Board of Trustees member and Samoan Support Group representative Saga Frost contributed this piece about our new Fale Samoa.
The fale nears completion October 2011
The Fale will be a meeting place for parents, children and the wider community as well as a learning centre for all of our children who want to learn more about Pasifika culture. The idea of building a Fale Samoa was instigated by the principal after a staff trip to Samoa in 2006. The reigns were then handed to past and present students involved in the Enviro Thinkers group to explore and investigate what was needed to bring our very own Fale Samoa in Mt Albert to fruition.
The Fale Samoa initiative is a combined effort through the leadership of our principal Diana Tregoweth. The completion of this project over the last 3 years is due to teacher and student vision and partnership with ongoing community support, namely parents of the Samoan Support Group who have kept the vision alive and organised various fundraising events to contribute towards the construction of the fale. Thanks also to The Trusts Charitable Foundation for their sponsorship and the Owairaka Board of Trustees.
A new initiative in the school is the Garden to Table programme, whereby we give children skills and knowledge about the sustainability of gardens and the environment with a gardening specialist. We then introduce them to food technology. Our children, alongside parents, volunteers and a cooking teacher, will engage in experiences including food preparation and cooking from our school gardens, including the Pasifika garden we will have around the Fale Samoa.
The fale was formally opened with a full school celebration on Friday 28 October, 2011.
More Information About Our Fale
Our fale was built by Athol Greentree from Urban Fale.
Most of the decorative lashings in our “Maota” or fale samoa are based on a pattern called ‘sumu’ which is a star constellation and also a fish. In the interior he has also incorporated the idea of a ‘taumualua’ which was a Samoan version of the English longboat (the prototype of the tulula and the modern fautasi), it was made from planks ‘sewn’ together with ‘afa’. The taumualua means ‘two bows’, giving it the advantage of being able to change direction (forward or backwards) easily. Wars were won through its unique design. In each ‘tala’ of the Owairaka Maota there is a rafter that represents the “taumua” or bow of a boat because he believes the Pasifika children at Owairaka have the advantage of having the best of both worlds to achieve success.
Follow Us!