Karangaora

This song I wrote when I was teaching at Ngata College Ruatoria.  It speaks of my life purpose to inspire Young people to catch every opportunity, my life journey, written in 2001 it’s where I’m at now in the sense of remembering who I am and whats my call – I can move forward with strength when I know who I am.  At Retreat this year I sang the first verse over this beautiful valley and as I was singing I found such strength remembering my life purpose and what I’m called to do.  We really have to get ourselves in those retreat spaces so our spirit can reconnect with the Great Spirit, recharge and remember.

Karangaora ki nga hao ika

Ki mai nga wairua e e e

Kia ngaro nui, hei tohu tera

He manawa maumahara

Ki te whakatauki –

ka pu te ruha

Ka hao te rangatahi hi!

This is a call of life to all of those 

wide mouth fish who can catch my call

turn your spirit to me

Ask of your spiritual, your world

Many are lost, that is a sign

My heart remembers the proverb

The old net lies in a heap,

While the new net goes fishing, It is! It wasn’t said for nothing! 
(Apirana Ngata Proverb spoken for our Youth to catch every opportunity)

Kei whea nga mokopuna,

nga uri o Porourangi

hei tohu maumahara – te korowai o

Te Rangitawaea, te kaitiaki,

no te puke tena hi!

Where are the grandchildren?

The descendants of the great Porourangi

Remember the sign –

The cloak of Te Rangitawaea

The guardian from that peak! (Hikurangi is our Ancestral Mountain and sometimes you will see the cloak of our Ancestor Te Rangitawaea wrapped around it in the form of a clouds.)

Ka rapua i te whatu manawa

te kimihanga o te wairua

ka huri au, he tohu rangatira

ki te tikitiki o te maunga tupuna tera

te Maunga Hikurangi Hi!

Searching  from the hearts perspective

The searching of the soul

I then turn, remember the chiefly sign

From which I descend

The topknot( Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga we descend from Maui) of the ancestral mountain

The Hikurangi Mountain. 

Te iri te urunga tü, Te urunga pae,

Te urunga mätiketike,

Te urunga märangaranga!

Ka hoe ratou te waka –orite ki tatou tupuna hi!

The lifting up the rudder stands, the rudder is perched, ready

The rudder stands erect, the rudder bobs up and down!

Let us row the waka- like our ancestors before us! 

No te waka Nukutaimemeha,

te waka Nukutere,

Te waka Tereaniani, te waka Horouta,

Paikea he taniwha he tipua hi!

From the great Canoe Nukutaimemeha,

the Canoe Nukutere

The Canoe Tereaniani, the Canoe Horouta

Paikea the whale, the ancestor! (Descendants of Ngati Porou can herald descent from various Canoe and Whale)

No te tupuna Ko Mauitikitiki-a-taranga,

ko Whironui, ko Paikea, Ko Paoa,

Ko Porou ariki te matatara whare,

Te Tuhi mareikura o Rauru Hi!

From the great ancestors –

Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga,

Whiro-nui, Paikea, Paoa,

Porourangi, Indeed! (Ngati Porou can claim descent from a number of ancestor) 

 Ka whakarerea ki taku wairua,

Ka whakatakata kiTe whatu Manawa

Ka whakangeri ngeri

Te mana maori motuhake hi!

Now my spiritual is ready

From my hearts perspective im prepared

This chant is who I am

These things are the pride of my people!

Copyright 2001

Is Social Ventures Australia the beast?

This post is to speak my truth about my experience as a so-called Social Entrepreneur.  I am a  Maori Woman who cares about her community in Australia and in New Zealand, my roots.

I’ve had tears today, meeting the Business Angels and it’s been one of those weeks where ppl say through words or actions you can’t do it! But, my Spirit & mind shows me this is what you will be doing! my heart says this is why you’ll be doing it! and my actions say I am doing it already!

 In the meeting today with many new developments to share as it’s been a few months since I’ve seen them last and I guess it all came as a bit of a shock what I’m up to now for some. I was wearing my heart on my sleeve still absolutely elated from the design work I received from UTS yesterday and got hammered…Also, Two Angels weren’t there which changed the dynamics completely giving others voices untempered by what is right and good for me…..being in this position I think if I was any younger I would’ve succumbed to anything they wanted and been controlled and possibly change, impacting my authenticity and right to be my genuine self.

