When I die

When a loved one dies, there is much sorrow and grief expressed in numerous ways.  Death is natural and yet there is something unfair about it.  Certainly, many will live perpetually if given the chance, immortality has been romanticized by vampire movies so much, some think it can actually happen (sappy Twilight sagas that are so slow, one can power nap, wake up and the two characters will still be staring at each other for a good 20 minutes, zzz). Everyone dies, eventually.  It matters how we spent our time on Earth, how many lives we interconnected with, those who we've helped, influenced or encouraged.  How we live matters.

Samoa woke up to two deaths today.  One of a prominent business man and one of a great leader. I am sure their loved ones are seeking comfort in each other as well as in the memories of those who have passed.  Their lives will be missing a father, an uncle, grand father, son, nephew and so forth.  I sympathize with those who know these two men, along with their colleagues and understudies.  To those who are left behind, this verse might be for you

"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and the will to carry on"~ Walter Lippman

I have worked with that great leader, he was a man of conviction and to some extent he inspired others as the task of great leaders is not to shine the limelight on themselves but to elicit leadership in others. Samoa may not mourn as the world mourned for the great Mandela however, it does not belittle the achievements of both men nor overshadows their influence on others.  I have a familiar relationship with death as one dear grandfather passed away not too long ago. Time does not heal all wounds, time does not make the grief lighter, time does indeed remind us of how loved we were by that one person.  Time has a way of reminding us how we used to be, how we felt when that one person touched our lives, how one must go on living without them here. It is a bittersweet sentiment; they will be dearly missed and at the same time we have them in our memories.

I had an interesting conversation with my 86 year old, lively grandfather some time ago.  We talked about life in general and the hardships one faces at old age.  We talked about the things he used to do effortlessly only a few years ago that cannot be done so easily now. The conversation then traveled down the road where my other grandfather lies now. Death. I asked him what he thought about the finality of death, no more, full stop part of life.  He acknowledged that it was a natural cycle and he is ready at all times to  go.  He had one very interesting request that I've never heard before.

He didn't care much about where he would be buried (his children will take care of that part). He was not entirely bothered about the people who will attend or those who will be giving eulogies. He did not have any special song requests.  He requested for a simple tea or lunch for the family when he dies and he specially request for a pair of white silk pajamas!! 

" I don't want to be buried in a suit, I'm not getting married

  I don't want to be buried naked, this is not a party (chuckle)

 I want a pair of white silk pajamas, I'm sleeping eternally and will go to be with my God. 

That's what I want when I die"

Trust my sharp grandfather to have such a request!It does make sense on a few levels.  No need for a fancy suit as there are no marriages in heaven (some might rebut this)  and nudity is a no no.  A pair of white silk pajamas will be best if one goes to heaven (eternal sleep). We will all one day be lingering at the mouth of Death valley, I wonder what absurd request we will have. On a more serious note, for those of us left behind.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”John 14:1-4

There is room in heaven for all of us. We just need to accept the gift of salvation.

Live in an ocean not a bubble!

The race is on again, working, making a living, striving for a better year than the last.  It is good to be back at work, amongst peers, under a cement roof with good weather outside.  It's time to put on a potful of coffee, bury our heads in words and do some work.  Why do I have a vision of Moses leading God's people out of Egypt, freeing them from Pharaoh, staff in hand pointing towards the heavens roaring  "Let us go out of this miserable place to the promised land!"

If I was a slave at that time and a life of bondage and servitude was familiar ground, I would not be pondering what I would do with my freedom once the order was given. I'd gather all my meager belongings and run for it! There were no bags or treasured ornaments to bring, if there were, Egypt can take them, run first and think later! Just grab what you have in case Pharaoh changed his mind and start running for the promised land. This is somewhat where we are right now.  The year is just beginning, there are no solid plans, run and think at the same time.

If you follow Samoa Observer and other news forum(s), the world did not stop and enjoy the holidays like the rest of us. No, the world went on being the world, the new year did not bring a sizable bubble big enough to conceal and fix its problems. 2014 did not bring the cream cheese for an instant sugar fix or a magic wand to magically make our street problems disappear.  Politics and shameful tactics still exist, our cost of living is still high (unreachable) on a minimum wage, we still have beggars hassling us on the streets and people killing each other. The world remains the world, we just have to endure and persevere in it.

From www.newscientist.com

Don't live in a bubble, live in an ocean.  As people of the sea, we know the fish swims, lives, plays, make friends, works, survives, endures in the ocean all its life and yet still needs to be salted after/before it's cooked.  A perfect example that we may live in the world among evil and beauty but we do not have to be saturated in it.  We do not have to conform to the ways of this world. 

