Audrey Anna Robin’s winning Race Unity speech: ‘When we perform together, the three notes blend’

Audrey Anna Robin: "The ropes of unity were woven together in a time of great need."

Napier Girls’ High School Year 11 student Audrey Anna Robin won the Hawke’s Bay Race Unity Speech competition held last month. She will travel to Auckland in term 2 with Woodford House Year 13 Sophie Webber, who finished runner-up. Both presented a speech on the theme of Te Taura Tangata — The Rope of Unity.

Here is Audrey’s winning speech in full:

Tuatahi, ka rere taku poi ki te mihi atu ki te maunga tapu o Kahurānaki. Tēnā koe!

Tuarua, ka rere taku poi ki ngā awa, ko Ngaruroro, ko Tutaekuri ēna. Tēnā kōrua!

Tuatoru, ka rere taku poi ki te haukainga

Tēnā koutou!

Tēnei au, he mokopuna o Ngāti Kahungunu, o Ngāti Porou hoki, e mihi atu nei!

E te Rangatira, Hedi Moani, nōhou te rā nei.

He tōtara koe kua hinga i te wao nui a Tāne

Kei te heke tonu ngā roimata mõhou,

E kore koe e warewaretia.

Moe mai rā.

My poi greets the landmarks of the area, Kahurānaki mountain, Ngaruroro and Tūtaekurī rivers, the people of the land, of this region.

Here I stand, a descendant of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou, paying my humble tribute to you all.

Let us also remember Hedi Moani whose memory we commemorate in this competition.

Taken too soon like a great tōtara felled in the forest of Tāne. Oh, great chief of the Bahaii faith, you will not be forgotten.

The strands of my poi are red, black and white, woven together like people of different cultures, lands, and religions but when these strands join to create the string of my poi, it becomes a thing of beauty and strength, an example to us all of what can be achieved when we become The Rope of Unity, Te Taura Tangata.

I begin close to home, my school, where for three years I have been nurtured, academically, culturally and spiritually. The three school values which every student and teacher carries in their kete or basket of knowledge can indeed be likened to the threads of The Rope of Unity.

Manaakitanga, Whanaungatanga and Kairangi Whaiaaro — sharing and caring, relationships and connecting and personal excellence.

A person who embodies all three of these cultural concepts is a person who practises unity in their everyday life.

This is an important goal that many of my peers and I strive to achieve.

As the leaders of the future, it is up to us to go forth and weave people together in our careers and personal life for the betterment of society.

The time is now, to think about the type of world we want to leave behind for those coming through behind us. A place of inclusivity and empathy where every person is valued.

Within my school environment, I take my school kapa haka as one further example of weaving together individual strands to make a creation of beauty.

The soprano note or high, the melody, or middle note and the alto or low note. When we perform together, the three notes blend making a sound which is pleasing to the ear.

This song is indeed a metaphor for the joy of unity when individuals join as one.

I journey back in time to 2023, one year ago when our beautiful region, Te Matau a Māui, was ravaged by the destruction of Cyclone Gabrielle.

The wind howled and the rain fell, and floodwaters washed away bridges, roads and homes. We remember those lives lost in the disaster.

Kei te te tangi tonu nga roimata, the tears of grief still fall.

And from this traumatic event, a great community spirit shone through the dark clouds. Neighbours, once strangers, ate meals and shared resources with each other.

Strangers helped strangers, then became friends. Donations, supplies and sympathy poured in from all over the country. The ropes of unity were being woven together in a time of great need.

One local person whose spirit and generosity led her became a heroine in our community. A woman called Neela. From her kitchen in her home in Taradale, Neela prepared and packaged Thai meals and invited people on her Facebook page to collect her gift of food.

Soon people donated food to Neela, then their time and vehicles to deliver the food to those who could not collect it themselves. Then a larger kitchen was provided so Neela and her helpers could make more food for those who were assisting our region in the clean-up.

And Neela didn’t stop there. Even when the roads were cleared and the bridges rebuilt, Neela opened a cooking school so anyone wanting to learn how to make Thai meals themselves, could.

Neela, in her acts of manaaki, united people of all cultures, ages and genders in the simple act of feeding those in need. The preparing and sharing of food indeed connects people.

He whakaaro rangatira. Tēnā koe!

The act and thoughts of a chief. Thank you, Neela!

What part will I play in the weaving of the rope of unity, Te Taura Tangata? I ponder on the lessons taught to me by a teacher.

My te reo Māori teacher went to New York last year and on his return told me many stories.

He told me his journey was like that of a native bird, flying to a huge tree full of birds from all over the world. This native bird wanted to connect with these other birds, as you do in his homeland of Aotearoa, yet the task was not as easy as one would think, as the other birds belonged to a culture that preferred to stay disconnected and to fly from branch to branch ignoring each other.

Not to be deterred, the native bird flitted here and there, introducing himself and telling the other birds in this great big tree, stories of his home and words from his own language.

Soon the other birds had no choice but to become interested and slowly warm to this stranger in their tree. Day by day and bit by bit, he wove together all these birds he met into a rope of unity. In fact, many of these birds found themselves wanting to fly to the land of this native bird and see it for themselves.

My teacher said returning to his homeland of Aotearoa, where people find connecting easy, was like returning to his nest.

A place of warmth, comfort and connections. His story taught me an important lesson.

That we, on these tiny islands in the South Pacific, can teach the world many things and lead the way in weaving unity among people.

Why? Because we do it with ease. It is part of the Kiwi psyche.

I like to think that America may be one of the richest countries in the world, but my teacher made The Big Apple a little bit wealthier by sharing the values of our people in another land. His strands of The Rope of Unity went international.

So let us all take our cultures, languages, food and values into each other’s homes, to the many cities and countries of the world. The waka of humanity will sail forward even though turbulent seas, if we paddle in unison.

I end with the whakataukī that encourages every person to bring their skills and talents together in a collaboration of unity — Nā tōu rourou, nā taku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi. This proverb says that with your food basket, and my food basket, the visitors will be well fed and taken care of. To paraphrase: With your contribution and my contribution, anything is possible.

By coming together, the beauty of unity will be the same as the beauty in the woven string of my poi.

Karawhiua!