"I'm strong and fierce, I know what I'm about"

[Abigail Langi & Sulia Matagi cousins and best friends forever]

A couple of months ago I had asked my beautiful and talented niece Abigail Langi if she would be willing to write a poem about the H.Y.P.E. Movement and what it represents for her! She loves to write poetry, short stories, and expression pieces! I was so impressed with the poem she wrote, which she entitled "Helping Youth Pursue Emancipation"!

She is only 12 years old, but already understands the potential of the movement and the possibilities it holds for her and other young people like herself.

This past weekend she was able to recite her poem at the Many Islands Open Mic!

Check it out on the video below!

Awesome job Abby, I am so proud of you!!!



Abby also sang a song that night after reciting her poem!

Helping Youth Pursue Emancipation
By: Abigail Mohelata Langi

Can you hear me out there?
No, can you really hear me out there?
Do see me standing in front of you?
Cause I see you
Do you see the things that are happening in this world?
It doesn't matter if your a boy or a girl
If your hair is straight or you have curls

Is it just me?
Don't you see it.........
The kids that die, the ones that suffer
The people making bad decisions
And hurting one another
Based on things they see everday.....
Based on the lives that have gone a stray
Whether it's right or if it's wrong
Such a sad tune; an endless song.

Just because the color of my skin
Doesn't mean that I shouldn't win
I have a dream
That I'm gonna be somebody
I have the potential
That lies in EVERYBODY,
The freedom to think
And speak my mind
I'm letting go,
One step at a time....

It's hard sometimes,
Without a doubt
But I'm strong and I'm fierce
I know what I'm about
My pride,
My glory
Pushes me right through it
Gives me the right
And the power to do it

What are we waiting for?
Lets make a difference, it starts today
Emancipate our mind, our thoughts
It's time to make a change!

"GET ON THE H.Y.P.E"

Inspiring Young People-- Drew Vai

[Drew Vai --Poet/Spoken Word Performer]

I love coming across young people who use their talents to educate the general public about different aspects of our culture that are often misunderstood or misrepresented in the mainstream media.

One of the stereotypes that is always projected upon us time and time again is that we are nothing more than entertainers! We often see how our cultural dances have been used by outsiders (and sometimes by ourselves) to show that we are nothing more than moving bodies disconnected from the mind and heart and most of all from history.

We have been portrayed as museum pieces only to be looked at and admired but hardly ever asked to speak back or to discuss the meaning of the dances, the stories behind the dances, the significance of the chants and its movements! This is not to say that this is always the case, but it does happen way to often!

It's time that we make it known that our cultural dances are powerful (and sometimes sacred) and were never meant to be used purely for entertainment purposes, but it was intended as a vessel that would serve as a carrier of history, culture, genealogy and legends and most importantly it was the medium where we could interweave creativity with poetic visions!

Check out this amazing poet from the Bay area-- Drew Vai-- as he offers a different perspective about the traditional maori warrior dance--the Haka--a perspective that is hardly ever discussed in the mainstream!!! Speak on brother...

Filmed by Tama Irie Films

Drew Vai: Spread The WORD

Inspiring Young People-- Tammy Vaitai

A new section of my blog will be dedicated to Inspiring Young People.

Check out this young Tongan woman who is using her poetry to bring about awareness regarding the genocide happening in Darfur! Not only is she Pacific Islander but she was also filmed by another talented Pacific Islander filmmaker--you can check out his work HERE!!! LOVE IT!!!

Educate yourself about what's happening in Darfur

Save Darfur: Spread The Word

HYPE Sistah--Vaimoana Niumeitolu

One of the young people, who is part of the group of individuals chosen for the HYPE Photoshoot is Vaimoana Niumeitolu. I will feature her later with the rest of the other individuals, but I came across one of her performances in NYC, where she is performing her poem entitled Manatu'i (Tongan word for "remember") and decided to post it for our readers!

She is an amazing young woman who left Provo, Utah at the age of 18 to pursue her dreams as an artist/poet!

