Potaua Biasiny-Tule, works to ensure our people have the skills and accreditation to stand with pride in the digital world.
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
Click here for English translation Ko Māui koe! Ko Māui atamai, ko Māui nukurau, e ko Māui takitaki o te rā! E tika ana tēnei pepeha ki tō tātou tangata ki a Pōtaua Biasiny-Tule e whakapau toihau nei e ora ai te iwi, koeke mai, pakeke mai, rangatahi mai, otīā tamariki mai.
He whāngai te iwi ki ngā pūkenga e tū rangatira ai tātou ki te mata o te ao matihiko. Kua hautipia ōna paihau tangata i tēnei wā, e noho māuiui nei āna tamariki i te māuiui kōwheori nā reira rātou te whānau e noho rāhui kau ki tō rātou kāinga.
Nō mai anō, nōna e pakupaku nei tōna mate aroha ki te ao matihiko. Nō te tau kotahi mano, e iwa rau, e waru tekau he pūrei kēmu matihiko, ā moroki noa nei kai tēnei ao tonu a Pōtaua e rāweke haere ana tae atu ki tōna whakatupunga he mana nui whakaharahara te ipurangi koia ko te ao matihiko e mōhiotia tātou.
"He hanga tutetute taku timatatanga ki te ao matihiko e hoa, nō te tau e rua mano mā rua, e noho atu ana ahau ki Kōrea ki te Tonga mō ētehi tau – he kitehanga nāku ki te mana o te taura-tuatini me ngā painga katoa mō te whānau me te hāpori, nā kai reira tonu ahau ināianei e mahi ana".
Nā Pōtaua ka hua ake te kamupene Digital Native Academy (DNA) he moemoeā nōna i hua ake i te mutunga mai o tana āwhina i te iwi ki te hautū i te takotoranga o te whenua hou whai muri mai i ngā whakataunga tiriti me te whakaaetanga CNI.
He ahakoa i whakahono mai ngā kamupene rangatira matihiko nō Tamaki Makaurau me Te Whanganui-a-Tara, he mōhio kē nō Pōtaua e kūare ana ēnei waka ki ngā wai karekare o te takere waka, nā, ka mātika ake a Pōtaua ki te awhina.
Me te pātai ki a Pōtaua te take i tahuri mai ia ki tēnei huarahi, hai tāna, e kōrero tika nei, ko te rawakore me te tāmitanga. Hai tāna, he tōu tīrairaka ia, he kotahi tekau mā rua ngā hāora a ia e mahi ana i te rangi kōtahi, e whitu rāngi ia wiki.
Ko tana arotahinga ināianei me pēwhea e whakahoki ai te mana o te CBD ki te iwi hai tāna he whenua i murua i ngā tau e rua rau kua pahemo. Me tana whakapono hoki, ka ea tēnei taumahatanga. Tāria te wā.
He tangata whakatutū puehu a Pōtaua nā ko te roia māia nei a Annette Sykes tōna amokura whakahau.
Ko te rawa kore me te tāmitanga anei te hoa riri e hoa mā, me te hiahia o Pōtaua kia tahuri te iwi Māori ki te ipurangi me te mana o tēnei ao, e whia kē ngā miriona tāra e pūare kau ki te tangata mei a ia te mōhiohio ki te whakahaere i tōna waka i tēnei ao. Kāore he ahumahi i tua atu i tēnei.
Kāore e take ana te mahi tāpoi me te whakatupu rākau paina, kua rūhi aua rangi, whoi anō nā Pōtaua kē tēnei whakapono. He wairua anō kai te karangahia te tangata i ngā roto-moana me ngā ara pahikara ki roto ngāhere.
Ka nui te pirangatia a DNA ki te whakarite ngā rangatahi ki a tū mataara ai rātou ki a hau atu me ngā pūkenga hou ki te pae tawhiti. Ka rere anō te pātai, I pēwhea i whakaara ake ai a DNA?
E tika ana tana whakamihi ki a Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust me Spark Foundation nā rāua te pūtea tautoko.
Nō te wā e Tangata Whenua Trust ana a DNA ka ātawhaitia rātou e te Kāwanatanga. Me tana āwangawanga ka tau ana te puehu o te māuiui kōwheori ka piki ngā kēhi o te hunga māuiui-ā-hinengaro.
NGA tauira kai te Digital Natives Academy e ako ana.
Ko ētehi o ngā akoako a DNA ko te whakamāia me te whakamātau te tangata kia whai kaha ai ia ki te kaupare i ngā whakawhiu mōrearea a tētehi. Kia uho tawatawa ai te hinengaro ki a mārama ai ia me pēwhea te utu i ngā weriweritanga o te hunga kāore i whakaae ki te aronga o te hāpori.
E hika mā, ehara i te mea ka noho motuhake mai te IT ki te hunga rangatahi, ehara ! E noho tahi ana me ngā koeke o Ngāti Whakaue e rāweke pōtae mātātuhi matihiko ana ka wawe kē te tahuritanga o ētehi ki te ao VR. Ka wehi katoa rātou. E rua āna tohu paetahi whare wānanga, "Nā ēnei kua mōhiohio ahau he manawa honuwai tāku e tāea ai e ahau te haerenga roa, he ahakoa ngā uaua he ahakoa ngā taupā, ae, tino hemo ahau i te nama me te pūtea taurewa, engari he aturangi ka mamao!"
