Role model siblings pass on their love of learning

The Webster siblings (centre back) Kimiora, Talitha and Jamus want their children to have the same values they were taught. Photo / Stephen Parker

A love of learning and knowing the importance of their culture are the secrets to success for one Te Arawa whanau.

The Webster siblings - Kimiora, 34, Jamus, 31, Talitha, 26 and Te Kahuirangi, 21 - are all accomplished musicians and teachers. They say their achievements have only been possible because their parents, Alfred and Jocelyn, instilled in them from an early age what it was to be Maori.

The family, who are also of Tuhoe, Te Whanau a Apanui and Nga Puhi descent, are the subject of a documentary, Heroes for Education. It premiered last night at the New Zealand Educational Institute national conference in Rotorua as part of the organisation's educating Maori success campaign.

Kimiora, a science and senior Maori teacher at Rotorua Boys' High School, said teaching became a natural progression for them all.

"We've been involved in everything Maori," he said. "It was through them [parents] always teaching us and always empowering us as being Maori and what they thought a role model Maori should look like, that made us slip into becoming teachers and passing on the same knowledge to other Maori to empower them as well."

Growing up, the Websters had a unique rule in their household that they weren't allowed to play any sport.

"Mum and Dad had a strong belief for us to learn Maori and music and not be the stereotypical Maori on the sports field," Kimiora said.

"It was hard because the natural thing for us is to play," Jamus said. "It wasn't until we got older that we figured out the benefits of it." Those benefits included travelling the world from an early age, with Te Kahuirangi currently living and performing as an entertainer in Dubai.

Talitha, a kohanga reo teacher, said she first went overseas when she was eight to perform kapa haka.

"We were brought up in a way that everything was there for us, we just needed to take the opportunities provided," she said.

Jamus teaches kapa haka in schools and prisons and was recently in San Francisco performing at the opening of the America's Cup with kapa haka group Te Waka Huia.

"I was showing one prisoner some footage of San Francisco and his eyes just lit up because for some they haven't been on a plane before and it showed them that there is a new light, a new avenue," he said.

"A lot of our prisoners have the ability to lead our people but it's about reconnecting them to their identity. Knowing who they are and getting them to understand they are descended from chiefs and are not alone.

"And that's why I go back to the schools. We ask ourselves why we're teaching. I think it's going through kapa haka about whanaungatanga [kinship], manaakitanga [hospitality], kotahitanga [self-government]. That's instilled within us and it's our job to go out there and help other families, help other people to grow and go out there and achieve wonderful things."