So many developments: I was able to answer their questions however a bit rushed and not as clearly as some would have liked,  I guess I took for granted how far I’d moved on since we last met and needed to present those movements first.  The natural flow of our meetings tend to go:  Jackie: this is where I’m up to,  Angels: Questions, answers, feedback, advice & support.  This time it was Jackie: I’d like to show you a presentation from UTS Design Students (presentation starts and the new name comes up ***** Foundation and I have to quickly explain the business structure I’ve decided to go with) thats where things went awry!  Then I had to give them an update as to where everythings up to in the project and I guess the legalists in the room could see how much I have to do and how is she going to do it.  Organisation, PHD, etc etc

 ”Who do you think you are?  You must think a PHD drops out of the sky?”  the gift of perception is a  tough bitch when it speaks like that…..a qualifying/ controlling spirit says to anyone with an audacious vision who dares to step out of the mould, status quo and has the audacity to give it a go: What gives you the right to do this, who do you think you are to do this, don’t you know who you’re talking to?  My actions say, I’ve heard it all before, all my life and here I am sitting amongst you with my heart open, willing to learn, listening to feedback , genuine about my vision  and determined to do it.

 For those of us willing to break out of the status quo by dreaming big and with the audacity to actually give it a go…..remember why you do it, the purpose, remember what matters the most, your priorities and take the pearls out of the bullshyt that comes; learn to discern straight to the heart of the matter, what’s really going on?  who is this person?  Where are they at?  what shapes their thought processes? their history?  their issues? I say that because there are times when people speak from their own experiences and put their face on you….they believe the giants they faced are the same giants you’ll face too.  You have to remember: each of us comes with a particular skillset and gift mix which makes us uniquely gifted and equipped with everything we need believe it or not to fulfill our life purpose.  We have to remember that we are the ones with the vision, we know what we see, we know what we know, no one has walked in our shoes but us…be wise and listen for what you need and take the opportunities discarding the rest.  Have compassion for people and where they’re at because you simply don’t know what they’re going through in their own lives…….believe it or not I gained alot today…..

Each of us has the responsibility for our own actions: the ambivalence of language gives us a choice to cut to the heart of people with our words alone, which can do irrevocable damage if not hurt or mindf##$$k someone with superlatives and how do you block the blow that comes from words spoken??  Make sure you guard your heart because out of it flows the wellspring of life and you want that to be a peaceful wellspring and not polluted by someone elses $#*@!! 

I was reminded some want me to tell them what they need to know in a language they understand- key facts…Social Ventures Australia Style because they always make sure they have the greatest presenters when they speak…..sudden thoughts entered my mind of a one man band, thank God I know myself ….  I’ve been kindly offered a one day course so I can learn how to communicate effectively to 4 different personality types at $700 it will help me in presenting my pitch to prospective funders……..Opportunity, so I graciously accepted.  

I wonder? Is SVA going to be the beast for Social Entrepreneurs like myself who have a project and just want to get it done but they’re developing a model of how to pitch that Business Angels will come to expect, the private funders they work with will expect from those of us on the ground and where will our Authenticity come in all of this as we’re told how to speak, think and act!  a way of doing things in which we’ll all have to live up to in order to do a job well done!  @#!*# That! I am who I am, I will do this project regardless of contacts or not, Angels or not, SVA or not, Uni’s or not, well-connected or not…… I think this is my journey and I’m grateful for the Angels input…yes, they’ve helped me with advice but no one spiritual or physical has the right to hinder or hold me back from my Life Purpose & Vision to help others.  I was grateful for “the Archer” because she believed in me, she heard my vision and shared her wisdom on how I could do it  and provided the opportunity of personally introducing me to a contact!  She was the balance in the mix today……That is a fine example of how it should be done!  For those in the position of funding consider this:  you are invited to partake in the vision of an individual to help others – do what you can to listen to the heart of the presenter no matter what form that comes in, you support by believing in them (that alone speaks volumes) by hearing them and asking questions to make sure you’ve got it right don’t hinder them with your legalistic attitude or superlatives they can’t understand because you will be a stumbling block and should be quickly uninvited from the process.

Do you really want to know why I do this??  Breakthrough for my life and for my family…..not just my immediate family but extended too – my eyes and heart are on my hapu/ sub-tribe back home in New Zealand….I’m learning to break new ground and grow!!!!  All it takes is one to break through…..I learn as much as I can to help my community but my first community is where I come from!!  People will be shocked if they knew I’ve been working on a business proposal for running a social enterprise back home too…….as well as what I’m doing here BUT that’s a typical Maori they are always thinking of the wider family and how they can help others get ahead…..

It was a significant day today because earlier this week I had a vision in which I had pulled myself up over the rocks and stood at a cave mouth elated I had made it this far…..I was looking at the clouds below and an eagles nest with three eggs in it (eagles have two eggs) and I was given special permission to take one….After the meeting I went to my Ngapuhi/ American Indian friend & she’s seen how far I’ve come since arriving here 7 yrs ago and I was gifted an amazing blue thunderegg (1 of 3 in her collection) that she’s had for over 20yrs and it still has a gold butterfly on it that her now adult daughter put there as a child.  Oftentimes it will be the people you least expect that will honor you and celebrate your achievements with you along the way,no matter how big or small.  I continued to celebrate how far I’ve come by a walk holding hands talking wit my daughter and the flowers she picked for me on the way home from dinner mean’t much more than anything else.

