Kia ora whānau,
Rosie Miller toku ingoa.
Ko Debbie Miller toku māmā, ko Malcolm Miller toku pāpā. Ko Sioeli Tuitufu toko hoa rangatira.
I am a beginner Te Reo Māori speaker (and seem to have been for the last 30 years, in part due to a lack of opportunity to kōrero Māori).
I hope that if you are reading this in another 50 years time (when I hope to be 83 years of age) that you have carried the language with you, speak Te Reo at home, school, work, shops and even to your dogs.
Kia kaha Te Reo Māori!
P.s. upon writing this, we are preparing for a whānau hui at our Kauangaroa marae - for the descendants of Margaret Jones (who was the mother of my grandma Dawn Garner, nee Jones) and the eldest daughter of Maraea Huatau and Peter Jones. I hope that it is a great success and we have had many more hui over the next 50 years! Attached is a video of the special book cover being woven for our whānau book: Tātouru (about the lives of our tīpuna) which will be released at the hui. In case you don’t have a copy, check out the national library, where we will submit a few!
Our last hui was in 1997, organised by Dawn Jones, so if you are reading this, I pass the batten to you to organise the next one!
Kia ora e te whānau, noho ora mai. Take care of yourself and others!
Ngā mihi nui,
Rosie Miller
