Mātauranga

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

So I talked about work overload yesterday. Here's the backstory.

I've been assigned to Project Jess which is lovely. JESS is lovely. I'm so happy to be working with her and also Shalom who is very organised and also Briar. 

Did I tell you about Briar? So here's the story on Briar. She is, as she puts it, a "Baby Symon". I'm not sure how old she is. She might be a teenager. That's all I'm saying. She is a new BA, but I knew her from the early days of Project Gromit. So we have history.

Consequently, I've been helping her out as a new BA and she's very grateful. But she did tell me that she's kind of bored because her project isn't doing very much right now. 

THIS WAS HER FIRST MISTAKE

So. Back to Project Jess. It's all about documenting the steps Kāinga Ora has taken to improve its ability to liaise with Māori businesses and tenants and kaimahi* across the motu**. These are the key kaupapa*** we should be adopting and we need to show how we're doing it and what we plan to do next.

Which is GREAT. I love it! I see the benefit in it! This is not me being politically correct, the kaupapa that underpin mātauranga**** benefits everyone if you apply them. Their basis is in family and love and knocking down hierarchical structures. 

AND DOESN'T THAT SOUND AMAZING?

YES IT DOES.

But. 

Shalom and I have TWO EFFING WEEKS to write all of this up. Let me repeat that.

TWO EFFING WEEKS. 

Which is no time at all. Hence, heaps of meetings and then meetings about meetings and more meetings.

"Briaaaaaaaaaar? Did you say you weren't that busy?" I asked her on Tuesday. 

Ten minutes later, she had been assigned to Project Jess. 

"OH MY GOD I LOOOOOOOOVE YOOOUOUOOOOUUU," Jess texted me. 

Jess is also quite young. Seriously. This is the downside to working with Briar and Jess. I make references to films made IN THE PREVIOUS CENTURY and they just blink at me. 

"Seriously, you've never seen 'Meet The Parents'?" I asked them. 

"I spend most of my time on Insta and TikTok," explained Jess.

Effing young people. 

So today we had an all-day workshop. It was ok. It was nowhere near as much fun as a Project Gromit workshop, although Jess did her best. I did get to meet the full team though and they were so nice to me. They are all Māori and they took the time to explain some of the kaupapa and tikanga***** to me. 

For example, I've never mentioned it before but a lot of our meetings start with a karakia, or blessing. These can be religious, but they don't have to be. Here's an example.

The team were telling me it can be tiresome because as the Māori in the team, everyone looks to them to deliver the karakia. So because I am me I said sure I'll do one if that's ok?

And Akasha and Christine LOVED it. They are going to teach me and at some point they'll get me to do one. 

"It's nice, it's just a nice way to take yourself out of work mode," explained Christine.

So I think this project will be good for me. And Jess bought me a whisky at the end of the day. And I'm really looking forward to doing this mahi******.

But still.

TWO EFFING WEEKS. 

Hey! Where's Briar gone???

S.

* Staff
** Country
*** Principles
**** Māori knowledge
***** Tradition, ceremony, custom
****** Work