I don't want to sound like an antique, but back in the good ol' days, TIG was a wonderful place to inspire, inform and "be" inspired.
Much has sadly changed.
Now, I have no intent in logging into my page, knowing it is full of marriage proposals from freaks in Timbukto and poems from idiots without passports promising the world at my feet.
Was the idea too far fetched? Too accessible? Too big to be "useful?"
I don't know, but one thing is certain, TIG has just mirrored the plight of "youth", that is "temporary and temperamental" TIG has become a hunting ground for non-youths, and to think that young people are logging in, only to be harrased by some dumbasses with a computer and an internet connection.
Frankly, If I had a child wanting to be involved with issues pertaining to their world -TIG is not what I would direct them to.
I suppose this is something no one can control - pity, because for once, an avenue has been created to be utilised constructively, bt now, nada....

ah well, farewell and "be an inspiration"

Cet emplacement est devenu souillé par ces ses non destinés à,
Automatically translated into French thanks to WorldLingo
Je ne veux pas ressembler à d'une antiquité, mais arrière en bonnes journées d'ol, le TIG était un endroit merveilleux à inspirer, informent et «  » soit inspiré.
Beaucoup a tristement changé.
Maintenant, je n'ai aucune intention dans la notation dans ma page, la savoir est pleine des propositions de mariage des phénomènes dans Timbukto et des poésies des idiots sans passeports promettant le monde à mes pieds.
L'idée trop lointaine a-t-elle été cherchée ? Trop accessible ? Trop grand pour être « utile ?  »
Je ne sais pas, mais une chose est certaine, le TIG a juste reflété la situation difficile « de la jeunesse », qu'est « provisoire et le » TIG capricieux est devenu un terrain de chasse pour des non-jeunesses, et pour penser que les jeunes entrent, seulement être harcelé par quelques dumbasses avec un ordinateur et un raccordement d'Internet.
Franchement, si j'avais un enfant vouloir être impliqué des questions concernant leur monde - n'est pas le TIG vers ce que je les dirigerais.
Je suppose que c'est quelque chose que personne ne peuvent commander - pitié, parce que pour une fois, une avenue a été créée pour être utilisée de manière constructive, bt maintenant, le nada….

oh bien, l'adieu et « soit une inspiration »

Este sitio se ha contaminado por esos sus no previstos para,
Automatically translated into Spanish thanks to WorldLingo
No deseo sonar como una antigüedad, pero trasero en los buenos días del ol, el TIG era un lugar maravilloso a inspirar, informa y “” se inspire.
Mucho ha cambiado tristemente.
Ahora, no tengo ningún intento en la registración en mi página, saberla es llena de ofertas de la unión de monstruos en Timbukto y de poemas de idiotas sin los pasaportes que prometen el mundo en mis pies.
¿La idea demasiado lejana fue traída? ¿Demasiado accesible? ¿Demasiado grande ser “útil? ”
No sé, pero una cosa es cierta, el TIG acaba de reflejar el apuro “de la juventud”, que es “temporal y el” TIG temperamental se ha convertido en un coto de caza para las no-juventudes, y pensar que la gente joven está entrando, sólo ser acosado por algunos dumbasses con una computadora y una conexión del Internet.
Franco, si tuviera un niño el desear estar implicado con las ediciones referente a su mundo - el TIG no es a lo que lo dirigiría.
Supongo que éste es algo que nadie puede controlar - compasión, porque para una vez, una avenida se ha creado para ser utilizada constructivo, bt ahora, el nada….

ah bien, el adiós y “sea una inspiración”

Questo luogo è stato contaminato da quei relativi destinati a,
Automatically translated into Italian thanks to WorldLingo
Non desidero suonare come un oggetto d'antiquariato, ma posteriore nei buoni giorni del ol, il TIG era un posto meraviglioso da ispirare, informa e “„ è ispirato.
Molto è cambiato tristemente.
Ora, non ho intenzione nell'annotare nella mia pagina, conoscerla è piena delle proposte di unione dei freaks in Timbukto e dei poems dai idiots senza passaporti che promettono il mondo ai miei piedi.
L'idea troppo lontana è stata presa? Troppo accessibile? Troppo grande essere “utile? „
Non so, ma una cosa è determinata, il TIG ha rispecchiato appena la situazione difficile “della gioventù„, che è “provvisorio e„ il TIG temperamental si è trasformato in in un terreno di caccia per le non-gioventù e pensare che i giovani stiano entrando, solo harassed da alcuni dumbasses con un calcolatore e un collegamento del Internet.
Franco, se avessi un bambino desiderare essere coinvolgere con le edizioni pertinente al loro mondo - il TIG non è che cosa le dirigerei verso.
Suppongo che questa è qualcosa nessuno possano controllare - pity, perché per una volta, un viale è stato generato per essere utilizzato costruttivamente, bt ora, nada….