She is part of the Mahina Movement and they just released their first CD Speak the Fire this past April 2008! Enjoy!!!

Speaking Truth to Power....

An amazing poem by 'Asaeli Matelau, a Tongan student here at the University of Utah!

BREATHE
By, Asaeli Matelau

How long until I am no longer heard from?
Or No longer heard from in the same way?
My voice given to me at birth is mighty and strong
Born with the tones of a new tomorrow
A tomorrow risen above the hardships and equalities of today

But, my success is taught in the house of my condemner.
They say. Hush your voice, learn...
support the system that holds you down
Learn to be the man! Fight your fight with Politics
Drown in money and smile while we degrade you
We will set you free from your struggles

politics, academia and the university knows nothing of my Struggles
Your education system does not understand that I do not stand alone,
But, am tied to my Family, my Community. I will not let them go.
I will not stand while the establishment beats my People down
I do not wish to prosper, the way you prosper
I wish for Progress to sprout in the midst of my People

So I shall remain in the haze of the systems of oppression
While, I breathe in the mouth of the institutions.
I will breathe my breath, my knowledge by mouth like my ancestors
I will not allow you to taint my voice... my breath.
It has been passed down thousands of years
and although you conspire against me... against us
I will continue to breath and teach those who are like me to breath.
To be heard...


[Asaeli Matelau]

The backdrop in this picture is somewhat controversial but I really like how this picture depicts the intensity of the choices that our young people have to make against a system of structural power that often times seeks to confine our voices and choices!

Speaking Truth to Power is not just a choice for many who are engaged in the struggle--but rather it is a reality for survival!!!

Words from the Wise-- Dr. Konai Helu Thaman

Dr. Konai Helu Thaman is a Tongan native Scholar and Professor at the University of South Pacific (USP) in Fiji. She holds a BA in Geography from the University of Auckland, an M.A. in International Education from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and PhD in Education from the USP.

Dr. Thaman's PhD Dissertation entitled ‘Ako and Faiako: Cultural Values, Educational Ideas and Teachers’ Role Perceptions in Tonga was based on studies of the relationships between cultural values and educational ideas and how these were reflected in teachers’ perceptions of their professional role. She has conducted research, consultancies and published widely in the areas of teacher education, curriculum development and culture and education and has held senior administrative positions in the USP including Director of the Institute of Education and Pro Vice Chancellor and Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor.

She is a Fellow of APEID (Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development) and a member of several international and professional organisations including the UNITWIN/UNESCO Asia Pacific Higher Education Network and the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation on the Status of Teachers (CEART), and the Asia Pacific Regional Scientific Committee on Research in Higher Education. She serves as the UNESCO Chairperson in Teacher Education and Culture. She is also a widely published poet. Read more HERE



The following is a quote taken from her keynote address at the Center for Pacific Island Studies Conference in 2003. Her talk was entitled "Decolonizing Pacific Studies: Indigenous Perspectives, Knowledge, and Wisdom in Higher Education"

"...my western education has not caused me to shift from a belief and reliance in the supernatural...I am a Tongan woman of the commoner class, and although schooled in western ways, I continue to see myself as part of an organic unity, not as a chance result of natural selection at work in a world devoid of supernatural guidance..."

you say that you think
therefore you are
but thinking belongs
in the depths of the earth
we simply borrow
what we need to know
these islands the sky
the surrounding sea
the trees the birds
and all that are free
the misty rain
the surging river
pools by the blowholes
a hidden flower
have their own thinking
they are different frames
of mind that cannot fit
in a small selfish world
(Konai Helu Thaman, “Thinking”)

I have always loved Dr. Thaman's work and how her words articulate a reality that is based on indigenous Tongan thought that claims knowledge existing and arising from the supernatural. It claims multiple ways of knowing and thinking! It aims to deconstruct the western thought and idea that literacy equals intelligence. Her words have helped me to expand my thinking beyond the walls of my classrooms and to envision and redefine education in a broader sense. It ruptures the idea that formal education is the only space where knowledge is created and produced!