Come to Tangaroa College this Tuesday evening if you’d like to see some local theatre featuring amazing young people of Otara. My year 12 Drama class are performing a play called “Too Much Too Young”. It’s on the theme of teen pregnancy and sexual health, a pretty big issue in our community.
It’s mental health month in Aotearoa and I’m thinking about mental strength as I read the children’s book, “The White Mouse”, with my daughter. It’s the story of Kiwi nurse, reporter and spy, Nancy Wake. In our first reading we learned that Nancy’s husband was forced to join the French army to defend France from…
It’s Cook Islands Language Week and we’re celebrating by sharing a little about some of the inspirational Cook Islanders featured in my book Cook Islands Heroes. The aim of this book is to inspire Kuki Airani young people and anyone else who loves reading stories of people who overcame great challenges to achieve their goals in life….
We’re nearly halfway through term one of the school year and it’s a good time to remind the young people we live and work with, and ourselves, that being successful isn’t about talent or gifts. It’s about learning, working with the right people and hard work. Kemba Walker is a basketball player. Kemba led his…
It’s Kuki Airani (Cook Island) Language Week and to celebrate I’m going to share some stories with you from my book Cook Islands Heroes. To start our week, have you heard about the awesome conservation work of former Cook Islands and Kiwi rugby league player, Kevin Iro? Kevin played for the Warriors and Manly in…
This week sees the NZ release of the new Fast & Furious film, Hobbs & Shaw, starring Dwayne Johnson and his cousin, Roman Reigns. I’d like to share an amazing story with you about Roman, real name Joseph Anoa’i. I’ve just written a new book for young people about Joseph because his life story is…
The New Zealand government announced earlier this year that it will soon be compulsory to teach New Zealand history in our schools. Every child in Germany learns about the Holocaust – the terrible atrocities which Hitler and the Nazis did to the Jewish people. “We teach every chapter of German history,” a German friend of…