ah bene, l'addio e “è un'ispirazione„

Dieser Aufstellungsort ist durch jene seine bestimmt nicht für verschmutzt geworden,
Automatically translated into German thanks to WorldLingo
Ich möchte nicht wie eine Antike klingen, aber rückseitig an den guten ol Tagen, war TIG ein wundervoller Platz, zum anzuspornen, sich informieren und „wird“ angespornt.
Viel hat traurig geändert.
Jetzt habe ich keine Absicht bei der Protokollierung in meine Seite, sie ist zu kennen von den Verbindung Anträgen von den Launen in Timbukto und von den Gedichten von den Idioten ohne die Pässe voll, welche die Welt an meinen Füßen versprechen.
Wurde die weite Idee zu geholt? Zu zugänglich? Zu groß nützlich sein „? “
Ich weiß nicht, aber eine Sache ist sicher, hat TIG gerade die Lage von „Jugend“, daß „temporär ist und temperamental“ TIG ein Jagdrevier für Nichtjugend geworden ist, und zu denken widergespiegelt daß junge Leute anmelden, nur durch etwas dumbasses mit einem Computer und einem Internet-Anschluß bedrängt werden.
Auf aufrichtig wenn ich ein hatte Kind in Ausgaben Betreffend ihre Welt mit einbezogen werden zu wünschen - TIG ist nicht, was ich sie verweisen würde.
Ich nehme an, daß dieses etwas ist, das niemand steuern können - Mitleid, weil für einmal, eine Allee hergestellt worden ist, konstruktiv verwendet zu werden, bt jetzt, nada….

ah gut, ist Abschied und „eine Inspiration“

Este local tornou-se contaminado por aqueles seus não pretendidos para,
Automatically translated into Portuguese thanks to WorldLingo
Eu não quero soar como um antique, mas traseiro nos dias bons do ol, o TIG era um lugar maravilhoso a inspirar, informa e “” fosse inspirado.
Muito mudou sadly.
Agora, eu não tenho nenhuma intenção em registrar em minha página, sabê-la está cheio de propostas da união dos freaks em Timbukto e dos poemas dos idiots sem passports que prometem o mundo em meus pés.
A idéia demasiado distante foi buscada? Demasiado acessível? Demasiado grande para ser “útil? ”
Eu não sei, mas uma coisa está determinada, o TIG espelhou apenas o plight “da juventude”, que é “provisório e o” TIG temperamental se transformou uma terra de caça para non-juventudes, e para pensar de que os povos novos estão entrando, only para harassed por alguns dumbasses com um computador e uma conexão do Internet.
Frankly, se eu tiver uma criança querer ser envolvido com as edições que pertencem a seu mundo - o TIG não é o que eu o dirigiria.
Eu suponho que este é algo que ninguém podem controlar - piedade, porque para uma vez, uma avenida foi criada para ser utilizada constructively, bt agora, o nada….

ah bem, o farewell e “seja uma inspiração”

Denna plats har blivit kontaminerad vid de dess inte påtänkta för,
Automatically translated into Swedish thanks to WorldLingo
Jag önskar inte att låta något liknande en antikvitet, utan tillbaka i de bra oldagarna, var TIG ett underbart förlägger för att inspirera, informerar, och ”var” inspirerad.
Mycket har SAD ändrat.
Nu har jag ingen avsikt, i att logga in i min sida, är att veta den fullt av förbindelseförslag från missfoster i Timbukto och poems från idioter utan pass som lovar världen på min fot.
Hämtades den för avlägsna idén? För tillgängligt? För stort att vara ”användbart? ”
Vet jag inte, men ett ting är bestämt, har TIG precis avspeglat svår situation av ”ungdommen”, att är ”tillfälligt och lynnig” TIG har blivit en jakt som malas för non-ungdommar, och till funderare som ungdomaren loggar in, only att harasseds av några dumbasses med en dator och en internetanslutning.
Frankly om jag hade, utfärdar ett barn som önskar att vara involverat med, att gälla till deras värld - TIG är inte vad jag skulle riktar dem till.
Jag antar att detta är något som inget kan kontrollera - tycka synd om, därför att för en gång, en aveny har skapats för att användas constructively, bt nu, nadaen….,

