Te Kauri | Manurewa, Auckland

“Tēnā tātou. Ko Hikurangi te maunga, ko Otaua te awa, ko Mapere te moana, ko Hokianga Whakapau Karakia, ko Ngātokimatawhaorua te waka, ko Nuku Tawhiti te tangata o runga, ko Puhimoanaariki te marae, ko Ngāpuhi te iwi, ko Te Uri o Hua te hapū, ko Wīhongi te whānau, ko Te Kauri Wihongi tōku ingoa. Nō reira, mauri ora ki a tātou.

Ko tētahi mea whakamīharo mai i ahau, me kī, ko tōku mahi hei matua. Hei matua ki waku tamariki, me te mea anō, nā te tipu i aku tamariki i roto i te reo Māori, koirā tētahi mea e tino mīharo ana ki ahau. Nā te mea, ka hoki waku mahara i a au anō e kura ana, e kura auraki ana, me kī, horekau ērā kura e kaha tautoko mai i ahau, engari, nā tōku… nā te wā i huri atu au ki te kura kaupapa Māori, me te tuku anō i aku tamariki ki roto, me te tū anō hei kaiako i mua i ā tātou nei tamariki-mokopuna, ā, koirā tētahi o ngā mea tino mīharo ana ki a au. Nō reira, āe. 

Ā ko tētahi, me kī, ko tētahi o ngā taumahatanga, ki ahau nei, me kī, kei roto i ngā whakapono a te iwi Māori, me ngā whakapono i hakawhāngai mai ai e tauiwi ki a tātou. Me kī, horekau ngā kura kaupapa e whāngai mātauranga nō te Paipera Tapu, engari, ko te whai, ko te whāngai mātauranga tūturu a ō tātou mātua tūpuna. Nō reira, he uaua anō te huri, me kī, te huri te whakaaro a tauiwi ki ngā mahi, ki ngā kaimahi Māori pēnei i ahau nei e whakapono ana ki ngā atua Māori, me tō rātou pōhēhē, he iwi tuku karakia noa. Nō reira, ko tāku e mea ana ko te whakaaro Māori he rerekē rawa atu ki tā te Pākehā. Nō reira…

Me kī, i tupu ake au ki Tāmaki nei, ki Papakura. I tae mātou, i te taenga atu o tōku whānau ki Papakura, rima taku tau. He koraha. Korekau he whare, ko tō mātou whare, ko te whare anahe ki taua whenua. I ngā hararei, āe, i hoki atu mātou ki te haukāinga, engari, me kī, mō te nuinga o taku noho ki roto o Papakura. Tae atu ki te wā e tekau mā ono, tekau mā whitu tōku pakeke i wehe atu au i te kura. Ko taku mahi matua i tērā wā ko te mahi rino. Nō reira, i mahi au ki te steel mill. I reira whai tohu ai mō tētahi mahi, mahi rino, arā, te filter-welder. I reira au mō te wā. Engari tūtaki au i taku wahine, ā, ka hūnuku, ka piri māua, ka hūnuku māua ki te Hiku o te Ika, ki tētahi wāhi ko Herekino. I reira māua, whānau mai ā māua nei tamariki, whakatupu i ā māua tamariki ki tērā wāhi rongonui o te Hiku o te Ika, Herekino. Ko Orowhare te maunga, ko Rangiheke te awa, ko Herekino te moana, ko Ngā Manukau te marae, ko Te Rarawa te iwi, ko Patupīnaki te hapū, ko Tatana te whānau. Nō reira, i reira tupu ake au i aku tamariki ki te haukāinga, i reira nōki i ako, i noho mātou i te taha moana. E kaha ana mātou ki te kohi kai moana, ki te whai pōaka i roto i te ngahere. Nā wērā mahi, me te whakaako i aku tamariki i te kāinga. Kātahi i aku tamariki e rangatahi ana, ka hūnuku mātou ki Tāmaki, ka tukuna atu rātou i roto i te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Māngere. I konei au mahi ai mahi kaiako mō ērā wā. Nō te wā ka taea e au te mahi i roto i ngā kura, te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Māngere, te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Pūau, te Kura Tuarua o Ngāpuna o Waiorea/Western Springs College. Ināianei, kei te whai au i tēnei huarahi, te mate hinengaro mō te iwi Māori ki roto i Whītiki Maurea.

Translated

Greetings to us all. Hikurangi is the mountain, Otaua is the river, Mapere is the ocean, Hokianga Whakapau Karakia, Ngātokimatawhaorua is the canoe, Nuku Tawhiti was the chief on board, Puhimoanaariki is the marae, Ngāpuhi is the tribe, Te Uri o Hua is the subtribe, Wīhongi is the family, my name is Te Kauri Wīhongi. Therefore, blessings to us all.

One thing that has been amazing for me, is my role in being a parent. A parent to my children and that I raised my children in Māori, that’s something that I find amazing for myself. Because, when I think back to when I was in school, when I was in mainstream education, those schools did not give me full support. But when I became involved with kura kaupapa Māori, and when I sent my children to Kura Kaupapa Māori, and when I became a teacher educating our children, those things are something that I found special for me. 

One of the difficulties for me, is about Māori traditional beliefs, and the beliefs that foreigners have brought to our shores. Kura kaupapa do not teach what is contained in the Bible, but the goal is to instead teach the knowledge of our ancestors. So, it is difficult to change. Difficult to change what non-Māori think about the protocols, and about what us employed Māori like me believe in concerning the Māori gods, and how they mistakenly think all we do is just pray. So, what I’m saying is that Māori philosophy is quite different to that of non-Māori.

I grew up here in Auckland, in Papakura. When my family came to Papakura, I was five. It was a wilderness. There were no buildings, it was only our house on the land. In the holidays, yes, we’d return home, but I would say I have lived most of my life in Papakura. When I was 16, 17 I left school. My main job then was in steel. So, I worked in a steel mill. It was there I became qualified in a job, in steelwork, in other words, a filter-welder. I was there for a time. But I met my wife, and we moved, and we married, and we moved to the Far North, to a place called Herekino. When we were there, we had our children and we raised them there in the well-known Far North settlement that is Herekino. Orowhare is the mountain, Rangiheke is the river, Herekino is the ocean, Ngā Manukau is the marae, Te Rarawa is the tribe, Patupīnaki is the subtribe, Tatana is the family. So, it was there I raised my children on the homestead, it was there learning happened. We stayed by the ocean. We were adept at foraging for seafood, and hunting pig in the forest. So, we did those things, and I taught my children at home. Then when my children were teenagers, we moved to Tāmaki and we put them into Te Kura Kaupapa Māori ā-Rohe o Māngere. It was here that I worked as a teacher for a while. After some time, I was able to work in schools, at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori ā-Rohe o Māngere, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Pūau-Te-Moananui-ā-Kiwa, and Western Springs College. Now, I am pursuing this path, mental well-being for Māori in Whītiki Maurea.”