As a tangata tiriti living in the whenua of Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika, Pōneke Wellington, I feel privileged to start my te reo journey at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, Ōtaki under the korowai of ancestors of Ngāti Raukawa. I would like to acknowledge tūpuna katoa ancestors of these ngā wāhi places where I have made whakawhanaungatanga connections. Also, te reo Māori is the reo rangatira the first language of this whenua and it originated here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Hence, it is a taonga tuku iho treasure handed down intergenerationally by tūpuna katoa o tēnei whenua ancestors of this land. It is our responsibility to normalise, and kōrero speak te reo Māori as a tangata tiriti living in this whenua which we call our home now. Te reo Māori is also a matapihi window to the bigger and inclusive world to te ao Māori. We, tangata tiriti, have our own obligations to maintain the mana of this taonga reo. Toitū te reo, Toitū te Tiriti, Toitū te whenua. Kei te mihi nui!