My day began at 4.30am to go lead the training squad for the Pacific Mini Games in a time trial mini duathlon. Someone asked me today if I enjoy doing this work? DO YOU LIKE DOING ALL THIS?! My immediate answer YES surprised me 😆 I had to stop and think about it (wait up,… Continue reading Do you like doing all this?!
Tag: Samoa
Who’s the teacher?
Its been 22 years since I taught in any school anywhere. (I can reliably count from when daughter Zion was born because that's when I quit teaching so I could be a full-time parent to our second premature baby!) In those 22 years, I have taught children, teenagers and adults at church, I've done the… Continue reading Who’s the teacher?
An Open Letter to the Minister for Sport in Samoa, and to the Oceania National Olympic Committee, I write as a triathlete (the slowest one in the country), the wife of a triathlete (who's not the slowest one in the country), a volunteer triathlon organiser, and more recently, the Team Manager for the National Squad.… Continue reading
Random Kid on a Beach
Yesterday at triathlon training, we had an aquathon (swim and run). As the squad is doing warmup laps and we're organising the setup for transition, I notice a young boy come wandering over. Ragged shorts, no shoes. Avidly curious as he watches the squad swim. He goes up to Darren. Greets him with a confident,… Continue reading Random Kid on a Beach
Give me the Night.
Storytime. About Darren. About my Dad. About family. And the practicalities of death. When a burial must take place within 24 hours SOMEBODY has to make it happen. Somebody who knows what they're doing, has all the necessary equipment, somebody who can drop everything and come make the grave ready. For us, that somebody, was… Continue reading Give me the Night.
Gone.
Written on 20th February 2023. On Friday the 17th of February, at 10.40am, at home with my mother sitting beside him, and my brother Cam whispering in his ear "I love you Dad. It will be alright. Everything will be alright" - Dad quietly slipped away. We didnt have time to cry though because he… Continue reading Gone.
Dangerous Kisses
We avoided it for 3 yrs but its finally happened. The plague got us. That man who lives in the same house as me, came home 5 days ago from New Zealand. We did not yet know he had covid, so I confess that I kissed him heaps. Which was reckless I admit (In my… Continue reading Dangerous Kisses
Best Youth Novel – Sir Julius Vogel Awards
I won? That shout you heard last night from my house here in Lotopa, startling all the birds asleep in the mango tree outside - was me. Finding out that my book FIRE'S CARESS was announced in Wellington NZ, as the winner of the BEST YOUTH NOVEL award in the 2022 Sir Julius Vogel Awards.… Continue reading Best Youth Novel – Sir Julius Vogel Awards
Open Call for Stories
When I'm not writing books, I'm running a publishing venture with my friend Sisilia Eteuati, called TATOU PUBLISHING. Together we put out a rather fabulous anthology of stories by women of the Moana called VA. And we are now working on another book called FUA which is stories for children aged 8 to 12 years.… Continue reading Open Call for Stories
Samoan Books for Children
ANNOUNCEMENT and Question time. I'm working on a line of kids books 😍. And super excited about them! Would YOU buy #madeInSamoa books for the children in your life? Which age group do YOU want books for most? Under 5's - Bilingual Gagana Samoa & English picture books, basic numbers, colors, shapes, beginner words and… Continue reading Samoan Books for Children
Lani Wendt Young 