NiuZila: Land of full fat milk and welfare money

I was meant to post this up a few days ago… opps.

I’ve been following the blog pages of a few American Peace Corps serving back home in Samoa.  One of my favourite blogs is by Matt (http://diplomatt.blogspot.com/).  As it turns out the last couple of weeks he was on holiday in cold wintry Niu Sila / New Zealand.  I commented on his page how it was weird following a person’s travels on a blog especially when the blogger is in the same city as me.  Seeing pictures of landmarks in Aukilani / Auckland I had just been at days before, or drive past every day, gave the internet and blogging a sense of physical reality.  It wasn’t just some random dude back in Samoa, but it could be the next Palagi guy I walk past down Queen Street.

I also commented on Matt’s page that if he wanted to, he should come to Aukilani Saute / South Auckland to watch the Samoan Independence day celebrations at Malaeola.  Reality got even more weird when I read his post on Aso Lua / Tuesday about him taking up my offer and he actually went to the celebrations.  The poor dude had to catch the infrequent bus service (owing to it being a national holiday in Niu Sila but for a totally different reason: Queens Birthday) all the way across town to Magele / Mangere, and he said he spent an hour walking around Magele looking for Malaeola.  Opps, should’ve given him better directions, in fact I should’ve offered the poor guy a ride there at least.

But as it turned out, I didn’t even make it to Malaeola in the end. 

Here I was encouraging an American Palagi guy in a foreign country to travel across the city to witness my homeland’s independence day celebrations, yet I didn’t even go myself!

Yip, really felt guilty that day.  But I can explain myself.  As always we had faalavelave’s that weekend.  A funeral, a wedding and my uncles 50th, take my grandma to church.  Seriously, during the weekends my family all of a sudden place an invisible sign on my car reading “TAXI”… but the thing with my taxi is apparently it’s free fares!  On top of that are my own errands and events I need to run or want to attend.  One of my mates daughters 1st birthday, drop off the dvd’s I borrowed from a friend 6 months ago, buy light bulbs, buy deodorant… you know the important things.  So yeah, an empty gas tank by the end of the weekend. 

It seems like you’re so busy during the week that you try to shove it all in to the weekends, to the point where you get to Monday and think: have I even had any rest yet?  At the risk of sounding like I’m trying to make an excuse for not going to independence day celebrations, and feel less guilty for making Matt go, I do feel like I lose a certain amount of independence in the weekends.  During the week family (and friends) know I’m busy with work so don’t try and bother me, but when it comes to the weekends apparently I’m “on-call” and available to do my family feau / chores, running errands etc.  Which is mostly true, I am available… just not 24 hours in the day hah!

That said, I was very impressed with Matt’s navigational skills.  In contrast to me, his independence and courage in a foreign land to get from A to B is very admirable.  I’m not sure if he’s backpacked previously, but I guess living in Samoa for over 6 months forces a person from overseas out of their comfort zone, acquiring skills and an independent mind set.

So malo Matt!  Hope you enjoyed the celebrations.

And shame on me!  Maybe next year?

One of my favourite comedians is Russell Peters.  Despite the name, he is a Canadian of Indian descent.  Apart from his skillful and hilarious impersonations of Indians, Chinese, Jamaicans, Canadians, Americans, South Africans (etc), the funniest part is his re-telling of the time when as a kid he took advice from a Palagi friend, Ryan, on how to deal with his parents.  The gist of the joke is that Palagi’s have a different relationship between the kids and parents, compared to nearly every other ethnic/immigrant family.  Palagi kids are sent to their room or the time out corner, while everyone else’s kids are given a good old fashion beating. 

Of course it was a generalisation for the purposes of comedy, but my whole family cracked up when watching the Russell Peters show not only coz we could relate to a Canadian Indian guy from the other side of the world, but because it’s all true… it happened to us!