ah väl, avskedet och ”var en inspiration”,

Это место стало загрязненным те своими предназначенными для,
Automatically translated into Russian thanks to WorldLingo
Я не хочу звучать как antique, но задне в хороших днях ol, TIG было чудесное место, котор нужно воодушевить, сообщает и «» воодушевьте.
Много уныло изменяло.
Теперь, я не имею никакую цель в вносить в журнал в мою страницу, знать ее полн предложений замужества от уродов в Timbukto и стихотворений от идиотов без пасспортов обещая миру на моих ногах.
Идея слишком далекая была fetched? Слишком доступно? Слишком больш быть «полезно? »
Я не знаю, но одна вещь некоторая, TIG как раз отражал plight «молодости», что будет «временно и temperamental» TIG стал землей звероловства для non-молодостей, и думать что молодые люди log on, только быть исведенным некоторыми dumbasses с компьютером и соединением интернета.
Откровенно, если я имел ребенка хотеть включиться с вопросами pertaining to их мир -, то TIG не я направил бы их к.
Я полагаю это что-то, котор no one могут контролировать - жалость, потому что для раз, бульвар был создан быть использованным конструктивно, bt теперь, nada….

ah наилучшим образом, прощанием и «была воодушевленность»

Deze plaats is vervuild door die zijn niet voorgenomen voor geworden,
Automatically translated into Dutch thanks to WorldLingo
Ik wil niet als een antiquiteit klinken, maar terug in de goede dagen ol, TIG een prachtige plaats was te inspireren, en „“ te informeren worden geïnspireerdo.
Veel is droevig veranderd.
Nu, heb ik geen bedoeling in registreren in mijn pagina, het wetend is het volledig van huwelijksvoorstellen van freaks in Timbukto en gedichten van idioten die zonder paspoorten de wereld beloven bij mijn voeten.
Werd het idee te veel gehaald? Te toegankelijk? Te groot om nuttig „te zijn? “
ik weet niet het, maar één ding is bepaald, heeft TIG net de benarde toestand van „de jeugd“, dat „tijdelijk is en temperamental“ TIG een jachtgebied voor de niet-jeugd is geworden, en om te denken weerspiegeld dat de jonge mensen, slechts om door sommige dumbasses met een computer en een Internet verbinding het programma openen worden gekweld.
Eerlijk gezegd, als ik een kind had dat met kwesties betreffende hun wereld wil worden geïmpliceerds - TIG is niet wat ik hen aan zou leiden.
Ik veronderstel dit iets niemand kan controleren - medelijden is, omdat voor een keer, een weg om, BT is gecre�ërd nu constructief worden gebruikt, Nada….

ah goed, is het afscheid en „een inspiratie“

قد أصبح هذا موقعة يلوّح ب أنّ ه لا ينوى ل,
Automatically translated into Arabic thanks to WorldLingo
أنا لا أريد أن يصوّت مثل أثر قديم, غير أنّ خلفيّة في الجيّدة [أل'] أيام, كان [تيغ] مكان رائعة أن يلهم, يعلم و"" يلهم.
يغيّر كثير يتلقّى بحزن.
الآن, يتلقّى أنا ما من قصد في يدوّن داخل صفحتي, يعرف هو يشبع من زواج اقتراحات من شاذات في [تيمبوكتو] وقصائد من حمق دون جواز سفر يعد العالم في أقدامي.
كان الفكرة أيضا بعيدة جلبت? أيضا يتيسّر? أيضا كبيرة أن يكون "مفيدة? "
لا يعرف أنا, غير أنّ واحدة شيء مؤكّدة, [تيغ] يتلقّى فقط يعكس التعهد من "شباب", أنّ "مؤقّتة ومزاجيّة" [تيغ] قد أصبح [هونتينغ غرووند] ل [نون-ووثس], وأن يفكّر أنّ الناس شابّة [لوغ ون], إلاّ أنّ أن يكون ناكدت ب بعض [دومبسّس] مع حاسوب وإنترنت توصيل.
بصراحة, إن أنا تلقّيت طفلة يريد أن يكون تضمّنت مع إصدارات [برتينينغ تو] عالمهم - ليس [تيغ] ماذا أنا وجّهتهم إلى.
أنا أفترض هذا شيء لا أحد يستطيع ضبطت - شفقة, لأنّ ل مرّة, جادّة يتلقّى يكون خلقت أن يكون استعملت بشكل بنّاء, [بت] الآن, ندى….