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" Romans 12:2

If the world was all good then we will not experience a sense of longing for something better.  There will be no challenge to live rightly because it is it easier to do evil than to do good.  It is safer to turn a blind eye when someone needs help, in some cases deaf ears! We've read about abuse for far too long with no silver lining and children roaming the streets without education, closing our eyes and hoping that maybe 'this year' will be different.  That some Hercules/Samson/David will rise up to say 'STOP' and end the misery. Tough luck, if we, the living do the same thing day in, day out, nothing will change.  This is insanity as defined by Albert Einstein "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" (some are not so sure Einstein said this while his bombs were exploding in the garage)

Samoa does not suffer from warrior deficiency syndromes including the vocals and the opinionated.  We lack the do-ers, people of action, those who keep quiet and toil away.  Those who genuinely mean to do good, period.  Perhaps this year we will have more of those, we will face and drown in great things and not wallow in the muddy waters of yesterday.  First let us begin with ourselves, begin with the i with a dot on top and then the 'you' and 'we'.  Let us encourage, edify and motivate each other while the race is just beginning.  We have a whole year ahead of us, so fight the good fight and do not despair, keep swimming in salted waters!

From nationalgeographic

And then there was a proposal...

Seven days into 2014 already, back at work again with a list as long as the great wall of China (all in my head).  There are work goals, project objectives, personal decrees among the thistles to be obtained this year.  My new year was indeed a new year, I was proposed to in an astounding manner as the man was on both knees with a rock (diamond) worthy of a resounding "YES"! Too much excitement for one week and planning a wedding is not easy depending on the kind of wedding one wants.  The question that comes to mind is- What does a Samoan wedding REALLY look like?

My parents' love story is rather different from mine and have many amusing corners. One recollection from a relative of this included my father kidnapping mother dearest with "we are getting married today" in his levis jeans and hippie hair.  He then continued driving to my grandparents' house to inform them that they were getting married and if they wanted to come, mass was to be held later in the afternoon.  There were no invitations, no wedding bells, no wedding party and certainly no string band! I am sure one thing was present----drama!Today, with all the fluff and drama surrounding Samoan weddings, this would have been ideal for me but I have a feeling that mother dearest will not be amused by the elopement!

Again, what does a Samoan wedding really look like? No, it certainly does not look like Sione's wedding (rotten tomatoes).  With the tides of inevitable change, most of the weddings nowadays are westernized. I haven't been to a wedding where the bridal party is adorned with siapo, fine mats or partake in the old exchange of measina and extravagant gifts. In a well written  historical collection by  Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop, Sosefina-Josie, Phineas-Ioane tells of her own very traditional wedding to Momoisea with 1000 fine mats given by the village of Saanapu in exchange of marriage goods.  Her sisters wove her ie tu, ie avaga, fala lauie and pupugi siapo while the village received money with a laulautasi (a presentation of gift items ranging from handcrafts and toiletries to clothing goods).  This is unheard of these days, one thousand fine mats!

I am not one of those girls who has recurrent dreams of what her wedding day will look like or the dress that's supposed to cover the whole church floor (a little extreme). I do not envision a wedding party/bridal party with 30 bridesmaids and seven flower girls (too much). I have more dreams of flying a Boeing dream liner or painting my mother's white wall with splashes of nothingness. A marriage will start AFTER the wedding and the wedding day is certainly not the climax of the relationship, it shall be the stepping stone to marriage.  

The personal ambitions that I would want for my own wedding:

1.  God to be present at the wedding and throughout the marriage
2. A small intimate wedding (small meaning 80 guests max)
3.  Have some colour besides white (turquoise nails/blue hair pins/red shoes?)
4.  Ban ALL cell phones and Fretbook status/updates/blurry photos/locations/followers 
5. Did i mention NO cell phones?
6. A proper registry to avoid ending up with 20 dozens of the same Chinese made dishes and matching tea towels.
7. For mother dearest to be seated and not run around chasing things or people 

In the end it matters whom you marry not the look or cost of the wedding (whether it's Samoan or multicultural).  The union of two souls will impact both spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally and relationally.  I and Him should go into this marriage with both eyes open so there is no misunderstanding or compromise after. 

"The effects are far reaching, long lasting, and either wonderful or difficult. True, there are no perfect men out there. But there are great ones. And it’s better to be single for life than to marry someone who will make your life a burden. Singleness can be great. Marriage to the wrong person is a nightmare.... Don’t be so desperate to get married that your marriage is a grief. If you’re not married, don’t put yourself in that situation. Don’t marry someone whose leadership you can’t follow. Don’t marry someone who is not seeking to love you as Christ loved the church. Marry someone who knows and demonstrates the love of Christ"

The Christian Pundit, 2012)

So, with the whole year to enjoy, one must truly seek out what they truly need in order to be challenged. Sometimes, the greatest outcomes are achieved with the smallest steps.

Welcome to your new life!

