"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"

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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!

Monday, November 17, 2008