At 61, Hari Rapata feels his te reo journey has only just begun, but it has already changed his life in the best of ways.
It wasn't through receiving the strap at school after asking his teacher to pronounce his name correctly that prompted him. Nor was it his job as an adviser to former Māori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia.
It was simply that he felt he was being called home.
“Did I feel a calling? Yes I think I did. Whatever was happening in my life I think it was a time that steered me in that direction.
“I have lived a beautiful life outside of my Māoritanga. There was no real particular reason I should go back, but I found a calling.
“Too long I’ve denied my own heritage.”
Ōtākou | Otago | Queenstown-Lakes | 2020-29 | Story is by tangata whenua
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