"Every beginning is a consequence - every beginning ends something' ~ Paul Valery

New beginning (Naioth.com)

As we say goodbye to 2013 and all its joys, tears  and consequences, we usher in the new light of 2014.  The new year.  A brand new page, unstained with iniquity, unwritten, unplanned, unspoiled.  It is another chance for us to improve on the things while we still can, to maintain good friendships that have motivated and inspired us, to hope for wonderful things to come, to surround ourselves with people and thoughts that truly matter.  

2013 was a great teacher, I started projects that I've only dreamed about.  I took risks that seemed a bit far fetched and I have learned much from the roller coaster that is or was 2013.  New year resolutions should be a thing of the past, how many people actually follow their list? By the time February rolls around the corner, people forget what they planned to do amongst the busy-ness and in time they move on to fill their lists with other goals. It's good to have goals and plans, it's also good to not be fixated on one horizon. Flexibility allows us certain freedoms and insights to our culture so that our youthfulness doesn't leave too soon.  "Youth is the natural time for revolt, experiment and for generous idealism that is eager for action" (H.E.Stearns) but it shouldn't stop there.

All our institutional life combines for the common purpose of teaching us what we ought to be, how we ought to behave, how one should watch themselves when interacting with others. Our education spearheads our success and there are certain interconnected paths and consequences in life that institutions do not have solutions for.  One of those is how to envision the future and at the same time deal with the past, the past year, the past week, the past relationship, the past tense. Thankfully, we are made to be breakable in order to learn.  I, myself struggled to understand the past, how unforgiving it can be especially for those who have been through the slavery of the past.  It's one thing to advise someone to 'move on' and quite another for it to be evident in daily routines.

Yes, we read beautiful quotes on how we learn from our mistakes and how the past should be left alone but it doesn't matter if the whole sky of books fall on you, dealing with the past and its consequences is a task, a daily battle for some, a thief waiting to sneak into the chambers of your heart to strike when you are at your most vulnerable.  There is this treasure box called 'memory' that is the enemy sometimes.  The past is extremely dangerous when we allow it to rear its ugly head in the 'now'.  Thankfully it doesn't really matter what other people judge your past to be.  It's the other great reason why we have a God who is not limited by people's opinions.

Paul wrote that he was not perfect or already perfected but one thing he could do was to press on, forgetting those things which are behind (past) and reaching forward to those things which are ahead (future)Philippians 3:13.  He knew that the Philippians were imperfect and were in the business of condemning themselves daily but he also knew that God is greater than the human heart. This is still applicable to us today.  We are imperfect and that's acceptable.  It is within those imperfections that we find lessons, joy over our weaknesses and self-humbling experiences. There is much to be said about the past, however there is more to be written about the future. 

We should be thankful that we are given a new chapter, to dream, make peace, strive for perfection (we do try though never obtained) start living more vigorously and diligently.  To shine in the places where there is no light, to succeed when the world tells us 'no', to soar above our problems and make the past look like a dead mosquito on the wall. We are responsible for OUR own future as this coming 2014 in another year will be the new past, so make the most of it.  Live like you really mean it! Actively choose to forget the past if it does not help your development. You cannot embrace the future unless you release the past.  The past is significant and we may never fully erase it from memory, there might be horrible happenings in the past but there are also great memories there.  Those are the memories we want to hold on to, to retell our own children, the excitement of the journey and the relief at a destination.  Dreams might be illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you but don't just dream, wake up because reality is so much better if you take your dreams and breathe life into them.  You will surprise yourself and even learn a thing or two.

The real meaning of christmas dear reader

 

Photo from Seattle Church of Christ

It's that time of the year, holidays when people reflect on the past year, eat, drink and be merry in preparations for the new year. It is also the time when people indulge in too much alcohol resulting to fights, disorderly behaviour and accidents.  While it's a cause for great celebrations, it is also a time when we have to be extremely cautious.  I have witnessed two car crashes in the last two weeks that were so severe, the cars had no way of recovery, completely written off.  One was a drunken driver, the other was a show off who was speeding and crashed/ fell in a ditch in broad daylight!  Thankfully, no member of the public or passengers was involved or hurt in the makings of these un-accidents.  The only people that sustained wounds were the careless drivers themselves and their poor cars.

