the Myanmar Young Leaders
Taupo & TÅ«hoe trip
Na to rourou, na taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi We wish to acknowledge the hospitality and generosity provided to all of us who were involved with the visit to TĹŤhoe Nation. These stories illustrate the profound effects the knowledge and experience TĹŤhoe shared during their stay had on the 2016 group of Myanmar young leaders. These students describe how they plan to apply their learning back home and make a difference. Thanks to Tamati Kruger and the Board of Te Uru Taumatua for agreeing to our visit, and to Tame Iti, the management and staff of TUT, and the men and women of Waikirikiri marae, and the Ruatoki and Waimana tribal offices for hosting and educating us. Thanks also to Tim Barnett for his willingness to organise such a successful trip.
After a meeting and discussion at Te Waimana tribal office
Photos by Ross Wilson unless indicated otherwise.
Needless to say, taking a break from university, spending time with friends and trying fun activities make our group both relax and enjoy themselves. However the trip in my opinion was much more valuable than that when we started to travel to Tūhoe nation. Personally, the trip was empowering. We have a chance to touch Māori culture and experienced the traditional way of hospitality. The authentic ways of welcoming surprised me. There is always traditional style whether it is a small or big event. Respecting elders is one of the unique features. They believe that knowing where you have come from is the important part of being human in order to build confidence. This is one of the important lessons that I have learned from the Tūhoe trip. In addition, we have engaged with leaders who are trying to shape Tūhoe to be a better nation. They explained strong messages in simple ways. Believing in nature while at the same time questioning about what education meant. Along with the discussion, the way I have seen my personal values and the way I have seen ethnic minority groups have changed. Unique feature of those values cannot be changed and the only way to develop them is to empower younger generations. We are to select carefully about what we will teach to the next generation. Furthermore, we explored the way Māori people think and what they value most. Something we have been locked in is the positions that generalise ideas and theories were most important. But in Tūhoe nation, this information will have to come from the people not from the outside. This concept is particularly important for me, since I have been locked in the position that we need to focus on developing with the world rather than developing ourselves. Because of this concept, the way I see the community development has changed and I have more confidence that my future work should be focused on learning from the people and interpreting those values for a better society. I want to conclude my report with messages which I will personally carry to my community. The first message is the example of how an ethnic minority can develop their values and their means in their own ways. Another message is how important natural and spiritual environments were for younger generations. The final message is how confidence is important and where it comes from. I have no other recommendation apart from wishing we have more time to explore. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the people who organised this trip. Ahkar
Kia Ora Tena Koutou: This is the favorite phrase that I learned during the Taupo trip. The journey started with a stress-released feeling from school homework and assignments. On the first night we were all excited about our upcoming learning trip and we had fun until midnight singing and playing chess. Those little flashes strengthen our relationship and understanding between us, which can be positive to affect our study and stay here. The next day, the paragliding adventure thrilled us and we had some interesting talk with the people who operate the ride. Everything had something to learn for us. After that, Wairakei Terraces hot pools revitalized our mind, body and soul. I studied that MÄ ori have bathed in the waters of Wairakei for generations and they also claim that it has a healing power and therapeutic benefits not only for body but also for mind. More importantly I found out in that region is the Wairakei Power Station which can produce 25% of NZ's electricity. It is a brilliant idea to manage natural resources in maximum efficient ways. In Myanmar we have several hot water resources and those projects will be a good option for our government to support the country's electricity needs. That Saturday evening was perfectly closed with a delicious Myanmar dinner and dessert together with our wide range of debatable discussions about Myanmar and New Zealand, as well as the world. Ideas and concepts were flying over our heads. It was very good to meet with Alison and listen to her activism life. It helps a lot to clear my vision of my way of involvement in social issues. Her way of balancing between activism and life drew my interest. (Continued)
Back L-R: Nyi Nyi, Green, Alison, Htet, Wut Hmone, Ahkar; Front: Thura, Zarchi, Andrew. Nyi Nyi and Zarchi display their bungy jumping certificates
