Ko Wai Mātou | About us
Background
In September of 2023 leaders from around the Pacific Rim came together for the first gathering of the Anglican Indigenous Leadership Initiative (AILI). Through conversation, storytelling and the sharing of ideas, dreams and the desire for indigenous ways of being and knowing to flourish within our Anglican communities, the life of this new initiative took its first breath. At the conclusion of the gathering a steering committee was formed and the first steps of AILI’s work began to take shape.
Steering Committee
The AILI Steering Committee was formed at the conclusion of the 2023 AILI Wānanga held in Aotearoa New Zealand. The work of the committee is to ensure that indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing and being are central to any leadership initiatives that AILI undertakes. Their intimate relationships with indigenous Anglican communities ensures that AILI is a practical not merely theoretical educational undertaking.
AILI logo
The Anglican Indigenous Leadership Initiative (AILI) logo was designed by Jhaymean Terekia, a highly skilled and creative young indigenous woman who works for Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa.
The design represents weaving, which is a tradition we share in common as indigenous people, and requires a collective approach from gathering the materials through to weaving, through to use.
The logo also represents looking down on the opening of a basket, which represents a place of plenty and of sharing, reflecting the AILI purpose. Māori have a traditional saying reflected in our Anglican prayer book in our prayer after communion:
Manakohia e te Atua ā mātou whakahere, whakamoemiti.
Ko tāu rourou, ko tāku rourou, ka mākona mātou.
with the very approximate translation
Accept, O God, our sacrifice of praise.
Amen. Accept our thanks for all you have done.
Our hands were empty, and you filled them.