Christmas is a time of giving in remembrance of the greatest gift bestowed upon mankind.  The real reason for Christmas is Jesus Christ.  In the middle of all the fire works, big bang theory, diamonds and ruby giving, we have to remember the reason for Christmas! We should be thankful to God for the greatest gift.  In addition, it is through this gift that we have received salvation through grace.  Where would be if God was indeed a man? If he was human, half of us will be gone by now, zapped, killed off with a wand each time we disobey, step out of line, misbehave and doing all those humanly things that we do.  I remember one reader who approached me to make the point that I have not talked on this blog about my beliefs, my Christianity and why i am not writing devotionals like i should. In my head I unsheathed my fiapoto claws with the retort 

"My blog is mine alone and you can't tell me what to write! The title of this blog is 'Samoa Aviator' not 'Holier than thou' blog'.  It is not 'MY' Christianity, it is the lifestyle that we live as believers.  It's not me me me.  Christian means-CHRIST that lives in me, the I-A-N in the end, is I am nothing.  In a whole phrase, this means without Christ I am nothing. At least this is my understanding of  what it is to be christian.  Being a christian is not to point the finger at others as 'they' or that we are better than them.  I've come across people who think and proclaim themselves as Christians but on the first note of doing something they don't view as christian behaviour, hell, fire and brimstone will fall down on your head. They will also use one verse from the Bible to justify this passing of judgement.  Let us not fall into the seat of judgement, let God be the judge. Proper judgement is used to discern what is good and bad, not WHO is good or bad,  this proper judgement is according to God's measure, not man's. 

As a christian, if we are to judge anything or anyone, we ought to judge ourselves.  We ought to search our hearts and minds if indeed we are living as Christ taught.  To love one another as we love ourselves and to love God with all our being. Are we really trying? Do we live as we are commanded and not based on our perceptions on how we ought to live.  What standards are we living by? We cannot know the mind of God and Christmas is the illustration of his ultimate love for us.  In his limitless power, glory and might, he became one of us and dwelt among us.  Now, we don't have a visible representation of him but as a believer we have faith in him and reading the scriptures to guide, correct, teach and sustain us.

I love what John Piper says about faith:

Believing in Jesus is a soul coming to Jesus to be satisfied in all that he is. That is my definition of faith on the basis of John 6:35.
Faith is “Seeing and savoring Jesus, being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus, and trusting Jesus,” and that those three things are “equivalent realities.”
But those realities should also be apparent in our actions, 
When you treasure God in your soul, "you outwardly are set free from the slavery of sins, which people can start to see, and you are set free for the sacrifices of love, which people can see. So the root of your salvation glorifies God privately, and the fruit of your salvation glorifies God publicly."

I don't have to write in this blog of how christian I am.  After all, actions speak louder than words.  I can preach about the love and all the other amazing characteristics of God but if I don't SHOW that through my life, to the people around me, I will be wasting my time giving lip service.  I will be just another hypocrite joining the masses.  As for devotionals, devotion is a personal time you spend with your God.  You don't have to follow writings to be devotional! It can range from five minutes of praying to a whole day of meditating on the word of God.  For me, devotional is a personal, habitual must if we are to be living in Christ.  This is where God reveals himself to each person.

At church, we stand with our fellow believers saying "AMEN" to God but devotional(s) is where you write your personal story with him.  We may not be able to reveal in church our innermost secrets/ longings or shortcomings. You can do this via devotionals, here is where you are free to express these to our Creator.  It may not be words at all, a song, a poem, a line!It really depends on your spirit and it's condition. So my reader, this address is for you. 

I am a christian and I do not have the answers to everything, only God has and that's okay.  It's okay to not know everything, that will exhaust the human brain! It's okay to not be perfect, only God is, that will mean we are Gods, demi-Gods, Goddesses if we were perfect.  Oh how boring and colour deprived the world would be if we were perfect!How un challenging and distasteful, that will mean we don't need God, there is no salvation because we can save ourselves.  Fortunately we can't.  In the true spirit of christmas, do something worthy.  Even if you are not a christian, there is someone somewhere who needs a hand.  Be safe and try to look through Christ's eyes if we can't use our own.

Loved by Art

My sister Elizabeth (Lisa) EWEST ART

I've always thought of myself as a future academic since I was playing in the sandbox at Sogi kindergarten. I wanted to study and study.  In Primary school, I needed to top my class because I was told to.   In college, I had to top because receiving a prize at the end was rewarding.  Yes, I am competitive, I'm a little smart and still a student of life. There is greatness all around and within us because we are God's masterpieces.  A few months ago, I founded Pele Project after I fell out of bed and hit my head on the creative side! Now I dream of patterns, circles, colour combos running around my head. When I sit in a room full of academics, CEOs, head of government departments in a meeting, at a conference, in a general discussion, when the discussion gets a big repetitive my brain will switch to the artsy side. I will think dancing colours and lines and no I am not high! I was waiting for it to go away, to leave me be but it simply won't.  I was expected to be

• be a civil engineer like my father
• a farmer like my civil engineer-turned farmer father
• entrepreneur like mother dearest
• a writer because I'm good at it?
• an aviator, a pilot because I flew planes as a student pilot for two years 
• to make something of myself in the aviation world because that's where my passion lies
• not to meddle in the arts because it's not in my genes, my genes are pre-dominantly Science-Biology, Physics, Maths --no chemistry
• to work at a desk and fumble with papers all my life

This creative fall has given a girl some bizarre and crazy ideas.  One of them is to sit in the front row at a fashion show while models of all shapes and sizes  (no anorexic models) walk that cat walk with big island smiles on their faces! I read that models are not allowed to smile! For crying out loud, most people don't look at the models, they are just hangers? so why would any one be bothered if they smile or not.

