Tawiri | Kaitī, Gisborne

“I’ve had the good fortune to have travelled, and travelled extensively which gave me a lot of access to different cultures, different religions, different beliefs. I think out of that, it’s supported my idea of what I believe humanity to be. Interacting with people of different cultures, different languages, is not as difficult as people may believe.

Basic body gestures, your character, the way you carry yourself also speaks a lot for how different cultures can bridge that gap of language. Having this opportunity when the world was a much safer place to travel, I spent a number of years in the UK, a lot of years in the Middle East and Africa and a number of years in Australia, working with the Australian Aboriginals. As a Māori living in Australia, I thought culturally I have to have a connection with the tangata whenua, the people of that land, to get a better understanding of where I stood in that community. So, culture has played a big part in my life. Saying that, I was just having a discussion with the guys outside, and I said, over the last couple of years, I found that I’m more of a humanist, if that’s the correct term, now than I’ve ever been. Although my culture is strong in me, my belief that humanity is the bigger driving force in my life, is really important to me. I’m not detracting from being Māori. I was explaining to them, being born Māori gave me a unique relationship with this land. It didn’t make me any better or any more or any less responsible. It just gave me a unique relationship. I think Aboriginal people, and probably American Indians have the same unique relationship. So, no matter where you travel in the world, people have these relationships. My culture, Māori culture is a unique relationship, whereas humanity, for me, is a connection automatically with every other human being on this planet. You have these same responsibilities that you would have in your own small community around education, around health, around wellness and equal opportunities. In the human tribe, you are responsible for all of those, even on the global stage. Humanity for me is I think something we haven’t paid that much attention to as Māoris, and I might be off-siding a few people here, but for me, humanity is a stronger drive than my cultural drive. My cultural drive is important and unique, but my human drive to relate and to care for is a far greater one than my cultural drive to take in my Māori family who are very important to me. So are my ancestors. That continuous connection to land is very important, but so is the care that other people can bring and knowledge and science to, to understand why our rivers are dying, why pollution and things like that are happening in our world. We need scientists to give us those answers. The importance of being part of the human family, for me, is crucial to our future. 

I’m the youngest of six and unfortunately I have a very tragic life. A lot of abuse, a lot of neglect, and so I started my separation from family at a very early age. That encouraged my hitch-hiking while I was still at school, which encouraged me to travel around New Zealand. Both my parents have passed away. My dad was a leader in our church. He was what they called pou o te Hāhi Ringatū which is the centre of the church, and my mum was a big push in the language through the kōhangas, and on into the secondary schools. At the moment, I’m a stay-home dad. I look after my nine-year-old daughter, which I consider to be quite fortunate in today’s world, having a single income and a family and surviving is a rarity. Fortunately enough I’m lucky enough to do that.

To celebrate culture and to celebrate the understanding of where we’re from and what makes us so different, but also exactly the same. We will only find those differences if we come in contact with other cultures, other beliefs, other religions. It’s only through that point of contact where we realise how similar or how different we are, and difference is not necessarily a negative thing. I would like to think that we could celebrate a lot more around diversity, especially in today’s world where there is so much poverty in small sections of the world. Celebration of all cultures around the world is something I think we should encourage, especially in New Zealand where we are geographically isolated. In Europe you’ve got so many countries that border onto each other that cross-culture and cross-religion is the norm. But for us in New Zealand any opportunity that we get to indulge in and share in culture, I think we should take advantage of. Diversity in culture is a wonderful thing. Look at Melbourne. The food restaurants in Melbourne have got great Greek, Italian, Chinese flavour, and that’s all from migrants coming into that State and contributing their flavours to the eating habits of Melbournites. So, I would hope that we could do the same here in New Zealand. I’m not saying that we don’t. I’m sure we do, and I would encourage us as a nation to do a lot more.”