آه جيّدا, وداع و" شهيق"

Today is the beginning of a three day Prosperity Conference for Pacific People out in Manukau (Telstra Center).
It's about time the Ministry did this.
Pacific people are constantly burdened with familial, church, community obligations that drains so much of their limited resources.
Every Sunday, cash donations are read out in CCC of Samoa Churches, for e.g. faifeau’s donation (alofa/peleti), taulaga nuu ese, taulaga Samoa, saogatupe a tiakonoetc etc
Meanwhile, the villagers are struggling to make ends meet.
The same sad story applies to Samoa:
Case 1Lalomalava Village, Savaii.
There are approximately 300 people in Lalomalava.
Children start school at the local government Lalomalava primary school. If you visit the school, you will find 10 basic rooms, run down desks, old blackboards, and hardly anything else.
After Primary School, many attend Mataaevave High School, where most of the district students attend. This is much worse than Lalomalava because there more than 200 studentswithin congested space, with pitiful limited resources and poorly trained teachers.
Money does not come by easily for people in Savaii.
Many still rely on subsistence for sustenance. This is not for being lazy to produce surplus, but because you get very little returns for a year’s effort of growing taro, kaamu, fishing and the selling it for a lousy $SAT20.00=USD8.00
A teacher at primary level usually earns approx $SAT5,000 per annual. How’s that for pathetic?
Case 2: Salailua Congregational Christian Church, Savaii, Samoa
Salailua is like many other villages in Samoa, proud hard-working people who religiously attend church twice every Sunday, and donate to the church.
A few years ago, they built a monster, aka, house of worship in the midst of the picturesque seaside village.
In came the concrete slabs, expensive outside lamp posts, carpets, chandeliers, and air conditioning!!!
Now thats gonna quarantee their place in first class heaven!!!
The end result is that they couldn't pay off the thousands owed to the Bank so the rest of the church goers had to pay (thru the headquarters in Malua).
See what pride does to people, it blinds them of the real important things in life, like your children, close-knit family. We have a problem, but the well-fed priests are not gonna come up with answers, nope, not if it means they have to give up prime beef for a night.

The Culture Moves Conference started on 9-12th November 2005 in Windy Wellington, NZ.
I was very fortunate to get a grant from Creative New Zealand to attend the three-day meeting.
Delegates came from as far as California, Hawaii, Darwin, New Caledonia, Austria, Easter Islands.

The three convenors were Dr Katerina Teaiwa, April Henderson and Sean Mallon, all of whom did a great and monstrous job of bringing all these awesome activities and people into one perfect venue: Te Papa Museum.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and hearing the diverse interesting perspectives, from academics, chereographers, dancers, potential sponsors..etc etc.

The performances by the travelling groups were simply stunning, I wish I could have memorised every move, every expression.
Some stuck to traditional conservative yet graceful moves, some were more for the dramatic, others simply gave it all, hip-thrusting, head-shaking, arms flailing, girls thrown in the air, men in tantric-like state and Chamorro boys screaming to booming drum beats.

I have a few images glued to my mind, Peter Rockford Espiritu,(chorerographer/artistics director) a ballet dancer who has incorporated this with Hawaiian moves, danced so....fluidly, so so passionately. At the end, i felt so macho after seeing him sway to a 70's beat.

Sugarpop, who breathed, lived and aged with the revolution of funkstyle and hip-hop before J.Lo and Micheal Jackson destroyed the original efforts of a few. He belonged to the group Lockers.
He was witty, straight-up, no nonsense kinda guy who stood up during the panel discussion and excalimed "I gotta pee!"

There were a very few moments where i felt dissapointed. With an academic dominating the discussions with irrelevant academic blurr that left the rest of the crowd staring at the ceiling, a Samoan man who claimed to be a traditional dance expert, never mind the Cook Island drum beats during the sasa and the foreign actions used. Some egos need to be deflated periodically.

Nevertheless, the networks made, knowledge acquired, experience absorbed made this Conference a success.
It can only get better from here.
I came reminded again that dance is more than expressions. It is bringing together people, it is breaking barriers, forging new relationships and giving inspriration to many.

Ia Manuia!!!