If you look at nature, the colours are infinite which depicts the artistic mind of God.  The universe is bursting at the seams with art.  The very fabric of  the human race is made up of a myriad of colours. Most things that are magnified a hundred, thousand times have colour.  I believe there are colours in nature that we have not yet discovered or named.  Have you seen the ocean depth videos from Discovery Channel? Don't you wish you can touch all those fish? The plants and different species that live in the ocean are amazing.

Art is in our environment, our culture, our siva (dances), our people.  This is where artists draw their inspiration from.There is no limit to art and there is no fence or cage to keep it locked.  There are copycats, there are criminals, there are people with no original thought and lack the ability to think and create on their own.  There are greedy people in this world and we can't avoid that.  We all coexist. Have you counted the colours of starfish? Have you seen the different colours of the ocean? Yes yes, much for than fifty shades of grey! Have you felt the petals of frangipanis, bougainvillea, mosooi and their numerous forms?

Something truly amazing happens when you put paint on paper.  Something within us comes to life.  We cannot help but create beautiful artistic masterpieces because this is a gift from our Creator.  God put colour on this Earth so that people will enjoy them, so a conversation will start between Him and us.  He painted the earth and us so intricately, patiently, softly, marvelously thus we are so 'fearfully and wonderfully made'.  We forget at times that art is not just in paintings.  Art is in movement or action, a spoken word, written word, art is everywhere.  “The great hall was shimmering in light, sun streaming from the open windows, and ablaze with colour, the walls decorated with embroidered hangings in rich shades of gold and crimson. New rushes had been strewn about, fragrant with lavender, sweet woodruff, and balm... the air was... perfumed with honeysuckle and violet, their seductive scents luring in from the gardens butterflies as blue as the summer sky.”
~Sharon Kay Penman, Devil's Brood

Last week I was invited to Samoa Arts Council's Fashion and Art Show at Sinalei Reef Resort. It was a great night showcasing the arts.  There was dancing, fashion,speeches, collaborations, networking and glorious food! I wish more people were there and I wish more Samoans took interest in studying, participating, preserving our OWN art instead of complaining when non-Samoans do. Unless we take ownership of our own art and give it the pedestal it deserves, others will keep copying, exploiting, selling, cheapening our art.  We are proud when we hear of our tatau (tattoo) being discussed in international circles and we are proud of our Manu Samoa wearing tattooed jerseys on the field, we are proud to wear lavalavas for summer in New Zealand and Australia yet how little we know about the history! I for one know very little about the arts but I'm learning everyday.  I don't know where most of our artwork/siva/designs/movements are from.  There is room to learn, there is time to accumulate knowledge, there is time to wake up and take ownership of what's ours.  Are those forms of art truly ours? They must have originated from somewhere and we may never know.  I know all things start from the Creator so I can confidently say that art originated from the creator of the Universe!

How else can we explain the wonder, the mystery, the beauty of art?

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.
Georgia O'Keeffe”
― Georgia O'Keeffe

Pacific Skies

Participants for 59th ASPA General session (Photo by Leata Alaimoana)

Last week was a stimulating week, definitely to the aviation senses! I participated in the 59th ASPA GENERAL SESSION, 5-6 December, 2013 at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel, Apia Samoa. Association of South Pacific Airlines (ASPA) was established at the directive of the South Pacific Civil Aviation Council which met in Apia on 22-23 June, 1978. The first meeting of regional airlines, held in Suva on 7-8 March 1979 formally agreed to launch the Association of South Pacific Airlines (ASPA). The inaugural meeting of ASPA took place in Suva on 30-31 May 1979, when the Articles of Association were adopted. ASPA is a trade association, representing the interests of member airlines, and is operated on a not-for-profit basis.

The main theme of this session was 'Business First, Safety Always'. There were important topics presented and discussed at the two day session. ASPA Secretary-General, George Faktaufon said the theme for this year’s meeting is Business First, Safety Always—shifting the focus to the bottom line of any business which is making money. “The reason we have this theme this year is that we have always been safety driven and dealing with someone else’s needs while our own needs, to make money, have been neglected,” he said. “We can be safe as part of our business but if we cannot make money, then we will not have a business to run. We will try to change the focus to making money with safety being an important part of that process.”

