Community

I Whakapapa Therefore I Am.

Conservation and sustainability are wonderful kupu and the movements behind these kupu are beautiful and imperative for our world. Quite often in discourse around conservation and sustainable practice or ways of living, we hear things like ‘for the survival of the planet’. Of course, the planet will be fine, she has evolved through eons, and will continue to regardless of how many single use plastics we use. What we really mean is for our own survival. The health and state of the natural world is integrally connected to our own because we are of course a part of the ecology of the planet. Indigenous knowledge systems are based on this very foundation. So, for Conservation Week I am going to share my perspective on what that means to me as a kaiako, as a person and as tangata whenua.

Tūrangawaewae: Our place, our community.

Community is a big word that can mean a lot of different things. In my experience in early childhood education, community is the intersection of the people connected with your service and the place itself. The Our Kids community is integrally connected with the Glen Eden community, geographically, socially and even historically.

Building whanaungatanga with your community is the foundation of place-based learning for us at Our Kids. This includes our relationships with our whānau, our neighbours, our local library, pet shop, grocer and community centre. This also includes our relationships to the whenua (land) our centre sits on, the ngahere (bush), awa (rivers), and maunga (mountains) which border it, and the history of these places.

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