Another noteworthy Sunday started with a fear-breaking activity bungy jumping - that pushed me beyond my horrors. It was one of the most spontaneous moments of my life and the free falling was insane, like nothing I've ever felt. Finally we reached "the living building" which is the most sustainable living building in NZ and the southern hemisphere; created cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as natural architecture including Tūhoe values and principles. Meeting with Tame Iti was also an added honor of the trip. Our hearts felt very close to the community as we share similar problems and their struggles, their beliefs and their contribution to their people, these all highly inspire and motivate us. It also somehow gives us courage and belief. Tūhoe people focus more on love and mental values than physical values, which is familiar to our cultural practice. So, we can adapt most of the structure that they are trying to build up in their society, in our own ways based on the region we are working for in Myanmar. Around 4 pm, Tim who generously assisted with the program in the Tūhoe area, lead us to Waikirikiri marae where we should stay overnight. The moving and overwhelming moments made me understand that real conversation not only can come from your mouth but it also comes from your heart. We cannot understand the words that they were speaking in Māori, but we felt with our hearts their welcome. Their great hospitality and warm greeting made us feel like our home. We understood it is a rare privilege for us to have the chance to spend a night at their important place, their marae. Food became tastier with their love and affections. It is a fascinating culture that they have places that people get together in a specific place, the marae, and you clearly feel they have big respect for their ancestors. It reflects the collective culture of Māori and their unity. I hope our sharing about our country, and the issues we are struggling with, will give them energy. Words will not be able to describe all the spirits that impressed me and things that leave me with thousands of thoughts. The midterm break trip to Taupo and Tūhoe area was filled with sharing, lessons, and understanding, as well as adventure. I was so glad for the chances that I got and my heartfelt thanks go to everyone who is involved in our MYLP program. Zarchi
When I saw some advertisements and posters for leadership training, I used to believe that I may need to enrol in a leadership course to become a systematic leader. I thought leadership classes will shape the way we lead the community and that would make us more powerful leaders. However, a trip I took on my mid-term break completely changed that definition of being a leader. I found out the real meaning of being a leader from some different angles of my trip. It was not in the high-tech classroom which is full of internet access and modern laptops. It was also neither from the leaders across the world nor the professors from the prestigious universities. Exactly, it was from different small communities which welcomed me with hospitality and showed what they define by what a meaningful life is. I would like to highlight three colorful things that touched me deeply. First, it is meeting with a volunteer who works for their community development project. She mentioned that her corps helps the community by donating ideas and mentoring, but not donating the buildings or money a lot. A few thoughts in my mind are that whenever there is a word ‘donate’, the people in my community see receiving or giving an amount of money or materials to others. We, Myanmar people, donate a lot in terms of things and money although we are poor. However, most of our donations go to the monastery. In the past, the monastery may be poor as well, but these days, most of the monasteries are rich as they receive donations from the community. Myanmar people do not stop donating to the monastery although the monastery does not need it anymore. Our culture shapes us to believe that we need to donate to the monastery and monks to belong to a better life in the future or in our next life. My thought is why don’t we donate equally? Donate to the monastery or pagodas when it comes to being necessary. As well as this, contribute to the community if the community is in need. Contribution does not mean donating money. Since I believe that action starts from people first, I think, as educators, we should try to change our community’s mindset that donation is not money at all times. We can start every action with small steps. In our country, it is the time to donate capacities and skills rather than money. Secondly, I noticed that Māori people respect their culture and language. They are satisfied with being who they are. In one of the schools I visited during the trip, a staff member explained to us that there are around 15 schools within their region and around 8 schools teach Māori culture and language. That shook my heart and I got embarrassed! In my country, there are approximately 53 million people and it is a very culturally diverse country. However, we do not focus on keeping our traditional language and culture a lot. (Continued)