IATA presented a paper on the aviation and environment challenges and opportunities.  This was the first presentation about the role of the industry in addressing environmental issues such as gas emissions, carbon footprints and ways for airlines to look at some practical solutions. Then the state of the South Pacific industry was examined.  So far, our small and medium airlines are doing well regardless of the limited resources that we have.  Boeing of course came in with a positive outlook, everything is on the rise including South Pacific airlines looking to order new fleet,replacing old and dying aircraft. This also means there will be increasing upgrades to our current fleet as time goes by. Great for passengers and perhaps not so good for airlines as aircraft cost millions.  Several companies presented new technology that could be an advantage to airlines in the future such as ticketing systems and distribution models. Other presentations included those of air traffic services and the vision of uniting the whole South Pacific flight regions. This may look and sound brilliant however, there must be an incredible amount of dialogue as each island has sovereignty over their own airspace.  

Our South Pacific aviation industry is not independent, it heavily relies on other service providers for its continuous survival.  What I took away from this session is that no matter how expensive our aircraft is, how brilliant the customer service may be but if we do not put 'bums on plane seats' our airline business remains risky.  In addition, before we focus on controlling operations and adopting fancy safety management systems that will cost us time and money, we must know our standards first because we cannot improve on what we don't know.  Our quality assurance systems are never 100% full proof, they are unreliable as we do not have consistent auditing results.  Much work has to be done and this will not be done overnight.  We have to keep cooperating as small islands and learn in order to improve and keep our aviation industry afloat.  We may be small and isolated but together we are the South Pacific.  Together, we work for our people and this in itself should be a catapulting motivator to do better, to hope for the best.

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." ~ Unknown

GOOD HEARTS

     

From Adokablesundies.com

     Today, I woke up feeling a bit better from last night. No, there was no hangover or panda eyes, just an appreciation for life and most importantly health, recovering well from a nasty flu bug that's been binging everyone on the nose.  I went to see the optometrist on Monday and my eyes are healthy, except that my left eye is slightly weaker than my right and my new specs will be adjusted accordingly.  While waiting for the optometrist to arrive, I sat in front of her office thinking how fortunate I am, to know about the health services offered at the Hospital including the Samoa Vision Services  and also the means to get there.  I have been in the hospital when the Emergency/Out Patient Unit with so many people waiting, babies crying, old men twitching nervously waiting for their daughters and very sick people complaining about the Health Services. Doctors receive the most complaints about how 'slow' and 'uncaring' they are towards their patients.  I have heard patients' complaints each time. I have heard people tell the doctor what they need because for some reason, the doctor was not smart enough to know their symptoms and appropriate medication?  Is the service slow? Yes, sometimes.  Are they uncaring? I think not.  Sure, health professionals take their time seeing patients and the outpatient probably receives more visits than any other section of the hospital on any given day.  They also receive the most complaints because of the number of beds available.  I have heard some rather absurd, funny stories while waiting in the same section.  Samoans love to exaggerate and are great storytellers.  One woman told me that she was dying and that she could hardly breath.  From what I could see, she was experiencing an allergic reaction to something she consumed or was close to.  With my Form 6 Biology class knowledge, I asked her several questions (playing the doctor), if she had eaten something she's never had before and if she was allergic to certain foods.  The poor woman did not know what 'allergic' meant and claimed she had eaten octopus in coconut cream. Bingo! Soon after, it was her turn to see the doctor and I was right, allergic reaction to octopus, she was not dying.

   

    November/December are thanksgiving months.  This is the time of year we reflect on the last ten months expressing thankful prayers for  God's protection and guidance in bringing us thus far.  For adding each new day to our lives despite the trials we go through and days where we just do not want to get out of bed, we are still here, air in and out of lungs, we are thankful. Today, I thank God for my health and even though I have been feeling under the weather these past few days, I am still here. I thank him for professionals such as doctors, optometrists, nutritionists, nurses and other health professionals that work in Samoa. 

Looking after peoples' health is not an easy job. I have five close friends who are doctors in different fields and I will never envy them.  Their job is hard, trying, challenging,sad and mostly rewarding. I have sat at dinner tables with them discussing the pressures of work.  I have listened to the horror stories about teenagers giving birth, patients' families telling them off, older nurses embarrassing them in front of patients and many dates we've missed due to their busy work schedules.  I have seen the toll that medicine life has taken on them.  These are the same friends I've had since primary school days, one I knew since I was 3.  I have one friend who was just ready to quit and change professions because of the pressures that our people exert on them.  They graduated young, only 23/24 and thrown into the Samoan arena without a life jacket.  They had to find their way and learning procedures fast including several defense mechanisms when people complain to them, about them and so forth. All these confirm that I should never be a doctor.  First, I do not have the patience and I don't have the stomach to cut people up. The only time I would want to be a doctor is when a close friend or family member is in pain.

