Kia ora rā, koia nei te karere i whakarapaina e au ki ngaku põhi pukumata i roto i ngõku rõpū ā marae/ā iwi.
Ka mutu koia nei tētahi o aua take, he nui tonu ngā take hoi koia nei ngaku kupu whakakipakipa i taku iwi kāinga ki te hono mai ki te kaupapa.
As posted on my facebook marae and iwi pages:
He tāonga te reo, ka mutu ko te reo te kaipupuru i te hā o te iwi Māori, koia hoki te mauri o te iwi Māori.
Those of you who know me, might also know that I an very passionate about Te Reo.
and yes some may also question hmmmm okay why do you not come home and teach te reo then? That I will answer later in the post.
The reo I speak and love I accredit to my nannies. Yip my Nana Rihi & the naughty gang as they were sometimes referred to. It was nutured and developed by my many unties and nannies through Kohanga Reo and again in Kura Kaupapa at my beloved kura Te KKM o TPoW with my many unties & cousins as kaiako.
It was then reaffirmed and given a stronger foundation under the wings of my beloved Aunty Ma at Tuakau College and again supported by the many nannies and koros I had the privilage to sit next to at the pā. Yip fair to say I may have gotton a bit of slack by some for being there at such a young age, but it is definately not something i regret. I knew in my heart that it wont be long, they would no longer be with us. I knew that the only way to learn from them was to always be around them, so thats where I went.
And I will forever be gratefull for the time I got to spend with them all.
Today my students are amazed to hear that I say my first kõhanga reo was the parties that I went to as a kid (and baby 🤭)
I still have memories of being told by nanny Tangi, oooh yes when you were a baby your bed was in a crate on a pillow on the table.
I remember they spoke Māori alot or most of the time at the parties. My most fondest memories of my language aquisition came from my nannies and those happy days.
The humor and passion for life they (my nannies) displayed is something I draw on all the time when teaching reo because I believe its unique and true. Its definately true to me and for many others.
Yes there is the misconception of " what can Te Reo Māori do for you" well Im sure its quite clear now what it can do and what it must do.
and then I also say there is a saying that
you dont realize the true value of something until its lost. Let not te reo be one.
Some may ask, ok 1 million people speaking at 12pm for one day. What is that going to do.
Heres my take on it.
1 million people making a "conscious" descision to choose to speak Māori at a certain point in time is where the lesson is.
If you want to learn Te Reo Māori, it is as simple as "choosing to" thats all it takes.
Its as simple as that, but one other cool thing to me about this is that, the idea of 1million people making this huge shift im consciousness to celebrate te reo is something to behold.
All of what I know and love about Te Reo is from home, from the growlings for singing on the whitebait bench and scarring the fish away to when we do our selves with the water and of course memories of how our nannies went fluidly from Māori to pigeon English and then the sound of my Nana Rihi's terms of endearment aka swearing 😂. This is what Te Reo does for me, and thats why I speak it every day, so all those memories and teachings are with me.
Home is where I draw my strength from, and Te Reo is how home is with me everyday.
Yes one day I will be back home to teach, when I don't know yet, when the time is right.
I thought id simply share this link with a short post but 10mins later it turned into this, and again that is thanks to my reo.
E te iwi, rapua te mea ngāro
he aha ia rā te mea ngaro, ko te reo, ko te whenua, ko te aroha ki te tangata, he aha rawa rānei
E te iwi e rāpua iho rā
💙💙💙💙💙
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