Where is the love?
Have you ever wondered where ‘love’ is in Te Whariki? I would like to share some words from the book Infinite Threads by Mariko B. Ryan, “Despite the language divide between the vowel-laiden rhythmic language of the Māori, and the consonant-laden, functional language of the English, I approach the task as poetry, listening as much to the sounds and rhythms of the words as to the their meanings. I attempt to echo the style of the storytellers - verbose, raw, symbolic, metaphorical, cryptic, humorous and hearty. I sometimes mimic the way the orators speak and sometimes how my elders spoke. Thick accents, like earth, streams, sky - the sound of Aroha, love unending, unbounded.”
Where is the love? In this context I would like to think about love being one aspect aroha and that at times they are very similar, although the word aroha holds so many nuances that when we try to limit the meaning through using ‘love’ in its place it is too tricky. So I will use aroha and love but ask that you remember ‘aroha’ holds many many possibilities for us to ponder on.
The above quote out of Infinite Threads I think reminds us that aroha does not necessarily need to be explicit, it can be the ‘thick accent of aroha, love unending, unbounded.’ While Te Whāriki does not directly speak of love it has the thick accent of aroha, of which love is one thread.
Te Whāriki is centred on Māori traditions and perspectives of the mokopuna. Karla Charteris wrote, “Te Whāriki holds true to the teachings of old and preserves the belief that “the mokopuna is special” (Reedy, 2019, p. 39). It is a theoretical framework described by Reedy as a “whāriki woven by loving hands that can cross cultures with respect, that can weave people and nations together” (p. 39). The revised addition of Te Whāriki has been further embedded with Māori beliefs and values (Rameka & Soutar, 2019) which includes “showing respect; and aroha, having love and compassion” (Reedy & Reedy, 2013, as cited in Rameka & Soutar, 2019, p. 47)”
Where is the love? Love/aroha is in all that we do, it is the thick accent behind the words we use, behind the actions we take, behind the thoughts we think.
We cannot hold the view of the mokopuna the way Te Whāriki asks us to without looking upon them through a gaze of aroha. The introduction to Te Whāriki starts with:
He purapura i ruia mai i Rangiātea e kore e ngaro.
A seed sown in Rangiātea will never be lost.
In Māori tradition the child was a valued member of the Māori worlds before conception, before birth, and before time. They began their journey in Rangiātea, homeland of the gods. Born into this world, they were nurtured like a precious seed to ensure their survival and inculcated with an understanding of their own importance.Reedy (2013)
To hold space for this mokopuna born a valued member who should be nurtured like a precious seed then we need to have a gaze of aroha. Nothing else will do.
You might search for the word love inside Te Whāriki, it is there, mentioned once. Aroha though is the way the Principles, Strands and Outcomes of Te Whāriki roll off your tongue. The way your words are spoken, the intent of your heart these can be felt and heard by the mokopuna.
Aroha cannot be directly translated into love as it encompasses ngā uara (values) such as manaakitanga and whanaungnatanga. It asks us to see the mana of each of the mokopuna, to understand all that they bring with them and to respond to the words “I am a seed born of greatness” for every mokopuna that comes through your doors.
What aroha looks like in your centre is up to you. To understand aroha maybe we need to dig a little deeper. Reedy said, “To accept and enjoy the loving, the sharing, the caring of aroha means you give back a little more than you received. This keeps the networks alive and functioning. The acceptance of aroha in any shape or form places one unequivocally under the obligation to that person, that family, that group.” Aroha is the commitment we make to our centre whānau, to our colleagues and of course to all mokopuna in our settings.
Is aroha something that can be felt, seen and heard by everyone? Where is the love in all that you do?
References
Charteris, K.cited on the internet, 25/2/22 https://www.waikato.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/639113/Kayla-Charteris_Looking-beyond_2021-01-28.pdf)
Rameka, L., & Soutar, B. (2019). Te hōhonutanga o Te Whāriki: Developing a deeper understanding of Te Whāriki. In A. C. Gunn & J. Nuttall (Eds.), Weaving Te Whāriki: Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood curriculum document in theory and practice (3 ed.). NZCER.
Ryan, M.B. (2020). Infinite Threads: 100 Indigenous Insights from Old Maori Manuscripts
Te Koingo, T., & Reedy, L. (2019). Tōku rangatira nā te mana mātauranga: “Knowledge and power set me free...”. In A. K. Gunn & J. Nuttall (Eds.), Weaving Te Whāriki: Aotearoa New Zealand’ s early childhood curriculum document in theory and practice (3 ed., pp. 25–44). NZCER.