I remember as a kid, everyday after school me and my brothers and sisters would play with the kids of the neighbourhood: the Palagi kids nextdoor, a Palagi grunge-like girl from the house behind us, the Cambodian brother and sister from down the road, a Cook Island boy from further down, and the Niuean boy from across the street.  We would play anything and everything, from rugby, to cops and robbers, to games on the trampoline.  We had so much fun as kids that we would do stupid things like when playing rugby (or whatever else) on the front lawn, every time a bus drove past we would stop and freeze and do funny poses.  I’m sure the bus passengers thought there was something wrong with us all.

Of course, as with most games, someone usually gets hurt and goes home crying.  Me and my brothers (and the Niuean and Cook Island boys) unintentionally always found ourselves on one side of an argument, with the little scrawny Palagi’s on the other.  The Cambodians were always the sensible ones trying to act as peacemakers.  But more often than not, one of the Palagi kids would end up going home crying.  That subsequently was followed by my mum giving us a slap around the ears and telling us to “ka’alo faalelei” (play properly).  There were plenty of times she would make all of us, including the Niuean, Cook Islander and Cambodians, to go over and apologise to the Palagi kid.

Other than enjoying reliving my trip down memory lane, I noticed something that the Palagi kids said that us islander (and saiga / Asian) kids never did:  call your parents by their first names!

Coz sure enough, after every little argument between us kids in the neighbourhood, the very next day we would all be playing together again.  But the Palagi kid would always start off saying “Penny said you’re not allowed to tackle me so hard” or “Roger said you have to talk to me nicely”.  Penny?  Roger?  Who?

It was like they were talking about a family friend, or their older cousin… definitely didn’t occur to us at first that they were referring to their parents.  After a while we got used to it, but then it was totally weird when we heard them talk to their parents using their first names: “Penny, are we allowed to go to the shop?”  Maybe it wasn’t so much the use of the first names, but what really surprised us, was the tone the Palagi kids would talk to their parents, making the use of the first name even odder.  For example it wasn’t unheard of to listen to our Palagi friends demand things from or talk back to their parents.  “I am  hungry now!  I want some ice cream now Penny!”  “I hate you Roger, you never let me go to the park!”

If any of us kids tried pulling that off with my folks, we would be strung from the ceiling.  But adding our parents first names to such an encounter would have doomed us to hell and back! (Of course there is an argument about over-disciplining leading to child abuse - but I’ll leave that for another blog.)  And I do remember a few times where we picked up some of the courage our Palagi nextdoor neighbours had, and tried to talk back to my own parents.  Of course every time it would backfire.  Russell Peters joked about how his father responded to his attempt at talking back, his father said “Do I look like Ryan’s mum?”  I definitely know my parents never met Russell’s parents, but they’ve said the same things: “Do I look like Stuart’s mum?”  “Faapea oe, o kakou gi Palagi?” (You think we are like the Palagi family nextdoor?).

It must be a universal similarity or contrast between Palagi families and ethnic/immigrant families, or just a big fat coincidence!  Even on the calling-by-first-name front it seems to be prominent amongst Palagi’s.  I’ve even been reading a few Americans Peace Corps in Samoa blogs, where they too refer to their parents by their first names:

http://diplomatt.blogspot.com/ or http://seereeves.blogspot.com/

It always catches me by surprise when some Palagi’s refer to their parents by their first names.  Samoan families are not only opposite, they’re the extreme opposite.  Coz not only do we call our parents tina or tama (mum or dad), we call our grandparents tina and tama, even our aunties and uncles, and those who have raised us.  Calling those close to us in endearing terms is a sharp contrast to friends who call the same group of people by their first names.

I’ve course that was a long time ago, but heaven forbid the day my kids talk back to me… and use my first name!

At the Otara Flea-markets, I always whip around to the t-shirt stalls to see what witty slogans and images people have come up with.  “The Sapelu’s” in the font of the TV show “The Sopranos”.  “Freshy” in the font of the drink “Fresh up”.  The “My mum can beat up your dad” t-shirt.  But one of the more popular t-shirts, and my personal favourite I bought a few years ago, is the one stating:  “There are two kinds of people in this world.  Samoans, and those who wannabe.”

