Nā te reo Māori i tīmata taku haerenga i te ao Māori. I'm Pākehā, a manuhiri, descendent of settlers and learning te reo Māori opened my eyes to the world of everything Aotearoa is and could ever be. My journey began in the days before waitlists for courses, and I became fluent in about 2010. The way I saw the world changed so much. The way I saw my place in Aotearoa changed so much. I pā mai te aroha o te iwi Māori, o ngā hapori me hapū o taku kāinga kei konei i Whakatāne, arā ko Ngāti Awa tēnā. I hope that by the time this is seen, many more non-Māori have grown to treasure te reo Māori the way I have. Ko te reo o tēnei whenua, he reo rangatira.