Today is the 18th October, in New Zealand, 17th in Samoa, ..thus making it the day I was born 25 years ago, in Tuasivi Hospital, on my pretty island of Savaii.
Now there's a good starter.
I am the fourth child to Moelagi Tiatia and Edward Barry Jackson.
I wasn't supposed to happen. At least not in their set plans. haha, their most gorgeous mistake in their lives heh...(i usually state that the older ones were the 'obligated, standard monkey chidren the parents weren't too keen about!!!).
Anyhow, my dad was basically after a small cosy family unit, of mom, and three children, one boy (Simon) and the two girlie girls (Lani and Omega).

Now, do note the one older than me is called 'OMEGA', also understood to mean, 'THE LAST'

I'm just grateful they didn't name me 'ACCIDENT', now that would be worrying.

We all grew up in Savaii, my mom was a teacher, then a gardener/high chief/mother of 8 + cousins we grew up with,.
My parents later started the Safua Hotel in 1978 because they had many random palagis(travellers) stopping in to stay with us.

Our upbringing was rather colourful, my earliest memories was with my baby sister Cherelle, following our older sibling around the plantation and the village. We basically crammed their style by wanting to hang with them.
So we had to make our own crowd, fortunately, our cousins were also our best buddies, like Diana and Saofai.
During the lopa season, we would pick the red beads off the ground and attempt to fry them on a hot iron.
Children playing with fire, duh, we even smoked leaves to have a go!
I learnt to swim at the age of maybe 6 or 7??? anyhow, i was so excited, i had teach Cherelle how to do it, at high tide in the Safua Pool.
I remember she was half drowning but we were both determined to learn.
But much to our dissapointment, our nanny, Tufue came yelling out of nowhere, ready to give us a hiding.
She would come to one end of the pool, and we'd (attempt to) swim to the other.
Mind you, she was about 65 at the time. Poor lady.

OKay, enough blabbering, the boss is back soon, hehe

I shall continue to yada later on...

Matai Titles,
For Sale or For Service??

'Can you smell what the Rock is cooking???'

Okay, here's an interesting topic, Matai Titles.
The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, a former WWE champion and recently hollywood hottie, is Samoan by descent.

Last year 2004, he visited Samoa with his mom and a jetplane load of staff and hanger-ons.
It was the biggest crowds EVER Samoa has witnessed since perhaps the first independence in 1962.

Anyhow, he got bestowed the title Seiuli from Malietoa Taumafili II the Head of State. This was well received by many, but others disagreed.

Some bitched about it among themselves, others wrote poorly structured columns and tacky frontpages on it, the rest just went along for the ride.

Either way, here's my own 2 sene to the whole thing.

Pros: Good publicity for Samoa.
Many thought the title bestowment was selling ourselves to the palagi $$$, and blahblah,,...meanwhile, i think it's a smart move.

From my tourism perspective, we are too broke-as to launch million dollar (or 10,000!!!) promotions about Samoa as a tourism destination, esp to the US market.
+So any publicity is STUNNING publicity about Samoa.

+ In addition, he has put Samoa on the pedestal, and given light to his heritage (altho he doesn't speak 6 words in samoan).
+ Plus, Malietoa can bestow any title he wishes, to anyone that pleases him.
+ And, he has contributed hugely to charities and whatnot while he was there
+And he has inspired many young people, that you dont have to be truly palagi with blue eyes and blonde hair to make it etc etc...it helps tho, hehe

There are a lot more pitiful examples about titles that are given to idiots over the years, I wouldn't rate this Rock title as a poor decision.

oh well, on the down side, we have people in samoa who work hard in the plantation, go fishing, feed the pigs, scrape coconuts daily etc, to support their matai and families. Yet, most don't get titles.

At the end of the day, I truly believe that any positive contribution you have made to better Samoa and Samoans can justify you getting a title.

Here's some palagis with honorary titles; Galumalemana Dick Hubbard(Hubbards cereals,Akld Mayor)
? Prince Edward (bestowed in Iva, Savaii, Tofilau?
Tagaloa David Lange (NZ former Prime Minister)
Tupai Bruno, the circus freak, now thats a new low, heh
etc etc...

I just then wondered, if Malietoa's wife's sister's husband's niece died, and the Seiuli family has to do a sii and give money. Does the family in Samoa pick up the phone and call the Rock and say 'Ello, tis is your aunty Kikaka, all the matais have to give 2 pusa apas (tinned fish), 120 fine mats and a $100.00..shet, thats peanuts for the Rock!!!