There is no systematic culture and language schools around Myanmar. Among the 135 ethnicities of Myanmar, many of their own cultures and languages have been near to extinct due to a lack of reinforcing the cultural and traditional literature. Some of the cultures are not treated with respect in our society. I will use myself as an example. When I was a kid, my teacher did not allow me to go outside of the classroom if I could not ask her in English. By the time I became a teacher, I was trained not to allow my students to go out unless they can speak English as well. As I work for a hugely diverse cultural school where there are many students who belong to different ethnicities, nearly all of them cannot speak English. Only a few of them can speak Burmese! They just only know their language as it is the only one they spoke in their own land. However, I did not care about them. I just let them try to speak in English and it is a rule not to speak any languages except Burmese, and mostly English. I am now thinking about whether or not my students forget their language when they come and study with me. That makes me very sad and I just realized that the way I teach might be effective for their lesson; however, there should not be forgetting about their own language or restricting it in education. Then, it taught me to share with my colleagues about appreciating ethnic languages and cultures at my school upon my return and to practice it myself, too. Overall, the love MÄ ori put in their culture and the eagerness they aim with their promotion of culture and language makes me respect them at lot and miss my country which has a richness of cultures and ethnicities. Andrew
The whole trip was full of interesting activities and abundant learning opportunities. It was fun, amusing, a great honour, and unique. I was very pleased to see magnificent people and beautiful places. Every part is fascinating, such as meeting with respectful and knowledgeable people including Alison (activist, editor and writer) and Tame Iti (one of the leaders of the Tūhoe community), and discussion with representatives from 4 teams: Tūhoe futures team, Tūhoe iwi (people) team, Tūhoe biosphere team and Tūhoe resources and assets team of sustainable building. There was also meeting with Tūhoe indigenous family, learning their interesting culture, sharing about Myanmar and having their gorgeous food by staying at their marae, the sharing and learning session at Tūhoe educational school and visiting a community centre, touring around the new world marae and getting a great chance to know about Rua Kenana, one of the greatest leaders of the Tūhoe tribe. Parasailing and going to a hot pool are also new and a once in a life time experience for me. Firstly, my favourite place is the sustainable building of the Tūhoe nation which is known as the most eco-friendly area in the Southern hemisphere. The system of the building is very impressive to me. The water and energy system are renewable and have the least effect on the environment. I believe it is the trademark for Tūhoe people and a part of their values, history and victory. My appreciation for that building is how Tūhoe community intend to promote their community’s job opportunities and livelihood. (Continued)
Photo: Khin Zarchi Latt
Photo: Thura Zaw
I really enjoyed learning about 4 themes: Tūhoe future, people, biosphere, and resources and assets of Tūhoe nation from 4 teams of staff. Because of the time limitation, we did not have much time to ask questions to them. I like their organisational structure, their strategy and their strong devotion and willingness to promote their people. Secondly, I liked staying at the marae and love to know their culture practically. After learning about Tūhoe community lifestyle, we went to a Māori educational school and met with staff. We had a special moment there to listen about their 40 year master future plan and what they prioritise for their nation. I just feel amazed about their prioritisation that shows how much they value their language and culture. Their first priority is identity as language and culture and they mentioned overall well-being of their tribe not only physically but also mentally and economically. Then they focus on infrastructure and living standard of their tribe and community development. As a lesson learned, I will start from me to learn my original language so it will not become extinct.
Last but not least was visiting the community center of Waimana Kaaku tribe. Most of the people from the center are volunteers and they work for their community willingly without getting any financial benefit. I specifically admire their attitude. They introduced their roles and explained about their work activities. They invited us to see the beautiful new world marae which has the tombstone of Rua Kenana, prophet and their greatest leader. According to a woman from the community center, the leader was very kind and humble. He decorated his place with a deck of cards and named it “New World”. He was a future-oriented leader. The most respectful manner is he chose the lowest level of the deck from cards to symbolize his existence from of higher. In brief, this trip is one of the best opportunities of our Myanmar Young Leaders Program. I had got recreation and education at the same time. Learning and enjoying new things are good components for youth to be good leaders. Wut Hmone
Photo: Khin Zarchi Latt
