How I am celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Maaori, I have been speaking as much Te Reo Maaori when conversing with my daughter who is also doing her part by responding back in Te Reo Maaori such as greeting each other in the morning with morena, kei te pehea koe? asking what we are going to have for breakfast, lunch and tea, how are we feeling throughout the day e.g. kei te pai koe? he aha to mahi? I have been taking more advantage of watching our Maaori channel so that our household is not only trying to speak Te Reo Maaori but we are also listening and participating in the Te Reo Maaori programmes to learn and extend on our Te Reo. Greeting in Te Reo Maaori on the phone e.g. kia ora Lena speaking then receiving a warm welcome back with a kia ora. I have enrolled onto Ka Hao I Te Ao programme and to be in the running for a scholarship I've had to do 5 challenges which requires me to post a video on my FB page, I took the opportunity to mihi to my whaanau that this is Maaori language week and to be strong in speaking our Reo no matter how little, I gave a whakataukii, ahakoa he iti, he paumanu, despite being small, you are of great value or in other words no matter how small it is, it is seen as a treasure, I just wanted to put it out there to my whaanau if you feel you don't have much to give it's ok because what little you have will be a great deal to someone else. Over the years of Te Reo o te Wiki I hadn't really taken much interest in committing to this kaupapa because I too felt I didn't have enough Reo to carry it out, but I now realize the importance of why we need to use this opportunity so that we can normalize our Te Reo Maaori in our everyday lives. We have a the most unique and beautiful language and I am so proud to be Maaori and I want our Reo to become total immersion in Aotearoa as this is our first language and in honor of our parents, grandparents and tupuna in which they were robbed from speaking their native tongue I now feel the importance of appreciating this kaupapa in keeping our Reo alive so that it will never be lost or become extinct like it nearly did back in the days. I know now that I have a responsibility as a mother and a nana while I'm still on this earth to pass what knowledge and Te Reo Maaori I have onto my tamariki and mokopuna to ensure that our Te Reo Maaori continues to be appreciated from many generation here after. Ko tooku reo tooku ohooho, ko tooku reo tooku maapihi maurea, my language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul.