Rotary Club of PlimmertonTwo college students from Te Kura Maori o Porirua gave their time to inspire the primary school leaders who had been nominated by the principals of their schools to receive a 'Be a Gift Leadership Award' at this year's event on 4 September. They did both themselves and their college proud. The primary students were spellbound.
They were Jaimie Stephen
Jaimie spoke first in Maori (the translation follows).
Tū ake te Rangatira o Aotea waka ki nga pae maunga, ki nga pae whenua i te Hauauru,
Tahoetia atu ki te takere o te Awa o Pātea,
Paria nga wai hei tau atu ki te waka o Aotea Utanga Nui,
Whakatau mai ki Pariroa Marae whenua,
Hahaina taku tiro ki te teiteitanga o Taranaki Maunga,
Nohongia ki te Whare Tupuna o Taiporohenui,
Tau ana.
Kia ora koutou katoa, ko Jaimie Steven Andrews-Ngatoko toku ingoa, ko te tumanako kua hikaro i te mihi whakutewhera katahi ano te kai papaho ka mahi, ko au te tauira pakeke i te kura Maori o Porirua. 17 toku pakeke, i te tau 2005 au e timata ki Te Kura Maori o Porirua a, kei reira tonu ahau.
Kua whiwhi au i te mana i tēnei ra hei kanohi kitea mo to mātou kura maori, ano hoki kua whiwhi i te mana kia tuku atu i ngā ingoa o ia o ngā tauira hei kanohi kitea mo to rātou kura anoo nei he kaiarahi, he ihu manea, he rangatira.
Ko toku hiahia i tēnei korero kia taakoha i aku mohiotanga katoa i tēnei mea te haututanga ki a koutou te hunga kua tae mai ki a tautoko i to mātou nei kaupapa ootiraa, kia tautoko i ngā whakaihu waka kua tu hei rangatira mo o rātou kura, ki a tautoko i te mahi whakaritenga o te karapu Rotary anoo hoki.
No reira ki te whakaaro ahau ki tenei mea te kaihautuutanga, ka kii ahau, he arahi, he manaaki, he whakahauhau, ko te akiaki hoki i toku iwi ma muri, kei taka tētahi maku rātou e poipoi kia kimi i te ara hikoi hei tu hei rangatira hoki rātou. E hara ma te tohutohu noiho tētahi tangata e tu hei rangatira engari ma te mahinga o te mahi tenei e tutuki e kitea.
Hei whakatepe i taku korero i tenei ra, ka waiho ahau tenei whakatauki hei whakaniko korero.
Ko Te amorangi ki mua, ko te hapai o ki muri
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ra tatou katoa
And he kindly took time to translate his speech into English.
Standing on the west bound mountains and lands in the north island of New Zealand is the Chief of the Aotea Canoe,
Swim over to the riverbed of Patea River,
Follow the flow of the river down to the Canoe of Aotea Utanga Nui,
Come to shore on the lands of Pariroa Marae,
Seek for the great heights of the Mountain of Taranaki,
Settle into the meeting house of Taiporohenui,
Take solace.
Hello everyone, my name is Jaimie Steven Andrews-Ngatoko, but I am hoping that you would have picked that up in the introduction that was made for me by the emcee, that I am the eldest student at te Kura Maori o Porirua, I am 17 years old and I have been at this School, Te Maori o Porirua, since 2005. That is where I started school and where I intend to finish school as well.
Now I have received the honour today to be one of the faces my school te kura Maori o Porirua, I have also received the honour to hand the badges to Mitch Brown to give the intermediate students who are representing their school as leaders, as big and positive thinkers and as an up and coming chief.
Now I intend to share with everyone here my own thoughts on this event that we have gathered here for, and that is to celebrate the great achievements these students have done for their school and we are also here to support this event that the Plimmerton and Porirua Rotary clubs have organized today.
My thoughts on what I think makes someone a great leader, is encouraging people to succeed, supporting people through the bad and helping them overcome their problems, directing a group to reach the goal and, last but not least, to urge people to reach their limits. This is what I do for my teina, my juniors, at school. I choose to lead them from the back so if someone falls I can pick them up so they can also find the path of becoming a great and wonderful leader. I don't believe just giving instructions when not doing any work is the way forward when it comes to being a leader.
To wrap up my speech that I have done for you today, I will end with a proverb to add the cherry on top of my speech.
The leader at the front and the workers behind the scenes.
Ko Te amorangi ki mua, ko te hapai o ki muri.
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ra tatou katoa.
Following Jaimie, Te Uatorikiriki Solomon spoke to the audience. This is what she said:
Tēnā rā tātou katoa,
Tautia mai, rarau mai, i raro i te kaupapa o te rā nei, ara, te whakanui i nga tauira o nga kura tuatahi o Porirua e whakaatu ana i te haututanga, i te rangatiratanga.
Hello and welcome,
We are here today as we know, to celebrate the children from the primary schools of Porirua, who have shown leadership skills throughout this year.
My uncle once told me, the children that make the best leaders, are the misbehaved, mischievous, adventurous children. Maybe because they are not afraid to try things, are not afraid to make mistakes, but neither he nor I are saying that the child's goal is to lead others astray, but they may come up with a courageous aspiration, that they will strive to achieve, and maybe it is this passion, that draws people to follow them.
According to John Quincy Adams, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
So I believe, similar to a tohunga, you do not appoint yourself to these roles; these roles are appointed by the people around you. You do not choose if people follow you, but it's your actions that gain you followers.
Within my tribe, as well as other tribes, there are amazing leaders. I am not saying there were no bumps in the journey, but they seemed to overcome them, they seemed to achieve their goal. Within my tribe a prime example I believe of great leadership, was Toa-Rangatira himself, because his father was of old age when Toarangatira was born. He was adopted out. Gifts and honours were bestowed upon Koroau, Toarangatira’s elder brother, in generous measures, while Toa-Rangatira went without.
One day an idea came to him, to make a garden, but his adoptive father didn't know how he was going to accomplish this as they did not have any seeds. So once the garden was prepared, he went about collecting the kūmara peelings from the kuia down at the Marokopa river, where they were cleaning the kūmara. They were intrigued by this young boy and they asked him what he was doing? He said he was collecting the kūmara peelings to plant in his garden. He went about this for some time, and sometimes the kuia would even give him whole kūmara for his garden.
He ended up with such a large garden, he became someone who was great at showing manaakitanga. Toa-Rangatira was well-known for his agricultural skills. He disliked strife, and he followed the acts of Rongo, and from him came the tribe of Ngāti Toarangatira.
‘Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader They set out to make a difference. It's never about the role - always about the goal.’
It does not matter where you come from, it does not matter your size, if you have a goal, if you want to make a difference, the only things that matter are determination and hard work.