Growing up I always knew I had Māori whakapapa but my parents always dismissed and swept it under the rug, whakapapa māori was kind of like a myth or a joke to us. My grandad had lost his reo, my parents didn’t speak it, and I assumed that I would be the same.
One day when I was holding my firstborn daughter in my arms, looking into her eyes, I felt this urge, to reconnect with who I am and where I come from.
Since then my partner and I have been learning te reo for her. My daughter is now five, and she’s been growing up speaking Māori and is currently enrolled at Kōhanga. She proudly plays with her friends in te reo, sings waiata in the car, and corrects my pronunciation! The language I thought of as a joke is now alive and thriving in my home.
Ehara i te mea kua māmā tēnei haerenga. I uaua, i tohe, i tauheke iho taku wairua i ētahi wā, engari ia, i ahau e kite ana i taku tamāhine, e kōrero, katakata, menemene Māori mai ana, e mōhio ana au mei kore ake ia, ka ngaro tonu ai te reo Māori i tōku whānau.
