Rautaki Māori

By Paige Sillaby, 2nd year MDP student 
 

Paige in front of the Te Whānau o Waipareira office

It’s been a month since I completed my international field placement at Te Whānau o Waipareira, and I am missing my Waipareira whānau, as well as the breath-taking mountains of Aotearoa New Zealand. Words cannot describe how deeply this summer’s field placement has impacted my personal and professional development. 

During the first month of field placement, I spent a lot of my time reading through documents to help me understand Waipareiratanga, which loosely translates as the unique way in that Waipareira operates as Māori organization. Some of the documents that I reviewed were; Te Whānau o Waipareira Strategic Plan, and the Waitangi Tribunal.  I would say that much of the information I learned this summer came from speaking with members of the Strategic Innovation team, as well as Wai- Research team about Maori culture, and the history of Aotearoa.

Mount Eden

My primary research project at Waipareira was to work alongside key staff to research and document the Rautaki Māori – Work-Placed Language Revitalization Strategy pilot. The culmination of this research is a summary report with a toolkit that can be used to implement language revitalization strategies in other Indigenous organizations. The overall purpose of the Rautaki report was to gather feedback from key participants in the Rautaki Māori model and designed to meet the following three objectives.

•          To determine and understand the impacts of Rautaki Māori on Wai-Atamai and Wai-Intel,

•          To identify strengths, challenges, and opportunities of the Rautaki language strategy

•          To document Waipareira Rautaki Māori model as a strategy for workplace language revitalization.

At the end of my placement, Waipareira generously printed out the Rautaki Māori report, which was put together by the Graphic Design team. I was not expecting Waipareira to do this, and I am so appreciative that they provided me with copies to take home and share with Indigenous organizations elsewhere.

Through my time in Aotearoa and especially working on Waipareira language revitalization strategy, I have truly been inspired to learn my Indigenous language. During my three months at Waipareira, I learned a little bit of Te Reo through the Rautaki Māori initiative. One of the Rautaki activities was to build a pepeha. The pepeha is a way of positioning yourself within a Māori worldview.  I am proud to share my pepeha;

Ko Horseshoe te maunga

Ko Simcoe te roto nui ake

Ko te Alantic te moana

Ko Big Canoe te rangatira

Ko Georgina Community Centre te wharenui

Ko Chippewa ki Georgina Island te hapū

Ko Ojibway te iwi

Ko Paige ahau

I would like to say chi-miigwetch/ thank you to Waipareira for hosting my field placement. Also, I recommend checking out #WaiRauMaori on twitter to see some of the awesome Rautaki Māori activities from with summer!

Ngāpuhi

Language Revitalization and Cultural Continuity

By Anna Huard, 2^nd year MDP student

Anna with students from Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o
Otepoti

 As an Indigenous woman, I am passionate about the tactics and tools Indigenous groups adopt to promote language revitalization and cultural continuity. By engaging with the Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti (a Māori immersion school from grades K – 6), I was able to gain insight to Māori ways of life. I was introduced to the Principal of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti, Tiahuia Kawe-Small, through the University of Otago. 

The greatest learning experience I have gained during my time spent at the Kura is being able to hear directly from the students why being fluent in te reo Māori is so important. The most striking observation I found was how confident the Māori students are when communicating with others (students, staff and guests, alike). These students uphold such a strong sense of identity that their sense of belonging is not put into question. I found this to be substantially different from Canadian Indigenous children, where the majority of our youth are raised without the knowledge that their cultures are relevant.

I also worked with the organizing committee coordinator with the Matariki Indigenous Peoples’ Program, which was a two-week extensive program on Māori sustainable development. The University of Otago hosted several university students and professors (including some from their own institution) from around the world, such as Dartmouth (U.S.), Durham (UK), Queens (Canada), and Western Australia. These days were long but incredibly rewarding. We took tours to maraes and museums, listened to knowledge keepers and academics, as well as engaged in meaningful conversations on how we could all learn from each other. 