Alistair SSE CEO UK inspired me for the second time with the story of Michael Young…do you know part of his headstone says “Social Visionary and Innovator”(I think that’s incredible!)  he found solutions to problems that would benefit society……he built organisation after organisation to make them a reality and people told him all the reasons why he couldn’t do it, he’d go away and find solutions and come back until they said yes, it will work!  I told someone I want to be like Michael Young who started SSE UK and was told “you can’t do that because you’re not well connected and you don’t have contacts like he did, do you know what I mean?”he said and then continued ”it’s like Steve Lawrence started WorkVentures and played a key role in the set up of over 13 organisations such as SVA and bought SSE here to Australia – he can do that because he’s well connected.  Yeah, I wanted to be like him too I said lol I know who I am and it’s my personality to want to build things, solve a problem, find solutions, help the people, social justice, joy for all generations, leave a positive legacy for our next generations, innovation, creation – I’m not saying by any means I am these two amazing men what i’m saying is I am passionate about rebuilding peoples lives, removing what hinders them from living their life purpose because I know what it feels like to be held back and I’m willing to continue to perservere until I see the vision come to pass and make it happen….

There are things I want to set up to help my family, community and others get ahead in life and not be held back just because somebody thinks it can’t be done!!!  That’s their attitude not mine and I’m sick and tired of people putting their shyt on me…..know I’m going to do it and back me or back off!

Butterfly Struggle

Along a dusty road in India there sat a beggar who sold cocoons. A young boy watched him day after day, and the beggar finally beckoned to him. “Do you know what beauty lies within this chrysalis? I will give you one so you might see for yourself. But you must be careful not to handle the cocoon until the butterfly comes out.”

The boy was enchanted with the gift and hurried home to await the butterfly. He laid the cocoon on the floor and became aware of a curious thing. The butterfly was beating its fragile wings against the hard wall of the chrysalis until it appeared it would surely perish, before it could break the unyielding prison.

Wanting only to help, the boy swiftly pried the cocoon open. Out flopped a wet, brown, ugly thing which quickly died. When the beggar discovered what had happened, he explained to the boy “In order for the butterfly wings to grow strong enough to support him, it is necessary that he beat them against the walls of his cocoon. Only by this struggle can his wings become beautiful and durable. When you denied him that struggle, you took away from him his only chance of survival.”

May the walls of your cocoon be just thick enough to allow you to struggle just long enough to emerge the beautiful person I already know you to be.  Author Unknown.

leadership in six words :o)

Check out this article in the Harvard Business Review called, “Sum up your leadership in six words” and make an attempt to give it a go yourself by answering the following questions in six words or less )

What gets me up in the morning?  My Life Purpose is Helping Others!

How can I help?  This is my favourite: Planning Pathways- Unlocking Potential -Taking Action

and here are some more I came up with:  setting up an organisation – ***** Foundation

Coordinating the experts: Practising new model

Provide opportunities and access for Women

What is my influence? or How might you describe a challenge facing your team using just six words?

Living with purpose, progressing with persistance!

I was just talking with a friend of mine and she had observed a number of self-confessed social entrepreneurs who like to “play the part” when they get in the zone such as conferences and community meetings by dressing up to portray an image of what a ’supposed’ social entrepreneur looks like, suave, sophisticated, learned, advisor type roles and I found this very amusing because as an emergent venture I find myself without money most of the time as it’s all going into my business and so I can’t remember the last time I had my hair done, let alone my nails and my jeans are either too tight, worn out or thrown out! ….smiling…..I’ve got another meeting with the Business Angels in a week or so and I’m thinking what am I going to wear that they haven’t seen before hahahaha  In six words, Pretending to be something you’re not!

It is now embarrasing living in the same clothes day in and day out but you know what at the same time I have never felt so comfortable in my own skin, nor felt more authentic and my life purpose is so fulfilling I think I can eat it!

When I was working for someone else’s dream and organisation I had more money to spend and all these things I simply took for granted, I spent way too much money, I thought more about myself let alone a third world country but all that has changed…….all I ask for right now is give me and my volunteer a wage so we can pull this off!!!!

How to be a Surveyor – Life Development Planning

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” ~ Martin Luther King

Here is an exercise I did with someone called “How to be a Surveyor “and it’s really about life development planning.

