In my last blog post I talked about the concept of tautua or service that focused on three spheres of service:
Sphere 1) Serve to Serve — understanding how to serve, knowing why we serve
Sphere 2) Serve to Lead — developing emergent leadership skills and
Sphere 3) Lead to Serve — enabling and leading the inter-generational process of leadership
 
I’ve just returned from visiting my ancestral homeland of Samoa and I wanted to talk about my own experience of being an emerging leader, as reflected in the second sphere in this model (see below) — as I received a high chief’s title as recognition of my emergent leadership status within my full extended family and as an obligation to position my family within the Samoan community in its entirety.

Sphere 2: Serve to lead — (25 years to 50 years)

This next level usually comes after children have learned the basic tenets of tautua and they begin to understand how to develop their emergent leadership skills once they enter their mid-twenties.

Where will we expect to see some of these skills from these emergent leaders?

1. Immediate and extended family gatherings
2. Academic endeavours
3. Sporting, performing arts or visual arts pursuits
4. High profile careers where Samoans are the ethnic minority

Why is it important to become a matai?

As a young boy I used to go fishing with my Dad in the Manukau Harbour. Dad owned a small boat with an 85 horsepower outboard motor. It was supposed to be more of a secondary income stream than a recreational hobby, but most of the fish we caught he gave away to family and friends so I don’t think it was too much of a lucrative venture. As soon as he found a spot, we anchored and began preparing the lines by baiting the hooks. There was always a sense of anticipation at the prospect of quickly filling the chilly bin with schools of fresh flounder and snapper and on a good day we would often stop off at all my relatives’ homes to distribute the bounty on our return. However, on a slow day this excitement seemed to fade over the course of the expedition (along with the sunlight) and the silence in the water was louder than the quiet in the boat.

As educators, we may also go “fishing” in our classrooms every day, especially when we are teaching children who may not have firsthand experience in the knowledge domain that we are trying to teach or explain.

The Samoan proverb “O le upega e tautau, ‘ae fagota”, which is translated “The net is now hanging up to dry, but will be used again soon for fishing”, means that if at first you do not succeed – try and try again.

As a Pasifika secondary science teacher, it is fair to say that there have been days where the silence in the classroom reminded me of those quiet days in the boat with my Dad when the only thing that was biting was his sense of frustration.