I wish to thank Dr. Poia Rewi, the Dean of Te Tumu (School of Māori, Pacific, and Indigenous Studies), at the University of Otago, who was incredibly accommodating and supportive. Te Tumu is doing amazing work for Indigenous development and has no intention of slowing down their progress.

At a marae on the first day of the Matariki Indigenous Peoples' Program

Building Relationships

By Vanessa Tait, 2nd year MDP student

“In today’s society, there is such pressures to produce outcomes versus taking the time required to build trusting relationships first and seeing where that leads, see what it could look like – this takes a lot of time” -- Vanessa Tait

Vee (L) and Leah (R) with Academic Director, Sarah-Jane Tiakiwai - after being welcomed to the traditional territory of the Waikato-Tainui people

Offering tobacco to the Waikato River - Giving thanks for allowing us to share this space.

The relationships we have with one another, with the land and water are interconnected.  Having always dreamed of visiting New Zealand and meeting the Maori people, the opportunity came when I could choose a field placement anywhere internationally as a requirement for the Master’s program I am a part of.   

From the moment I was connected with the Waikato-Tainui College for Research and Development, the relationship began with the connection of one of my instructors who had visited the college before and had a connection with the Academic Director and another colleague of the college.  I had connected with the college via email introduction, followed by a few Skype meetings.   

As mentioned it takes time to build relationships, therefore in order for us to understand the projects and where it would lead we needed to be in their space and develop a relationship with the people, land and water of the area we would be working in.  

Building a connection with the Tree - the sweatpants say it all - "Respect"

Upon arriving at the college, we were introduced and welcomed into the college whanau (family) with a whakatau (welcoming) circle.  It was a familiar feeling to me to be in a circle and be welcomed in such a gentle way to our journeys ahead here in Hopuhopu, New Zealand.

Being the first time in another country, there was a need to connect and ground myself with the land and water.  It is important to build a relationship with all your surroundings not just the two-legged.  This part of the world is beautiful and to be connected to everything here and welcomed in such an amazing way makes this new relationship one that I know will last a lifetime.  

Back to my project, as I am introduced to the other entities connected with the college and welcomed and greeted I am humbled.  It is inspiring to see the amazing things that the Waikato-Tainui people are doing.  It is in this introduction that I am connected with two individuals that I will have the opportunity to learn from and share with on my project.  The project is focusing on community development and looking into social enterprises. 

I will stress again, it is important to build trusting relationships as you work with community.  It is within this relationship that the journey of the project will be guided and the outcome will be one that has been built together.  Keep in mind that the outcome is not the end product but the learning and collaboration along the way, remember this takes time and many times relationships have no end……

Living in the Clouds - Ngaruawahia, New Zealand

By Leah McDonnell, 2nd year MDP student

 

This is the sunset from the base of the hill, our accommodations are at the top of the hill

The Fly agaric mushroom grows on campus - looks like something out of Mario Bros.

For my placement with the Waikato-Tainui College for Research and Development, I am living at the top of a hill, surrounded by luscious green (and sacred) mountains, with the Waikato, a river of outstanding beauty and power running through the landscape.  The mountains reach high into the sky and often seem to have clouds that rest on them, sometimes even roll down them, bringing a brisk rainfall to keep the grass and plants fed. 

In general in New Zealand, Kiwis (New Zealanders) seem to have great respect for nature and the pristine countryside.  Where I am living and working is no different.   

Leah by the Waikato River that runs through the campus

 

I am working on a program that uses different aspects of the land (particularly the river) to implement programming that supports and facilitates cultural connections for Maori youth.   

Personally, I believe very strongly in the effectiveness of a program that uses a hands-on approach for youth.  I believe this to be more fun and engaging for children, and too be fair, even for adults.   

The strength I believe I can offer my placement is looking from an international perspective in regards to similar projects that are happening back home, their strengths, weaknesses, successes, and challenges.  While it took me a few weeks to truly understand my positionality here, I am confident in it now, while still understanding that it may change.