Pasifika Superheroes

Today I was blessed to interview Dr Karlina Tongotea who is not only a doctor but a world champion power lifter! Lina is South Auckland- raised and comes from Māori (Ngāpuhi and Ngāi Tahu) and Tongan heritage. It was so inspiring to hear her stories and I can’t wait to share them in a new…

I did a zoom sharing talk as part of the Reading Oceania conference recently. Whenever I’m blessed to do presentations I’m always proud to represent my home town Māngere, and let everyone know about the village that raised me.

I’m doing a project with children in the Samoan unit at Clendon Park School in Manurewa. We started the project with a parents fono so the parents could understand what we’re doing and help their children with the activities. The stories shared were so interesting and I’m really excited to hear more over the next…

  Today I had an amazing experience at Kelston Boys High School in Auckland. I was asked to speak to two classes of year 13 boys about the awesomeness of reading. I started with my pepeha – “Tuhituhia te kite, kia marama rawa ki nga papa …” and I saw one of the boys sit…

Amazing day celebrating Solomon Islands culture and stories with the launch of 5 bilingual children’s books by Mary Polosovai illustrated by Chad Robertson. I met Irene Tufuga, Pasifika Librarian, who said it breaks her heart when children of minority groups come to the library asking for books about their own cultures and she has to…

Today I got to visit students in the middle school at Sir Edmund Hilary Collegiate in Ōtara. I find these young people really inspiring because they have big dreams and they’re in the perfect place to build on the things their families have already been instilling in them. Our country has an amazing future because…