From GO to FRO - Government Organisations to Flax Roots Organisations -
The dilemmas of Tino Rangatiratanga

Marama Ngawhika - Ngati Kahungunu, Te Arawa, Ngati Awa, Kohanga Kaiako and
mother of 4 beautiful tamariki
Kym Hamilton - Ngati Kahungunu, Nga Rauru, Ngati Raukawa, Iwi education
manager and mother of two beautiful tamariki

This jointly presented paper presents a view of the organisational and
personal struggles associated with living and working in a 'white
supremacist capitalist patriarchy' as defined by bell hooks and the culture
of silence and oppression of working with 'our' people who act as
'oppressors of the oppressed' as represented by Paolo Freire.  Both women
recognise without hope there is hopelessness.

As university graduates and women committed to the advancement of kaupapa
Maori futures for our tamariki, Kym and Marama discuss frankly the
ideological and philosophical dilemmas facing our people and structures in
creating spaces and positive change for our tamariki and whanau.  These have
been personal and evolutionary journeys created through education and life
experiences.

Maori development in every shape and form is often romanticised and
protected as sacrosanct at the risk of providing fodder for media and
political exploitation.  Our people who have pure and laudable intentions
are often disempowered and sacrificed to the cause.  This paper takes off
the 'rose tinted' glasses and attempts to provide understanding and a
framework for thought and action that is as simple as asking the question
and providing the answers about 'whose interests are being served' in the
work that we do, government contracts, regulations and legislations and
structures we replicate and emulate.

Case studies from working for government, working in Maori development and
education illustrate the lessons and the difficulties in staying true to the
kaupapa and the small contributions we can all make to the kaupapa.

This paper provides a challenge for a unified whanau, hapu, iwi and Maori
response to the divide and conquer techniques of the crown and our own
people to create a critical mass that will support a positive future for our
tamariki where they don't have to be warriors because we have done that mahi
already.  The HIKOI has provided an example, platform and metaphor for
whanau, hapu, iwi and Maori development, unity and strength that we need to
replicate to address the barrage of issues facing our people today.