Having grown up in the deep south with Pakeha parents and having no connection to who I am as a Wahine Maori until I was 20 years old has made it really important to me to learn the things that I didnt know - despite looking so obviously Maori. The whakama of not knowing who I was, particularly when Maori asked "Ko wai to Iwi?"

I love that all of us know Reo Maori words that are interspersed into normal everyday Kiwi language- kai, whenua, aroha, Kia Ora, to name a few. Its important that Te Reo Maori is normalised and becomes more a part of our everyday language as it draws more people in to learn to korero i te reo Maori me ona Tikanga. Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui koutou!