Being involved in a few Pacific Island student bodies at Uni, I noticed a lot of resentment against Samoans.  Actually, let me rephrase that.  I noticed that, we Samoans have a superiority complex over other Pacific groups (including Maori), which make some resentful of us.  In Niu Sila / New Zealand, Samoans make up almost half the Pacific Population (131,100 or 49% of 265,974: 2006 Census).  87,003 Samoans live in Aukilani / Auckland alone. 

We have Samoan judges:  Judges Ida Malosi and Semi Epati.  Samoan Members of Parliament: Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Sua William Sio, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, Carmel Sepuloni (all currently sitting), Taito Philip Field, Anae Arthur Anae, Vui Mark Gosche (former MPs).  Samoan All Blacks Rugby players: Bryan Williams, Olo Brown, Frank Bunce, Christian Cullen, Alama Ieremia, Ma’a Nonu, to name a few.  Including Tana Umaga, Jerry Collins and Rodney Sooialo who all captained the All Blacks.  Other Samoan sportspeople include: Bernice Mene, Maria Tutaia (Netball),  Beatrice Faumuina (Olympian - discuss thrower), Ray Sefo (K1 Kick boxer), David Tua (Heavy weight boxer)… and the list goes on to other avenues in art and entertainment, education and academia.  Samoans are everywhere.

I’m not sure if it was exactly brainwashing by my parents, but growing up us kids we always felt proud to be Samoan.  But it always seemed to be more than a feeling.  It felt like it was in our blood.  This supposed biological trait ’special only’ to Samoans were confirmed by the reaction of other Samoans I met throughout my life.  We all felt there was something special to being Samoan, something inherent, something born in us. 

Therefore, it isn’t hard to see how other people could interpret that Samoan pride into Samoan arrogance.  Of course some of us Samoans would cheekily quip back with that line on my favourite t-shirt: “you’re just a wannabe Samoan”.  Hence the popularity of the t-shirt.

But here in politically correct Niu Sila, when we talk straight faced to other people, we wouldn’t admit to our supposed superiority complex, but deep down in our dark little subconscious closet, we tuck under the third shoe box from the left on the top shelf, that idea that because we are Samoan, we can do great things.  And I guess that’s where it starts from.  We Samoans don’t think other people are inferior, just that being Samoans is the best thing to ever happen to us!  I’m not sure I’m doing it justice in my attempt to describe this inherent feeling Samoans have about ourselves.  But it’s there, built in us.  And unfortunately we flaunt it around a bit that we tend to be blind to the others we knock over with it.

Pacific Islanders only make up 6% of the total 4.3 million population of Niu Sila.  Therefore, only 3% of the total population are Samoan.  Cutting the small piece of the pie into smaller pieces is always going to cause some friction.  But for many Palagi bureaucrats, lumping us all into one label, “Pacific Islanders”, was suffice for them to administer us brown folk.  Therefore any policy developed in the last 20 years for Pacific peoples in Niu Sila was often heavily influenced by Samoan New Zealanders, as we are the largest group and occupied many of the roles that formulated policy. 

Soon the word “fono” was being used for any type of Pacific Island meeting with Government agencies.  The customary process of forgiveness in Samoan culture, “ifoga”, also entered the Palagi legal consciousness.  Everything Pacific Island in Niu Sila really meant ‘Samoan’.  Even on a colloquial level, after influences by Samoans on TV (BroTown, The Semisi’s etc), “Talofa”, “sole”, “Fa!” and even “fafafine” all entered the Niu Sila vocabulary.  And to us Samoans, we were largely oblivious to it, while some people in the smaller Pacific groups were not. 

Nowadays, cultural sensitivities amongst Pacific peoples has seen some change, with a Ministry of Health initiative to get Pacific peoples exercising called Lotu Moui (Tongan), and a move away from using the term Pasefika (Samoan term) to Pacific peoples.

But this sub-conscious self belief in being Samoan is by no means restricted to Samoans here in Niu Sila.  We point to Amelika / America where there are Samoans: The Rock Dwayne Johnson, Mufi Hannemann (Mayor of Honolulu City), Eni Faleomavaega (Congressman) Troy Polamalu and Mosi Tatupu (NFL players), and the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.

Even our very own Samoan Palemia / Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has been showing a bit of that Samoan arrogance lately, against Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama of Fiti / Fiji. 

Back in February, Tuilaepa was unsure of what state of mind Bainimarama was in when he made comments about Samoa, Samoa’s relationship with Niu Sila and the Pacific Islands Forum. “I’m curious if he [Bainimarama] was sober or perhaps there was a full moon out that night,” Tuilaepa speculated.  Asked what he thought of Bainimarama’s claims that Samoa, Ausetalia / Australia and Niu Sila ganged up on Fiti at the Pacific Islands Forum, Tuilaepa giggled.  “No, no, no, I think the good commander (Bainimarama) was misquoted by the media. What he may actually have meant was that the maturity of Samoa’s leadership is on par with that of New Zealand and Australia . That’s obviously what he meant.” Nods head. “Therefore, given that seniority, he should be keen absorb my tit-for-tat.” 

This exchange was over Fiti’s current situation, where military man Bainimarama had overthrown the democratically elected Government of Fiti in 2006 and has since imposed military rule until what he perceives is a proper constitution is in place.  It was also reported that Tuilaepa believed that Bainimarama had a problem comprehending the issues involved.  “Therefore I’ll speak to him frankly from one Pacific islander to another Pacific Islander in a very clear and direct language that I’m sure he will understand.” And why does Fiti need an army for anyway, the Palemia quizzed.  “Perhaps Bainimarama fears a combined canoe attack from Tuvalu and Kiribati, its closest neighbours. That must be it.” Tuilaepa nodded his head.

That was back in February.  And today? 

Samoa Observer reported yesterday Tuilaepa called Bainimarama mentally ill.  “Only the ‘mentally ill’ do what the Commodore has done in Fiji”, the Palemia said.  He said Bainimarama was no different from Adolf Hitler since all dictators think alike.  Tuilaepa made the comments while condemning the latest development in coup-ridden Fiti where the Constitution has been purportedly abrogated amidst a host of nasty incidents.  Tuilaepa believes the military chief forced President Ratu Josefa Iloilo behind the scenes at gunpoint to reappoint him as Prime Minister.

While Tuilaepa’s sentiments would’ve rocked a few boats if it were said by any other national leader, the only rocking of boats amongst Samoans themselves will be from all the giggling in delight.  Tuilaepa may be an arrogant, straight up, no-nonsense man, but Samoan people admire these traits as confidence (which has subsequently scared the recent Samoan opposition into non-opposition parties) and witty one-liners.  It’s not a Samoan saying, but if sticks and stones hurt you, you shouldn’t be in politics.  I think again, it all comes down to that Samoan self-belief that as a Samoan you can do great things, and also say things and get away with it. 

The same self-belief is probably driving another motive for Tuilaepa.  For Samoa to overtake Fiti as the regional Pacific Islands power-house.  As Fiti has stumbled with all the political coups in the last 20 years, Samoa has prospered.  There has always been a traditional rivalry between Fiti and Samoa (and Toga / Tonga).  But Samoa never recovered from the partition of the islands into Amelika Samoa / American Samoan and Samoa i Sisifo / Western Samoa, until recently.  That split allowed Fiti over the years to be the hub of the Pacific, with many of the regional headquaters run out of Suva. 

Fiti is lucky because it is linked to the Melanesian islands through biology, but culturally they are Polynesian.  Therefore, Fiti has allies amongst the Melanesian countries (They also have a loose co-alition under the Melanesian Spearhead Group).  Whereas Samoa’s history in some of those Melanesian nations have only been about Samoan missionaries (EFKS) being sent over to convert the ‘heathens’ into God-fearing Christians.  Samoan Missionaries had the same arrogant and ignorant puritanical zeal that Palagi missionaries had.  Of course that only fed the Samoan superiority complex over other Pacific peoples.  As for a Polynesian alliance?  Well half of Samoa is with Hawaii, under Amelika.  The majority of eastern Polynesian is part of Falani / France.  Niu Sila is majority Palagi, and controls To’elau / Tokelau, Niue and the Lalotoga / Cook Islands.  Toga is undergoing a crisis with it’s monarchy.  And Tuvalu is sinking.  Hmmm?  But Samoa has once again felt the wind of change and wants to capitalise on Fiti’s downfall.

See, it’s all to do with that self confidence we Samoans have.  And again, we leave ourselves open to accusations of arrogance by other people…  And yeah, those other people are probably right. 

But as a typical Samoan, ah well.  Where’s that favourite t-shirt of mine?

My friend told me of how his dad had to change his Samoan name Faletasi (or Tasi) to Gus, because the teachers at his Intermediate school couldn’t pronounce the Samoan version.

My parent’s raised us to be proud Samoans, to be proud of who we are and where we came from.  This included being proud of our long Samoan last name.  But my whole childhood I used to get embarrassed when my parents would come to parent’s evenings and correct the Palagi teacher when mis-pronouncing our last name.  Even if the teacher was already mid-sentence, my parents would repeat our last name until it was said properly or at least there was a satisfactory attempt at pronouncing it properly. 

My parents would later lecture us kids that sure they have come to this strange land and have had to learn a new language, but there is honour in a name.  Your name is part of your identity, and mis-pronouncing it is like trying to change who you are.

But I also went to a “Grammar” high school, which harked back to the days of Mother England and the ‘proper’ Grammar schools, with head masters and the fear of the cane lurking behind the teacher’s desk.  At this school you addressed everyone by their last names.  At Primary and Intermediate school I just shrugged the mis-pronunciation off, coz I didn’t want to make a fuss over my name.  But at high school where you heard it said all the time, it just became annoying. 

My last name begins with T, is 10 letters long, 6 being vowels.  It’s not especially hard to pronounce, but I think Palagi’s have most difficulty in sounding the Polynesian vowels out properly.  So it wasn’t until a teacher just couldn’t be bothered trying to pronounce my last name during a roll call that he just called me “T-man”.  That was it!  I corrected the teacher, and at that point I felt like my dad at a parent’s evening.

It’s become important to me to not only have my last name pronounced properly but also to pronounce Maori words and names properly.  After all this is their land.  Furthermore I hated English classes, and every time I got poor marks in English exams I’d wish I could give my teacher an “F-” too when pronouncing names on the roll.

While me and my siblings make an effort to pronounce Maori names, it hasn’t quite caught on with the rest of our family.  Mangere is still Mangry, Manukau is still Mana-cow, Otahuhu is still Oh-da-who.  I think there is a superiority complex we Samoans have over other Polynesian / Pacific peoples, combined with a ‘if it good enough for the Palagi’s to say it that way, it good enough for us too’ attitude. 

As a fellow Polynesian language, Te Reo Maori / Maori langugage is very similar to Samoan.  All the vowels are the same, Maori has R’s, K’s and H’s, but no L’s and S’s.  The R’s are rolled, and the F consonant is spelt WH.  I believe the reason it is spelt that way is because in some regions of Niu Sila / New Zealand, Maori pronounced the F consonant as a W sound.

Earlier this month, the New Zealand Geographical Board recommended to the Government that the City of Wanganui be spelt correctly: Whanganui.  Although the local Maori (Te Runanga o Tupoho) pronounce the name with a W sound (and not the F), it should be spelt with the H added in. 

The Palagi Mayor of W(h)anganui, Michael Laws threw a tantrum, saying that for 150 years it had been spelt without the H, and changing it now would deny the identity that has since formed.  Mr Laws said the name Wanganui had a history of its own and changing it would be an injustice to its residents.  “The culture of my people, the mana [/respect] of my people, their heritage, would be absolutely trampled over.”

While that is a brave argument, I think it’s simply incorrect.  Sure for 150 years it was spelt without an H, but Maori had a name for the region for over 1000 years, and it was spelt WITH the H.  Furthermore, just because people say it often enough, doesn’t make it accurate.  If everyone at my high school had begun to copy that teacher, and call me “T-man” for the rest of my time at that school, it doesn’t make it right, nor does it change the fact that there is a correct way of pronouncing my last name.

These incorrect spellings are remnants of the racist colonial attitude over the indigenous peoples.  Even worse, the ’settlers’ renamed whole areas.  But with a push by the Maori Renaissance and bodies such as the New Zealand Geographical Board, there has been a change in the tide.  Mt Egmont is now called Mt Taranaki, Mt Cook is Mt Aoraki, Auckland is also commonly known as Tamaki Makaurau, and New Zealand is beginning to be recognised as Aotearoa New Zealand.  All Maori names that would not have been heard of in mainstream (Palagi) Niu Sila 30 years ago.

I also noted that Remuera, one of the most affluent suburbs in Niu Sila, is also spelt and pronounced incorrectly.  The Maori name is Remuwera.  However I don’t see the millionaires in those mansions scrambling to change the name anytime soon.

If we want people to pronounce our names properly, and not be called ‘T-man’ or forced to change it ‘Gus’ then we need to show the same respect to other languages (like Te Reo Maori) that we expect from them.

Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex!

There!  I’ve said it.  No beating around the bush.  Just need to come out and say it.

There are somethings that Samoan people believe should not be talked about.  People become quite embarrassed and red-faced, others get very angry. But I have trouble with using culture as a reason why sex is a taboo topic.  Of course we can point to our pre-Christian culture where sex was not a taboo topic, but infact it was engrained into our dances and customs.  It’s a sad fact that the Palagi / European missionaries did such a good job at wiping out most of those customs that many Samoans believe sex was never talked about, ever! 

My great uncle talked about an ancient custom where men in a va’a / canoe ejaculated in a ceremony asking the Atua / gods for fertility.  While that custom has long been lost since the coming of Christianity, my grandpa, a faifuea / reverend, a man of the cloth, told me when he grew up as a kid it was natural for women to walk around bare-breasted.  Of course nowadays you’d never see open displays of ejaculation or bare-breasts in Samoa.  But to say the ‘Samoan’ culture is why talking about sex taboo, is incorrect.  The Palagi missionary’s version of Christianity is the real “culture” people are talking about.

And this is not only a Samoan / Pacific issue, it’s an issue that pops up all over the world.  Just recently I read a newspaper article about how the conservative members of a small American town were offended by the newly established flashy church billboards on the highway stating: “Great sex: Gods Way” as a promotion of the sermon series about God’s gift for our sexual relationship with our wife / husband.  A not to dissimilar situation occurred here in Aukilani / Auckland last year.  Big billboards selling drugs to help with erectile dysfunction were found along the motorways into Mangere, Aukilani Saute.  The most prominent word on the billboard was: “SEX”.  Many Pacific Islanders complained and found it very offensive.  Now I understand that it is up to the family to decide when to talk to their kids about sex rather than it being plastered on billboards, but that’s the problem.  Families aren’t talking about it. 

Instead it’s tucked away and ignored.  In fact it’s worse than being ignored, it’s frowned upon to even bring it up.  We’ve received a warped interpretation of God’s word that even thinking about sex is a sin, and therefore talking about it to kids would never happen.  But for too long we’ve abdicated our duties within the families to Hollywood, to the music on the radios, to the friends from school etc.  Families have the responsibility to openly talk about sex, and not be afraid they’d be struck by lightning.  If we want our kids to have good values then when need to be open enough to talk about everything including sex, otherwise they’ll learn the value of sex from elsewhere.

The reason why I’ve written about this topic is because a few days ago, a Samoan woman on here way to Niu Sila / New Zealand on a temporary work visa, secretly gave birth to her baby in flight, then dumped the baby in the bin on the plane.  Something is truly wrong when women are so afraid to talk to their parents about sex and pregnancy, that they feel they must dump a baby in a bin.  Thankfully the baby is alive and well, but a few years back, a Samoan student studying in Otago also threw her new-born baby in the dump, for fear of her family reaction to having a baby out of wedlock.  The baby did not survive.

We live in a collective culture where, unfortunately there are times we let what people think of us (or our family) dictate how we live.  That’s got to change.  We can’t let our pride (and the pride of our family) get in the way of a baby’s life irrespective of it being born out of wedlock.  God’s love is for all humans, not just those born after the parents’ marriage.

