Karakia as lived experience
















We come together with aroha
We value and acknowledge
Our diverse heritage and the places we come from
The integrity we bring to this team
The respect we have for each other and for the job we do
And the connectedness we feel
The strengthens and empowers us
To work together for a better world

Ka hui tahi tatou
i raro i te korowai o te aroha.
E hāpai ana i ngā uaratanga o tēna o tēna o tatou.
Ka tū kotahi tatou i raro i te ngākau tapatahi.
Te mārohirohi me te awe o ngā mahi.
ka priir pono,
ki te whakakaha me te whakamana tatou ki a tatou.
Mo te painga o te Ao.


This week I have been captured by the story of how the RTLB cluster's karakia was created.

I heard that the karakia was inspired by another karakia which came from Koraunui school, Stokes Valley,  Lower Hutt in Wellington. When I taught at Koraunui school I enjoyed the imagery of the karakia and found the karakia to be the touch stone to my day. When I left Koraunui school, I then carried the karakia to my next school.
Ridgway School in Wellington. 

For myself, karakia sets in motion whakapuake te mauri o te reo,  like an opening in the understanding of the life force within Māori language.

I am surprised by the connection I feel to the RTLB Cluster 29 karakia and am  wondering about karakia as a lived experience. For a karakia to be so part of practise that the essence of it imbudes thoughts and actions.  The life force of the karakia, contributing to change in practice, where perhaps we can start seeing new possibilities.

If karakia is able to support us to see possibilities and work with metaphors that support us to see working together as a living system then it may be quite possible that karakia can support the conditions for living in this post-modern age of complexity. Where people coming together expereince emergent behaviours because working with people has limited predictability.

Does your work place  have  a karakia / prayer?  How does the karakia connect with what you value and believe?

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