Hon Tariana Turia; Co-Leader, Māori Party

Opening of the Fiji Community Association of Auckland Bula ECE Centre, Cleek Road, Auckland

Saturday 9 June 2012; 8.30am

Bula vinaka, namaste, tēnā koutou katoa

To the Fiji Community Association of Auckland, the President John Kotoisuva, mana whenua, church and community Leaders, staff of the Bula Early Childhood Centre team and whānau here today - thank you for inviting me, and for allowing me to share in your vision by the privilege of being able to open this bilingual Fijian Early Childhood Centre.

As I stand before this beautiful new building, pristine in all its promise of what nurturing, learning and teaching will go on within its walls, I am reminded of the power of language that resides at the centre of our journey through life.

As I look around at the many faces who have arrived today, I see the look of determination etched on the faces of the vuvale (family) who have chosen to enrol their children here, and I mihi to you.

In making the conscious decision to provide an education context rich with the values that arise within your own Fijian worldview, you have made a statement to the world about your choice to be self-determining.

No doubt as you were working on the original concept and design for this Centre, you thought about the need for a learning environment that would reflect the values that you have within the home, and the language that is spoken there.

As I thought about all the work that would have gone in to making your dream a reality, I remembered the experience of trying to determine the appropriate education pathway for one of my own children.

I had the opportunity to send one of my younger sons to boarding school, a renowned institution that was revered by academics and scholars alike for the many talented and bright young men it turned out for the country. I consulted friends, some of who had sent their sons there, and do you know what they told me?

They said that while I might invest in the fanciest education that money could buy, I might regret what my son would turn out like. Not because he would not achieve, or pass all his exams, but because I might not recognise him.

Indeed, he might change so much so that he could fit in with the dominant worldview that surrounded him at the school, that it would almost render him from a different culture.

I thought long and hard about this, and to assist in my decision, I drew on what I considered to be his normal learning environment as a toddler, at much the same age your young ones come to the Bula Early Childhood Education Centre.

As a youngster, he would spend hours following me around on the farm asking questions all day long. I would answer them as best I could, and would feed him with the same answers that I was given by the wonderful teachers I had in the form of my aunts, uncles, my kuia, and my tupuna.

I remembered that special time with him as a toddler, and so at the tender age of eleven, I looked at this boy and thought, well son, who am I to deny you your birthright? Who am I to determine the parameters of the journey you will undertake in life of understanding your essence?

The answer was quite simple.

No one single institution could offer him the worldview and richness of his culture.

I wanted more than a few fancy letters after his name, I wanted him to be schooled in the traditions and the wisdom of our people – to know our truths; our stories; our poetry; our way of seeing the world. As we say at home - Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au: I am the river and the river is me.

And for as long as that magnificent river stretches between our mountains and to the river mouth at home, I could clearly see his path ahead of him.

I knew from my own experience that my role as his mother, just one of the influences in his life, was to honour this birthright, and make the right decision accordingly.

I wanted for him an education which surrounded him with a strong sense of who he was I wanted him blessed in the same worldview that had sustained us as a whānau since time immemorial.

So as I thought about what led you to this dream for the Bula Early Childhood Education Centre, I wondered if the call from within your own was seeded in much the same way, with the same types of questions that I had for my son.

I thought about what might have been driving you.

I wasn’t here during your discussions, but there can be no doubt that it was borne of the same power of self-determination that Paulo Friere, the Brazilian Educator speaks of when he refers to the ‘ability for us to name our world and not have it named by others’.

And from our own experiences of being self-determining in the pursuit of everything we do in the Māori Party for the good of all our people, I know that at the forefront of your discussions would have been the recognition that children raised without the solid foundations of their culture, and the important place of language within that, would be tantamount to building a house without its foundations firmly in place.

I am excited for you, because you are here at the Bula Centre, to make the dream of a better future for your children a reality, and connect that future with the legacy left to you by your ancestors. You are here to advance your own development, and to view these issues using your own cultural perspective within the safety of your own language.

It is when you can look into the future, and map a pathway forward that fits within your values, your beliefs, and your culture in a way that can never be lost in the translation that arises when it is transmitted in your own language, that you can truly start to make progress

We have lived a similar history - of people thinking they know what is best for us, and we have similar aspirations – that you want to do for yourselves, and to have healthy, happy whanau and communities.

It is not for me to tell you what that looks like, or how you are going to get there It is simply my role today to stand shoulder to shoulder with you, as Pacific cousins bound by whakapapa, to honour your stance, and provide support in solidarity of your purpose.

I am also a passionate believer in the right to maintain one’s own reo, as a gift from our ancestors, to be treasured and maintained and most importantly, utilised every day.

I have recently learned about the state of being known as Sautu – sau, which reflects being imbued with Mana arising from one’s position or performance of role and Tu, - which is to rise following successful discharge of one’s duty.

Together, Sautu represents an outcome of positive achievement for a family. It is akin to the top most part of a house Doka ni Vale serving as the crowning glory in the building process.

Sautu is therefore about family wellbeing that is self-sustaining and is equipped to deal with issues that are designed to fracture its core. It is about good health that is epitomised in the Fijian greeting Bula Vinaka

Today is the manifestation of Sautu for the Fijian Community Association of Auckland Bula Early Childhood Education Centre. You have achieved with your vision the I Doka ni Vale, the desired picture that portrays its wellbeing outwardly.

To have arrived at this milestone where we celebrate the official opening of the Bula ECE Centre today, speaks of the ultimate goal that you have strived to achieve, the Vuvale Sautu, the strong and vibrant family.

It is therefore both a privilege, and indeed an honour, to be asked to open the facility today. To be here amongst your elders and your leaders, your whānau and your community, to play a small role in creating history with you, is truly humbling.

I now declare the Fijian Community Association of Auckland Bula Early Childhood Education Centre officially open.

Tena koutou katoa.

ends

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