This is particular good in a transition and when things have been a bit dark because you can use your wings to take off and observe the land(your life) and not only observe what you want to change but what you want to be different and then ask for it……

 How to be a Surveyor 

Observe the land (your land is your life/ your area/ your portion) Create a table and place within it:

Headings that describe each area of your life Family, Finances, Past, Emotions, Social, Spiritual, Career……anything you can think of that you want to look more into……. 

Assemble info: You want a line for the pro’s of each and another line for the con’s of each – this may take a little while to do but try to write first thoughts and add to it later if you think of something else

 Measure the land

like the above you are looking at what is going on in the above areas and you want to be able to gauge the emotions you feel or think towards each area – Add another line and this one is for scale of 1 – 10 – you then look at one column at a time and give it a number on the scale of 1 – 10 – this number is gauging how do I feel or think about this area of my life at this particular point in time, write it down and record the date. 

The above is your assembling and assessing of information pertaining to your life. 

A Surveyor will then use the information for planning and regulation of the land, the sea(emotions) and related structures(six senses and other)…….

life planning development and rebuilding boundaries

 for example, in the area of emotions or friends I would pay particular attention to what may have caused negative emotions in my life where someone had crossed a boundary and this adversely effected you –because you can rebuild that broken wall and sometimes we may have to ask someone with specialist advice as to how do we do that…. 

So add another line called self development planning

Observe what you want to change – looking at the cons you’ve written provides an instant snapshot of what’s possible holding you back 

Write first thoughts in each column of what you would like to change – first things that come to mind are usually good ones……remember this is for you and nobody else will see unless you want them to. 

You can add another line after it called pros

 Another called cons

Another called scale

And the process starts again so you can track how things are going for you over a long period of time.

My email address is kiwikraftz@gmail.com please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Childcare

We are back again at childcare issues – DH wants to cut back the hours or even a day to save money!

In the long run it only sets me back in my project research and so I’m hoping that we can come to an agreement.

What it really boils down to is money!  I don’t have funding at this stage for what I’m doing….and I don’t actually think I can get funding either if I’m not auspiced by an organisation already.

I find it pointless being auspiced by an organisation only to set my own not for profit org up in the next two months, I’m just waiting on brochures so I can go and apply at fair trading.

Question: Is there any funding available so I can set this nfp Org up now, without mucking around?

Right timing is everything and most of this year I have been moving at a pace that is not even my own!

I like to move and do things quite quickly but in this case I have chosen to wait; wait more of the time until it feels right and then move or wait until I get the right information and then move.  Moving slowly but surely.

One of the benefits, ‘good things come to those who wait’ – early in the year I was so keen to work with this one particular mentor who charges $200 alone for consultation fees p/hr and he was willing to work pro bono however the relationship never quite took off because I realised I had other issues to resolve before I could move forward.

I worked very hard to quickly resolve those issues and 6 mths later I couldn’t get this mentor out of my mind and took the risk of getting in touch and trying again.  We are now in communication and it is working out well….I am answering a series of questions atm and the latest one is around the program…..What is my idealogical worldview of transformation?  good question…….’

I want to encourage you today and remind you that your dream is not over! I’ve connected with my dream mentor…..and just because it didn’t work initially doesn’t mean it won’t work in future…..so never give up, keep believing and start the practise of dreaming big today!!!

‘Start where you are at’

I would encourage you to start where you are at with what you’ve got and do what you can! Sparked Jan 2009 by trying to help someone else with their vision is when I found mine!

My Audacious Vision is ‘The ***** Foundation’(name to be announced later), an organisation committed to the value and importance of change and innovation….giving wings to the vision of women. 

Created to distribute funds, to the following:

Lead research in the root factors of reoffending for young women

Grants to support the creation of sustainable projects of women post release that benefit themselves and their communities & access to Scholarships for further education and training to achieve their goals.

Project *****, a series of pre & post release workshops that address the root factors of reoffending for young women to support them with a smooth transition into the wider community.

By meeting these objectives we position ourselves to assist and inspire community groups to create relevant and effective post release programs for young women with the aim to stop reoffending and recidivism rates.   

By attending the School of Social Entrepreneurs this year in Sydney I have been able to surround myself with Visionaries and ppl who believe in what I’m doing which is priceless when you are in the practise of dreaming big…..it has also been the incubator for my vision by watering it with inspirational speakers that I can ask loads of questions and ppl I can turn to and ask for help in any area…..If they don’t know then they will find someone and I always get good advice.

I want to encourage you today if you’re feeling like you want to live your life with purpose but don’t yet have a vision…..you can start where you’re at today by choosing to help someone who does have a dream or vision; help them with what you’ve got(what you know you can do…) to pursue their dreams and visions.

It will be the key that sets you on the path to discovering your own destiny and live your life with purpose and passion!