My stomach was filled up to the top with butterflies as I was about to speak to the prime minister of New Zealand. It was on the last week of school before the school holidays and Mrs Tele'a, Mr Burt, Cruz, Tanielu, Leoden and I were at the Ruapotaka Marae. Nothing serious going on until I heard the sound of Kapa Haka students chanting and singing, (of course in Maori, it wouldn't be Powhiri without the chanting and singing-in Maori) at that moment I knew that something was happening. Then everybody stood up, so I stood up and I was trying to see what was happening. I then realised that it was the prime minister entering into the Marae.
Of course the prime minister came but he didn't come alone. He came with some members of the Maori party, the press(-the news), some members of the Ministry of Education-MOE and no famous person is complete without his security guards.
The reason for his coming was that he was coming to launch the Tamaki Transformation Project. The idea of this project was that the government is going to demolish our houses but rebuild after the demolish. What is going to happen is that the houses are going to be built but are going to be built closer together and this is called intensification. This means that the houses are going to be closer but it also means that there is going to be a big increase in the population of our community.
Anyway, as the powhiri was going on there were a couple of people that stood up and said a little speech and most of them were in Maori. After some people had said their speeches the prime minister even had a little speech to say and he even said it in Maori which was quite amazing really. What was quite amazing about this was that I didn't know that he could speak in Maori. His speech was actually quite funny as well because at the end of it he told everybody that he was still learning more from his tutor who was part of the Maori party.
As the powhiri was ending everybody was stepping out and into the dining room to have a little nibble. We saw the prime minister and introduced ourselves to him, he is very nice because he invited us to also have a little nibble. We had a little something to eat and then we sprang into action, Cruz set up the camera and Leoden helping him, Tanielu and I were getting ready to interview the prime minister. "OK ready standing by, rolling action" said Cruz. Off I started, "Hi there prime minister, we are very excited about the idea of transforming our community, thank you very much for supporting this idea. We have prepared a couple of questions to ask you about this." Question 1: "Did you know that it costs $5.20 per adult and $2.50 per child to get into our local pool? Well what can you do to make sure that the local people can afford the local facilities?" He gave me a very interesting reply and as he was replying I was focusing on keeping eye contact with him.
When he finished I replied back to him "interesting" and as I gave the microphone to Tanielu I had a look on my face which said "I think that came out wrong" and "was I meant to say that?" But I was just relieved to have my turn over and done with. In my hand I had an invitation to give the prime minister which invited him to our school. He looked at it and then said "Oh yes I'll definitely come, a promise is a promise". We then thanked him and then he walked off and we ran to Mrs Tele'a with faces that said "Yeah, he's coming".
I've got to say this is one of the best things that I've done in my life so far and what's even more better is that I am only 11yrs old!!
Anyway, as the powhiri was going on there were a couple of people that stood up and said a little speech and most of them were in Maori. After some people had said their speeches the prime minister even had a little speech to say and he even said it in Maori which was quite amazing really. What was quite amazing about this was that I didn't know that he could speak in Maori. His speech was actually quite funny as well because at the end of it he told everybody that he was still learning more from his tutor who was part of the Maori party.
As the powhiri was ending everybody was stepping out and into the dining room to have a little nibble. We saw the prime minister and introduced ourselves to him, he is very nice because he invited us to also have a little nibble. We had a little something to eat and then we sprang into action, Cruz set up the camera and Leoden helping him, Tanielu and I were getting ready to interview the prime minister. "OK ready standing by, rolling action" said Cruz. Off I started, "Hi there prime minister, we are very excited about the idea of transforming our community, thank you very much for supporting this idea. We have prepared a couple of questions to ask you about this." Question 1: "Did you know that it costs $5.20 per adult and $2.50 per child to get into our local pool? Well what can you do to make sure that the local people can afford the local facilities?" He gave me a very interesting reply and as he was replying I was focusing on keeping eye contact with him.
When he finished I replied back to him "interesting" and as I gave the microphone to Tanielu I had a look on my face which said "I think that came out wrong" and "was I meant to say that?" But I was just relieved to have my turn over and done with. In my hand I had an invitation to give the prime minister which invited him to our school. He looked at it and then said "Oh yes I'll definitely come, a promise is a promise". We then thanked him and then he walked off and we ran to Mrs Tele'a with faces that said "Yeah, he's coming".
I've got to say this is one of the best things that I've done in my life so far and what's even more better is that I am only 11yrs old!!
