I am the first to jump up and say that I am a proud Samoan.

I simply nod, for I have already noticed the short distance between his right and left eyes. It is my secret way of detecting fags. I know he will speak. And the first thing the idiot says is, “Are you by any chance Samoan?” All my life strangers have been interested in my ancestry. There is something about my bearing that cries out for history. I’ve been mistaken for American Indian, Spanish, Filipino, Hawaiian, Samoan and Arabian. No one has ever asked me if I’m a spic or a greaser. Am I Samoan? “Aren’t we all?” I groan.

American Samoans owe permanent allegiance to the United States
They are therefore ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States.

It is imperative that we show our friends (Samoa), especially during their darkest hours, that we stand with them. Recent weeks have been very troubling for the Samoan People, who have been witnessing what is arguably a constitutional and political crisis.

It’s hard to notice dogs that don’t bark, so let me belabor this point a bit. You don’t see Harvard geneticist David Reich announcing that, say, unbeknownst to all previous observers, it turns out that the closest living relations to Samoans are actually Mohawks and Basques, while Tongans are most closely linked to Inuit, Samaritans, and Khoisan. Instead, what is found over and over is that the old anthropologists going all the way back to Linnaeus and Blumenbach in the 18th century tended to arrive at fairly reasonable frameworks for how the human races’ ancestral diversity could be conceptually organized. Lately, there have been interesting discoveries about the deep history of current populations, but few if any shockers about today’s races. Why? Because what we can see is the product of the genes we can’t see. So the arrival of genome sequencing primarily just confirmed what sharp-eyed observers had already noticed about who is related to whom.

We have a contribution to make to the spiritual and moral wellbeing of Samoa; the Catholic Church having, for example, its social teaching. I think we have a lot to give and we can make an impact on the life of Samoa as being one of the mainline churches. To me, it’s a responsibility we have for Samoa. We don’t want to dominate but if we can, we make a very important contribution to that.

If I had to pick one tribe to go back and live with permanently — and I hate doing this, it’s not a contest — it would be the people of Anuta, in the South Pacific. It’s got white beaches, blue seas, good food and gentle, friendly people who have a wonderful philosophy of sharing. And it’s warm.

I shall be the first head of state to visit a reunited Berlin. Tonga had an understanding with Bismarck and provided coaling stations for German ships. It was before our Treaty of Friendship with Britain. Germany was a South Pacific colonial power - in Samoa and New Guinea - until 1919. There is thus some historic significance in my going there now, I suppose.

I was amused, by the way, at one bit of native nomenclature in connection with the Goanese. Many of the Goanese are now as dark as most of the other Indians; but they are descended in the male line from the early Portuguese adventurers and conquerors, who were the first white men ever seen by the natives of this coast. Accordingly to this day some of the natives speak even of the dark-skinned descendants of the subjects of King Henry the Navigator as “the whites,” designating the Europeans specifically as English, Germans, or the like; just as in out-of-the-way nooks in the far Northwest one of our own red men will occasionally be found who still speaks of Americans and Englishmen as “Boston men” and “King George’s men.

"The significance of the dance in the education and socialisation of Samoan children is two-fold. In the first place it effectively offsets the rigorous subordination in which children are habitually kept. Here the admonitions of the elders change from "Sit down and keep still!" to "Stand up and dance!" The children are actually the centre of the group instead of its barely tolerated fringes."

Due to extensive tourism marketing, these tribal people, who were the first settlers of the island are threatened, abused, deprived of their rights. Their land is occupied and the goal is to expel them altogether. As a Church we are close to the natives through apostolic groups, pastoral care and social action in the Diocese of Kalibo. We try to defend their rights and their lives. They are our brothers and sisters, innocent people and helpless in the face of abuse.

But my friends, my brothers and sisters of the Pacific, we know who we are. We carry in our hearts the knowledge that we are the bearers of a proud legacy that surely marks us as people of strength, and courage and will. We have survived in our aquatic continent through many centuries.

This Island of Salsette is full of very fair Towns and abundance of Houses. Above all the Jesuits have the goodliest places, and ’tis counted that perhaps a third part of the Island is theirs; for, besides three good Towns which belong wholly to them, they have also dominion and government in all the other Towns too which are not theirs; they have Churches everywhere, Lands and store of goods, and, I believe, all the Parishes are govern’d by them in Spirituals with Supreme Authority; whence this people acknowledge more Vassallage to the Jesuits than to the King himself. The case is the, same in another Island call’d Bardeos, adjacent also to that of Goa, but more Northward, which is under the government of the Franciscans. Nor is it otherwise in almost all the other Territories of the Portugals; so that it may justly be said that the best, and perhaps too the greatest part of this State is in the hands of Religious Orders.

In most cultures in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, dancing groups in traditional costume is used in the most important celebrations of the people’s life. These dances can also express the joy, happiness and unity of the people during Mass. There is no better way to build Christian community through the Holy Eucharist, the center of the Church.