Interest Points There are many interesting things for me. Firstly I would like to point out one about how to maintain for the sustainability of the great lake. Because Myanmar also has very similar lake, Inlay. It is very beautiful and famous. However, today it faces environmental problems. It is kind of threat to sustainability. Taupo has not only natural beauty but also manmade attraction harmoniously. Therefore I am also interested in the Tourism attraction plan of Taupo. It is related with local governance. When I think about local development (township level), I believe one thing that every township should have is a tourism attraction plan like Taupo. In Myanmar, there are many beaches and many lakes to attract tourists. However we cannot create tourism attraction activity like Paragliding. This business does not need to invest huge amount of money and can also provide tourist attraction activities without environmental damage. Moe Byal Dam is the best fitting with this business I think. When we went to Māori region, Tūhoe, I saw a lot of interesting things. One thing is the resource sharing between local and central government or minority and majority. Why did government decide to give back the land and how did they give it back? What kind of tax did government collect from this region? Moreover, power sharing between local and central government or minority and majority was interesting. Who has major political decision making power? What kind of relationship is between government agencies and Tūhoe’s leaders? What is development? It is very simple but there are thousands of different answers and various concepts for it. I also have individual development concept. (continued)
My development concept is very similar with Te Uru Taumatua’s development concept. I can’t implement my idea yet but Te Uru Taumatua are starting this idea. So I want to learn their success and failure and then I want to modify my concept. When I reach Tūhoe, they explained about their own education plan. This is very good for minority. But I am more interested in education system and policy of New Zealand that allows to do own education for community and minority. Myanmar has many ethnic minorities and they want to do federal education system. I believe New Zealand is very good example for Myanmar policy makers. Learning Points We should do, think and live with simple way in life is the most important point that I learned from Tūhoe’s leader. When we are more and more educated, we are far and far away from simple ways of living. I believe simple life is peaceful life even though I can’t apply yet but I try to live with simple way. When I listened about Te Uru Taumatua, Tūhoe development organisation, I was enlightened by one thing that is localisation and local content. Mostly when we did organisational development for CSO, I prefer western CSOs. We don’t want to use Myanmar language for organisation name and department name. Consequently it doesn’t fit with community and contribute some confusion for people. Now I understand about the importance of local language and localisation. In Myanmar there are many ethnic literature and cultural development CSOs. Most of them are not being the service provider. They don’t have development plan for education, health, environment, social development, economics and politics. They believe that their job is enough to protect their culture. The problem is that their activities can’t attract younger generation for collaboration. Te Uru Taumatua is different to them. They have research and future plan. Their activities and ideas are more realistic and effective for minority people. Finally I understand more about the role of CSOs in ethnic minority after I listened to their presentation. This is very first time to hear that kind of idea (for CSOs). So I want to share about this organisation and their activities when I reach back to Myanmar. Conclusion (abridged)
I strongly recommend that this trip plan should be part of future MYLP program. I believe that this trip is valuable for me and our group. This trip provided a lot of advantages for not only MYLP but also my country, Myanmar as well. Thura Zaw
This trip gave me a lot of experiences and thoughts. On the first day, I was talking with Alison who had been a foreign editor for seven years for the New York Times which is famous all over the world. She is amazing for me. When she told me about her life and experience, I can feel her devotion and her willingness to listen and express about vulnerable voices. She also really cares about women and ethnic groups. She tried to express their voice, but it was not easy in mainstream media. So she quit her job and she stands as a freelance journalist and feminist at the same time. How daring she is. I can also feel her compassion. I can learn a lot from her because I am also a journalist and I have responsibilities as an editor in my media organisation. It is famous and has good reputation in my country. In addition, I am one of the founders and an executive member of the Myanmar Journalist Network which is helping journalists. We held a lot of workshops about journalism and also different kinds of training about journalism, for example basic journalism, ethics, law, and business.
Sometimes I feel I am not freed in mainstream media for my passions, because I want to teach in some courses about journalism but I can’t get a permit from my media organisation. At that time, I felt upset even though I really like what my media organisation stands for. When I saw Alison, she inspired me to do what I want to do in future. Our meeting is very lucky for me. The second inspiring person is Tame Iti. He has new ideas for me about how to approach Māori wants and rights. I like the way he said that he sent a lot of letters to every home on their lands. His ideology about “Art and activism”, I wondered what it is.