He tamaiti i tupu ake i te poraka – ae, ko Fordblock tonu. I whānau mai i Opotiki ko Karen Rakuraku rāua ko John Tule ōna mātua, whoi anō he whānau hakoke, kapi katoa ngā tahataha o te Waiariki, ā tae atu ki Ōkere me Mourea ka hinga i a rātou.
I te tau kotahi mano e iwa rau, e whitu tekau mā iwa ka nuku rātou ki Fordblock, waihoki ka whakawhānau tamariki anō ai tōna māmā, he tokowhā anō i whānau mai. I te tau e iwa tekau ka nuku rātou ki Pleasant Heights, waihoki ka whānau mai tokotoru anō o āna taina. He tamaiti noho ia ki tōna pā taunaha.
Nō mai, nō mai ēnei paiaka." Mai i Waikato ki Tūnohopu, mai i Tamatekapua ki Te Takinga, mai i Punawhakareia ki Tanatana ki roto o Te Waimana, mei kore mātou i te kura, mei kore mātou e mahi ana, i te kāinga rānei , katoa mātou e mahi ana i te pā taunaha me āna kaupapa tini ngerongero.
"Ka huri atu ai te tangata ki whea, hai mahi māna, me he kaupapa mātua ehara i te mea ki tō mātou whānau ake engari te hapū whānui, ka karangangia mātou e ngā pakeke – koia mātou, ka hau atu ki te wēne , ki te motokā, parahutihuti ana. Kāore he kōrero tua atu – he pūehu kau!"
Self-confessed geek and tutu Potaua Biasiny-Tule, works around the clock trying to ensure our people — koeke, pakeke, rangatahi and tamariki — have the skills and accreditation to stand with pride in the digital world.
His physical wings are a bit clipped at the moment because his children tested positive for omicron this week so the whanau are isolating at their home next to the redwoods.
He has loved IT since he started playing video games in the early 1980s and has watched the growth of the the computer and the rise of the internet since.
"My digital pathway started as a side hustle back in 2002 after living in South Korea for a couple years.
"We could see what simple things like broadband access could do for our whanau and community have have been dedicated to that ever since."
The founder and creator of Digital Natives Academy (DNA) expanded that side hustle after helping his iwi navigate the landscape created by the treaty settlements and the CNI agreement.
It became apparent that the IT firms from Auckland and Wellington hired for the job were out of their depth and that's when Potaua stepped in.
Asked what inspired his business, Potaua is frank: Poverty and colonisation.
He says he works way too much, 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
His focus now is on the return of the Rotorua CBD to iwi which he says was stolen 200 years ago. He believes that ultimately, iwi will prevail.
Potaua describes himself as an activist and iwi lawyer Annette Sykes his general.
Digital Natives Academy.
Poverty and colonisation are the enemy and Potaua wants to wake people up to the fact that the internet is a trillion-dollar-a-year enterprise open to anyone who has the skills. It is the biggest industry.
Looking at Rotorua where the emphasis is on tourism and forestry, those industries are not the way forward in his view.
A new energy was coming away from lakes and bike tracks through the forest. DNA wants to prepare youth with the tools of the future. Asked how DNA came about Potaua says he is grateful to the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust and Spark Foundation for funding.
When DNA operated as Tangata Whenua Trust it had government funding for two years but that stopped when Labour became the government.
He fears that once the worry around the covid pandemic calms down the community will see an increase in mental health problems.
Part of DNA teachings is learning to cope with tension and toxic behaviours. They need the mental tools to deal with flashes of anti-social behaviour.
But IT is not just for the young. While showing some Ngati Whakaue koeke virtual reality helmets and headphones they wanted to trial VR for themselves and quickly got the hang of things.
Potaua has two university degrees.
"That showed I had the ability to apply myself over a long period and proved to myself that I can last the distance and it cost an arm and a leg in student loans."
Potaua, 47, affiliates to Ngati Whakaue, Ngati Pikiao, Tuhoe, Te Whakatohea, Kahungunu, and Niue.
Potaua is proud to be from the Block, Fordlands. Born in Opotiki to Karen Rakuraku and John Tule where they were constantly on the move, around the eastern Bay of Plenty and Okere and Mourea.
In 1979 the whanau moved to Fordlands where it expanded by four more children and then in the early 90s to Pleasant Heights where three more siblings joined the brood. Potaua has always been close to his pa, right from his childhood.
"From Waikatu to Tunohopu, Tamatekapua to Te Takinga, Punawhakareia to Tanatana over in Waimana, if we weren;t at home, at school or at mahi, we'd all be at the pa for various kaupapa.
"There was always somewhere to lend a hand, always an issue of importance to our whanau and when our old people called, that was us -—in the van, in the car, we off. No notice — just gone."
