Posts Tagged ‘Kotahi Mano Kāika’

Settlement Pēpi

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the settlement of Te Kerēme – the Ngāi Tahu Claim. Since then Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has continued to grow alongside a generation of rangatahi who enjoy the opportunities our tīpuna dreamed of – or not.

Post Settlement – the journey so far

Te Kerēme – The Ngāi Tahu Claim – was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal in 1986, and in the ensuing years of negotiations with the Crown the iwi began to mobilise in preparation for the long-awaited settlement. The passing of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Act 1996 established Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu to protect and advance the collective interests of the iwi.

Cultural Connection

A voice sings out: Areare-mai-rā-ōu-tarika!

Thirty-four voices sing back, in a chorus of different accents. Some are Aussie, some Kiwi, most of them somewhere in between. Some ring proud and confident; others cradle the unfamiliar Māori syllables like a new parent cradling their first child.

Areare-mai-rā-ōu-tarika!
Lend me your ears!

Te Kura o Te Tira Mōrehu Reo o
Moeraki

The wānanga represent a revitalisation of their own, as they emulate the renowned wharekura Ōmanawharetapu that Matiaha Tiramōrehu held in Moeraki until 1868. Tiramōrehu, widely known as the father of the Ngāi Tahu Claim, was also a renowned scholar with extensive knowledge of Māori traditions and whakapapa. He sought to share this with others, and in his wharekura taught Ngāi Tahu tamariki the traditional knowledge and customs that had been handed down for generations.

Kā Manukura O Te Reo
A Force of Nature

“The only way our language will survive is by normalising it in everyday life. If you won’t let me speak to you in Māori in the supermarket, you are never going to normalise it, and when your kids want to learn Māori, they are going to have to learn from me because you can’t and I don’t have time for that.”

A sense of pride

Ngāi Tahu language leaders were recognised at a glittering awards ceremony at Ōtākou Marae that also honoured te reo heroes of the past. In his opening speech, Tā Tipene O’Regan told the audience that the rebirth of Ngāi Tahu reo was in good hands. He said while previously the tribe had been consumed with the Claim, it was time to move on and promote revitalisation of Ngāi Tahu reo.

Reo Māori journey

Take a Māori boy from the south, the arrival of Te Māori exhibition and you have the makings of a life-long love of te reo Māori.
Tahu Pōtiki didn’t always love te reo Māori. “I started to learn when I was a teenager and didn’t really take to it. It was thrust on us when I was a Māori hostel boy here in Christchurch. We weren’t very good as teenage boys.”