And how do we talk about pregnancy?  We’ve got to talk about sex!  Member of Parliament (MP) for Mangere, Su’a William Sio came out and urged Pacific families to talk about these issues.  “Open discussions about sex should be encouraged to prevent young women from getting rid of their newborns.”

Late last year, my younger cousin got his girlfriend pregnant.  Everyone knew except his father, my uncle, who at the time was in Melepone, Ausetalia / Melbourne, Australia on holiday.  Everyone was too scared to tell him because of they way he might’ve reacted.  He’s known to have a pretty good left hook.  But my oldest aunty sat my uncle down at toonai when he arrived back into Aukilani, and in the middle of a joke while everyone was laughing she said “by the way your son is going to have a child.”  And she kept on laughing. 

At first my uncle was shocked still taking in the news, but then began the co-ordinated attack by his older sisters.  One brought up a joke about how my uncle was a bit of a male slut in his younger days.  Another, made a joke about the long list of kids he has to other woman.  While the oldest aunty finished off with “like father, like son”.  My uncle had no time to get angry with all the laughter going on.  After he realised no-one cared about his ‘pride’ and how ‘bad’ his son may have made him look, he accepted that he was going to be a grandfather.  Later in the day he couldn’t stop talking about the joy of having a grandchild!

Sometimes, we’ve got to get over our pride and think about God’s gift to our families.  This includes creating a family environment where we can freely teach our kids about sex and pregnancy, and where our children are comfortable enough to talk to us back.

I have to confess that I haven’t gone to the PolyFest in the last few years.  I think it’s probably old age, but I’ve begun to dislike going to big festivals where it’s a hassle to find a car park, where you’re jostling for a space to sit amongst the masses, where the prices of (fatty) food and (sugary) drink are over the top, so there’s an added hassle of making lunch at home, getting the kids ready, making sure they’re well clothed for the weather, taking a mat to sit on, an umbrella for shade etc.  The list goes on.

But this year I made the effort to go, to support my younger cousins who were performing for various schools.  Luckily for me, the schools were all scheduled one after another in the morning, so I was able to leave before the hot afternoon sun beat down and before it became too crowded that you had to wait in line for everything (for the toilets, for food, to enter, to exit, walking to the toilets, walking to get food, walking to the entrance, walking to the exit etc).

But I think the biggest reason why I’ve grown to dislike going to events such as PolyFest are all the lil moepipi (literal translation: bed-wetter) FFT’s that also go.

The ASB Polyfest, or it’s proper name: the Auckland Secondary Schools Maori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, has been running for 33 years, and is the largest festial of it’s kind in the world.  This year there were over 90,000 spectators, 9000 students performing from over 60 schools (including a Samoan group from Ueligitone / Wellington, and a Niuean school from Niue).

The 2009 Theme was “Many Cultures, One World” - “Nga tikanga-a-iwi o te ao whanui” - “E tele aganu’u ae tasi lava le lalolagi” -” ‘Oku tau taha pe neongo ‘oku tau kau ki he ngaahi matakali kehekehe” - “ Kehekehe e tau aga Faka-Motu, ka e taha e lalolagi”  - “E mànganui te àkono’anga, ‘okota’i rai ao”.

However the Samoan stage must’ve missed the memo because the theme there was about ACC (state owned Accident Compensation Corporation - everyone in Niu Sila / New Zealand is covered by ACC).  Typical Samoans always wanting to be different.

And so PolyFest has grown from it’s humble beginnings in Aukilani Saute / South Auckland 33 years ago between four high schools, into this internationally famous event.  Somehow I think the FFT’s were around back in the 70’s just as they are around today, probably just in a different form.

For those of you who don’t know what FFT stands for, it isn’t a youth gang or a dance crew.  In fact it’s a term my younger cousins told me about not long ago, to which I couldn’t stop laughing about, and now use it all the time.  FFT stands for “Fia Fai To’alua”!  In a nice clean way this roughly means ‘out to look for a boyfriend/girlfriend’ or wanting to hook up.

