"Was it idyllic and serene? perfect and relaxing? was there a constant flow of pinacolodas and dancing islands maiden singing We are going...to the Hukilau? Are you proud of that perfect place, and passionate about keeping it exactly as it is?"

Shit does happen...even in paradise. 

my own image

Fagogo maketh inspiring Samoan authors

On Sunday evening, I took the young ones of my family to listen to Albert Wendt speak at the finale of the Writers Festival.

I am not a writer, but when I heard him speak, I was completely floored. 

I suddenly realized I had missed my calling how powerful the words he spoke and how much mana this man possessed.

When he spoke about the fagogo, I smiled because he was describing the very reason why I love writing on this blog and telling tales and kulukus.....he spoke about  listening to his own elders telling the fagogo while he and his siblings lomi'd (massage) the legs of the old lady. 

Koke Aiono talked about this too, and so many other Samoan writers....this was the beginning of their creative drive., and e sa'o lelei Albert:

"We didn't have television, My Grandmother, she had sore legs and she would reward us with a fagogo. ...There is a call, "Tagi le Fagogo" and we had to respond to show that we were paying attention all along.
I can still hear her telling the fagogo".

 After he spoke, I asked my crowd to tell me what they thought of the evening and Albert Wendt, here is their feedback:

"He was true to himself, where he came from"  Faleasiu, Year 11
"He wasn't ashamed of his culture" Vetti,  Year 10
""Exhilarating" Barry, Year 6
"Funny" Moelagi, Year 2

What I also found intriguing and promising was his references to second or third generation Pacific kiwis, who are now excelling in all areas, like the arts, as writers, artists and one of those was his granddaughter Isabella Moore, who is an opera singer...stunning voice and totally complemented the mood of the evening. Seki a!

But the most powerful comment of the evening was this:

"Sometimes, the most influential people in your life are those who are absent" 

Maualaivao  Albert Wendt

Albert Wendt and my nieces (:

Faith with a mission

I'm just reading about a missionary from the LDS church who has returned to Samoa, having served there in the early 1970s (on Samoa Observer).

Here's the thing, i don't belong to that church, but my goodness, they definitely got a few things right, or shall I say, they have such a healthy ongoing relationship with Samoa, not just their counterparts.

• I say this because if you think about it, they don't do the whole give $2000 and $3000 and how many more thousands to the church yearly. They only give a portion of what they earn.
• Investing in education: Wow...have you been to Vaiola? They have state of the art resources that a Savaii kid could only 'dream of''....and I won't mention my own denomination but lets just say getting a textbook with all the pages intact to yourself is a miracle.
• Breaking down cultural barriers/borders,...again, I refer you to the story about this missionary and be reminded that their presences in a village is testament to this open, healthy relationship. Learning another language and living like the people around them. Our church ministers are from our own community and they live mostly in 2 storey walled in mansions.
• Smoking, Drinking: They don't do this (ahem - when no one is looking lol) but this is one thing that is a blessing that the others could have benefited from.
• Relevance: What I enjoyed about this church is that during their services, they are split into groups, ...i think the moms and kids and the men break off and then they discuss issues that are relevant and share recipes and share real life scenarios....(PS My little sister and I used to go to the Vaisaulu LDS with a relative when my family were not paying attention haha)....in my actual church, we park our mulianas on the hard seat and listen for 2 hours to the church leader preaching and singing, zero movement to the bones or the brain.
• Missionaries who return and give back in one way or another: The most memorable missionaries I met returned to Savaii before the 2 cyclones ( I was a newborn at the time but my memory is amazing hah - nah, I was much older)., I remember Rex Maugh, because of a really childish reason, he had one green eye and one blue eye.(Did I mention I was a kid?) and I remember Paul Cox because he was passionate about the rainforest. Both gave back, Rex Maugh was involved in turning RLSS's residence into the Museum it is today and Paul Cox eventually supported the Falealupo people in retaining their lowlying rainforest through a 50 year lease instead of cutting it down for timber.

So yeah, ...I therefore am not suprised when I see the recent Bureau of Statistic stats  showing yet another increase in their numbers since the last census....although if you dig deeper, the increase is also due to natural births and not necessarily converts:

4.9 Fertility by religion
Religion is a major part of Samoa's social life and customs because the population is predominantly
Christian. Therefore, the children are seen as blessings from God Almighty hence big families are highly valued. It is most likely that the church teachings may influence the family size decisions and family planning practices made by couples, teenagers and young people. The 2011 results showed that LDS had the highest TFR(total fertility rates) of 5.4 followed closely by AOG with 5.1. The
same churches also had the same ranking in the census 2006.

copied from Samoa Bureau of Statistics 2011

There you have it....my religious post of the month,

Thank you for reading.

My goodness....yesterday, I was public announcer and now i'm sounding like a PR adviser from Utah.