     

    Doctors are some of the most hard working people.  They can work anywhere from 8 to 24 hours depending on the number of staff available.  If you are a student contemplating on being the cool doctor like the twitchy, old and limping guy in 'House', earning thousands of dollars, owning a brand new car/house after working for 3 years in Samoa, I promise you now that you will be sorely disappointed.  Then again, if you ask most doctors, they don't 'do it for the money'.  They do it for our people because we do not have a choice or the monetary power to attract first class medical professionals from overseas to look after our hospital all year round.  In addition, if you are a doctor you will be peed on, puked on,sworn at and at some point you will have all sorts of bodily fluids sprayed across your face. Let his blog be an encouragement and also an informative note to our people.

Samoans are people of courage and are very proud but somehow these attributes rarely drift to our health genes.  Most people wait until they think they are dying before going to the hospital.  Sometimes, they leave little infections long enough to develop into cancerous and elephant sized problems and by then it's too late.  Understandably, there are many contributing factors  such as poor diet, lack of exercise, bad habits that lead to poor health.  There are preventive measures we can take to be better at looking after ourselves.  We are hospitable people, we break out the fine china, the brand new sheets/towels when we have visitors while we use the broken dishes and the beat up towels with holes for our own use.  Why do we do these to ourselves? Why do we save the best for others? Today we should start using our brand new things for ourselves and our family.  Today we should look after ourselves better.  Today, we should be more patient with our doctors and health professionals just like they are with us.  Today, we should encourage those who have good hearts, healthy brains, who want to be health professionals in the future to do so.  People will always find something to complain about whether it's at the hospital or restaurant.  Today, we should be thankful that God exists and he is in control of everything regardless of what our mere opinions or lack thereof of him.  Take care of our bodies, it's the only place we have to live in and no wonder the bible says it's a temple. 

I leave you now with this beautiful quote;
'The thousand mysteries around us would not trouble but interest us, if only we had cheerful, healthy hearts.
~~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche~~

Where are the turtles?

Photo by: gardenofeden

While the world is lamenting about sports and the consistent disappointed resulting from men kicking a lopsided ball around, yes I feel your pain and I lament along with you, there are many more urgent matters that need our attention.  Matters that are very close to home and those that can very well affect the health of rugby in the future.

Last week on Friday, while I was sitting in the MNRE conference room, listening to brilliant lawyers explaining the foundation to the 'Trade in endangered species Bill 2013".  I reminisced about my younger days at St Mary's Savalalo, the delight of seeing a real life turtle for the first time.  This consultation provided an overview of a new Bill aiming to protect and conserve Samoa's endangered fauna and flora.  They also provided an overview of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

There are many things to fear in this world and more so for the unknown.  One of them is not having trees or animals around, we need them as much as they need us.  When was the last time you saw a mother turtle giving birth in/on the sands of our beaches?  I vaguely remember such a sight when I was a child, walking along the beach at Mulivai Safata. Have you seen a flying fox sucking on fruits high up in the tree? I did in front of my grandma's house, hanging from her soursop tree and also many times at the market, feeding on fruits as some people kept them as pets.  Have you seen dolphins in family groups guiding the ferry to Savaii? I did happily many times on the way to the big island before the nausea settled in.  Have you had the pleasure of collecting so many sand dollars you didn't have enough space for them in your pockets/buckets? I have when we used to go to the beach on Sunday, before there were sea walls and resorts.  Have you seen hundreds of fish swimming, playing around and beneath you before they go off and do other fishy things? I have at the back of the old Savalalo market where the fish market is currently located.

These are rarely experienced by our young people these days.  They have to go on their expensive phones to download an app that look like fish swimming and turtles flying in all their glory. Some of our native birds, animals and plant species are either endangered, vulnerable, critically endangered and nearing extinction.  This is not specific to Samoa, it's a global experience.  With greed and money comes more greed and money.  People ignore that small voice in their heads when it comes to poaching, exploiting, shipping, killing and selling anything and everything in exchange for a few dollars for a few beers.

The first creature that came to mind during this discussion was the gentle, slow moving, quiet turtle.  We also have the manumea and the Samoan flying fox (Pteropus samoensis).  The pe'a  is a CITES-listed species that is endangered by subsistence hunting and by commercial hunting for markets in the western Pacific (Brautigam and Elmqvist 1990).  Other species include Samoan wood rail (Pareudiastes pacificus) that are endangered, exploited and probably close to extinction. The Australian gray duck (Anas supercilliosia), purple swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio samoensis), many-colored fruit-dove (Ptilinopus perousii perousii), Samoan ground-dove (Gallicolumba stairi stairi), ma’o (Gymnomyza samoensis), and island thrush (Turdus poliocephalus samoensis) are all endangered or threatened (Merlin and Juvik 1983). 