(Continued)
How can he connect these two things and how he used it as a weapon for asking for Māori rights. His thoughts and actions are very distinctive. The last one I like is that when we reached Tūhoe Nation, Māori welcomed us warmly on their Marae. When we got there, the Marae’s main door and windows were opened. That means they welcome us very warmly, which was explained by a woman Māori elder. Their frank and simple life is very peaceful. When I saw their life, I reminded myself about how they asked and tried hard to get back their lands from the government. I got a lot of lessons from when I was at the Ruatoki marae office based at a Māori school and I have learned about their priorities. The first and second priorities are culture and language. Community development is the third one. It is strange for me because I always think that every ethnic group wants community development rather than other priorities. But here, I can realise their wish. Obviously, I learned the lesson that different sides have different ways of thinking. Therefore, if we have to do one country’s national reconciliation, we need to consider the different ways of thinking and we need awareness of what can be different between two sides. In our country, we have had a very long civil war based on ethnic armies and ethnic groups’ rights. Even though the government and most of the ethnic armies negotiated, civil war can't stop until now. What's the problem? In my opinion, the government has to create more space for ethnic groups and they need conversations to speak out frankly about what are their wants and what are their priorities. Sometimes their priorities can be different from what the government thought ethnic groups need. Above of all, I get a lot of knowledge from this trip. Green
I went to Taupo with my MYLP friends and course leaders to learn about Māori culture and Tūhoe stories including their plans for their future. On the first day in Taupo, we all tried paragliding in the morning and went to a hot spring in the evening. I have never tried to do paragliding. It was amazing and very exciting for me. In the evening we got a chance to talk with Alison who is a famous writer and activist. She worked for 7 years for the New York Times. We got the chance to learn about the media revolution and other general knowledge from Alison. We shared our knowledge and discussed about our country’s situation. The next morning, I tried bungy jumping with Zarchi who is one of the MYLP students. Actually it was really scary and so exciting. It makes me get rid of any fear. Then in the evening we went to a waterfall and looked at New Zealand’s environmental conservation system. On the third day, we went to Tūhoe to learn about Tūhoe’s story, values and culture, history, attitude to government, settlement, vision, as well as their current way of operating. From there, one of my interesting observations is the great building which is made of wood, the whole structure. It is quite amazing, very natural and makes it adaptable with the natural environment. I think this building will become one of the historical places in the future. Another interesting thing is Tūhoe’s operating system and their future plan. They have created their own education system with a specific curriculum. One of the speakers explained that they aim to link with high ranking universities in the world. It was quite amazing for me to learn about that. They have a great value in their language and culture. (Continued)
In the evening we went to a Māori house to learn about their culture and we all took a rest for a day at that place. Tūhoe is Māori land which was taken back from the government. I got the chance to learn about their history and their culture, explained by one of the women elders. We had lovely kiwi food for our dinner. The next morning we went and visited hill land on the corner of the road. Then we went to a Māori school and learned about the school operation system. In there, one of the most interesting things I found is that language and culture are the first priority to consider for their children. Development is the second priority. Then we went to one of the community based organisations, which is implementing a Māori culture development program. I was interested in their volunteer management system. They have formed with great values which include being all together in one, being humble, respect and appreciate their efforts, and doing the good things for their ancestors and future generations. We went and visited a valley which is a project area. In the evening, we went back to Wellington. In conclusion, I got a lot of lessons learned and felt more relaxed to have a healthy life. When I go back to Myanmar, I will apply being an open minded person and try to build a good attitude to understand positive thinking as well as try to appreciate people’s efforts in my organisation. Nyi Nyi
The TĹŤhoe trip was really amazing. I have learnt so many things from the trip. Among them, I would like to talk about the things that I am interested in the most, and the things that I have learnt which are suitable to apply to my home country. Firstly, I am really interested in the 40 year plan for TĹŤhoe Tribes to achieve shared outcomes. As we all know, we never do a long term plan whenever we design a development project or country development plan. We just design for the short term. As a result, it is so difficult to get sustainable results in communities or countries. Therefore, development programs or projects should practice this kind of long term plan such as a ten year plan and it will have a lot of benefits for the communities. Secondly, the motivation of local people and youth. According to our visit, almost everyone really wants to contribute to positive change for their community. I believe that this kind of motivation is really important to generate positive change for the community. Compared with my county, we have a lot of international aid organisations and they are willing to contribute towards positive change. The problem is, most of the international aid comes with their selected agendas which are not suitable for our country. If we have local people and youth who are willing to contribute to their communities and can lead the agendas, it will be easier to generate positive change for the country. Thirdly, although they care so much about their culture, they are willing to communicate with the outside world and they know that coordination and negotiation is really important for success. As a conclusion, most of the struggles are the same as us but we have to learn those practices that I mentioned above in order to achieve sustainable results for our country. Thank you so much for this amazing trip!
Htet Htet
Left-right: Wut Hmone, Htet Htet, Zarchi, Tame Iti, Thura, Andrew, Green, Ahkar and Nyi Nyi