And PolyFest is full of FFT’s!

Sure there’s the cultural performances, but there’s also the roaming mobs of youth who probably never sit down for five minutes to watch a performance, but walk around checking out the opposite sex.  My aunty and uncle met me at at the Samoan stage on Saturday morning and I asked them where their boys were.  “Gone walking around.”  And sure enough the only times they came to sit down with us at the Samoan stage was to get food or money off their parents.  FFT’s!

And it’s easy to see who is an FFT or not, by the way they dress.  They’ve usually got their best clothes on, their blings, and the latest hairdo (guys and girls).  They (try to) dress to impress.

Yet come Sunday, I’ll see them at church in their Sunday whites getting whacked over the head by aunty Peka for being tautalaitiiti and talking during the sermon.

PolyFest is a great display of our cultural heritage.  It’s too bad that of the 90,000 visitors, a huge chunk of them are FFT’s who have other things on their mind rather than the performances. 

My suggestion for future events, perhaps we need more “aunty Peka’s” at these festivals to whack these moepipi’s into place.

On Saturday night, my family settled down in the living room to watch a movie.  Nestled in our couches with our ie afu / blankets, munching away on potato chips, it was promising to be an enjoyable family night.  However our movie was cut short when we heard the sound of glass smashing from the road.  Our house is no stranger to car crashes as our road is often used as a short cut through the Aukilani Saute / South Auckland suburbs and careless (often drunk) drivers would mis-judge the corner and the gradient slope of our hilly road, ending up in any of the front yards of the houses on our street, or attached to a fence, letter box, tree or even a power-pole.

As usual we and our neighbours came out to investigate the sound.  But the smashing didn’t sound like a car crash.  Instead we witnessed the end of a brief skirmish between two groups of young Polynesian youths, throwing beer bottles at each other.  The youths must’ve been so drunk that they didn’t realise they woke up the neighbourhood (or they didn’t care).  But my neighbour and I started shouting at the boys to stop what they were doing.  At that point they all sprinted off down the road.  Littered across our road were at least 15 beer bottles all smashed into hundreds of pieces.

The neighbours and my family got out our brooms and salu and began to clean up the mess.  Even though those boys should be the ones cleaning up, it was going to be our cars that drive along that road, it is our kids that walk along the footpaths to school and back, it is us who mow the lawn verges, it is our neighbourhood that we live in every day.

As I was sweeping up the glass pieces into the dust pan, I began to think “why?”

A newspaper this morning reports benefit figures show that, once again, Maori and Pacific people are worst affected.  Aukilani / Auckland’s Maori unemployment benefit rate rose 1.5 per cent in the past year to 3.4 per cent, and the rate for Pacific people rose a full percentage point to 2.1 per cent.  In contrast, the rate for Asians and others rose only half a percentage point to 1.2 per cent and the European rate rose by only 0.4 percentage points to just 0.7 per cent.  Unemployment benefit rates were higher in Aukilani Saute South Auckland - Manukau City (1.8 per cent) and Papakura City (3.2 per cent) than in North, West or Central Aukilani.

Today the Government announced it would change more labour laws which Unions believe points to a trend of re-introducing the three week annual leave for workers (instead of the four weeks guaranteed under current law).  This is on top of recent changes made by this new Government, such as the 30-day trial period (ie an employer of a small company can fire any employee in their first 30 days of work, and not have to give a reason), introducing tax-cuts that favour the rich (who will most likely save it rather than spending it to provide a stimulus to the economy - all the while the poor struggle on to make ends meet), not offering to support workers in upskilling through their 9-day fortnight programme, but willing to pour millions into private companies. 

Recently Samoans / Pacific Islanders have been making the news headlines for all the wrong reasons: robberies, assault, escape from police custody etc.  In these strained economic times, more pressure is heaped on those already struggling at the bottom.  Some feeling the only way out of their circumstances is a life of crime and/or drunkness.

It is our families and communities who are feeling the effects of this economic crisis.  And it will be our families and communities having to sweep up the messed up lives and pick up their broken pieces.