Some of these species are endangered due to habitat loss and commercial hunting. While this has nothing to do with rugby, it has everything to do with health.  If we keep turning a blind eye, soon enough, more of the species that live among us will die off expanding the List of endagenered, and critically endagnered species and contracting the life experiences list.  

The next generation will keep downloading applications to know what a flying fox looks like.  The MNRE Bill has included words such as 'endangered, threatened, exploited species'.  One can apply for an export or import permit with conditions.  There are provisions to ensure the safety and protection of species coming to and going out of Samoa.  Like all other Bills, Acts, Regulations, it may look excellent on paper but if the implementation falls short of being implemented then MNRE's hard work and brilliant minds will go to waste.  Truthfully, I saw two very large turtle shells being sold on the side of the street on my way back from the airport the week before.  We may hope for the best and draft a great legislation with nice words used by academics but if we fail to deliver this to our own people, more turtle shells and bat brains will be lining the street.  

Next time we buy handicrafts, ask where they are from...think twice whether we are willing to be participants in killing off our own endangered, native species. We need them as much as they need us.  It will be a sad day when we take our children to Aquatic centres and they are empty, no turtles, sharks, dolphins, star fish or any of those squishy, fishy sometimes slimy creatures to enjoy.  If we are heartbroken, losing sleep, appetite and the will to watch rugby tv anymore because of our Manu Samoa then we should definitely lose something over ignoring the world around us.

Each species on our planet plays a role in the healthy functioning of natural ecosystems, on which humans depend. - William H. Schlesinger .

Germany comes to Samoa

On a bright, full-house, pro-grandpa funeral Sunday, we just finished church and were getting ready to partake in the biggest meal of the week, when a car pulled up in front of our house. Out came a tall strawberry blonde woman, another blond man and my relative Rudy.Nauer. They chatted lightly with some of my uncles and aunts that were outside.

Usually, when we have visitors, they either come for the farm or  a talk with my papa.  I ran upstairs to change into toonai gear and grabbed a pen and paper.  During this time I overheard the relatives talking about our German family, how they came to Samoa, my grandpa Norman who had just been laid to rest and sleeping in the ground.  Quickly, I grabbed my camera because if my ears weren't fooling me, this was an opportunity not to be missed.  I had real-life German cousins coming to find us!

I came outside and introduced myself. This was the first time I introduced myself as my great-grand mothers child, usually we say our parents' names.  Kathrin Stalder, my third cousin was new to Samoa, who just happened to be on a family finding odyssey with her husband and had written out our family tree on a piece of paper.  

They were warm and excited.  My first question was : How did you find us? What made you get off your couch and come all the way to Samoa? She found us through the TV thank you note, that we sent out to thank all those who attended grandpa's funeral.  When they heard 'Nauer' on TV, they quickly switched on and went to find the Nauers.  They found Rudy and then Rudy brought them to us. I chuckled to myself and thought 

'This grandfather of mine is some kind of funny, he dies and then gets his family to come ask about him'. 

It was a walk down memory lane, talking about him and his brothers, his late mother Louisa.Pereira.Nauer to his niece and nephew from Germany.  Kathrin decided that it was her mission to find her family in Samoa and saw the need to establish a bond with us because we came from Nauers and we still have a lot of family back in Germany that want to know us.

Like any inquisitive person, I wanted to know if they were indeed family.  Kathrin's grandmother is my grandfather's first cousin. Our great-grand parents were siblings. She has family who are also named Adolf, Louisa,Hermine, Conrad,all good old traditional German names that go way back into our family history. We were all excited as my cousin Richard tried to do the same when he was playing rugby in the UK.  On his big Euro trip, he went to Germany, swam in the river and tried to find his Nauer side, too bad there was no thank you note on the TV to guide him to them. 

I was sad to discover that the girls were sent back to Germany because of the war and the boys stayed behind (Samoa) to preserve the family name? I don't know, whether their parents were wise in sending back the girls, I'm not sure. We had family that were in concentration camps and died during the holocaust.  The greatgrand uncles that were send out married women from different nationalities and alas, we are all fruit salads!

Family is not just an important thing in the Samoan culture, they are everything.  Whatever we do and wherever we are, if anyone in our family comes across a mishap or tragedy, there is an unbreakable bond that makes our eyes water.  There is an invisible rope that tightens around our hearts at the thought of them.  When they are excited, we laugh alongside them, when they cry we lament with them. 

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present. Lao Tzu
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/family_life.html#qlUqf3gxZxRu7j5b.99

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present. Lao Tzu
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/family_life.html#qlUqf3gxZxRu7j5b.99

From left-right: Peter, Kathrin Stalder (cousin), Conrad,Donna, Maria, Rosita,Cassandra , Richard, Enid (me), Rudy Nauer.

My family tree on paper

 Thank you Kathrin for coming to seek us out, we do hope we will have a great family get together in Germany in the near future. 

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.

Lao Tzu