Ngati Kahungunu Tamaki nui a Rua chairman Hayden Hape at last week's release of the Te Reo strategy.
Ngati Kahungunu Tamaki nui a Rua chairman Hayden Hape at last week's release of the Te Reo strategy.
Without being spoken, Te Reo would become a dead language.
But Hayden Hape, chairman of Ngati Kahungunu Tamaki nui a Rua, isn't about to let that happen and last week he launched Kahungunu Karanga - A Te Reo strategy and implementation plan 2017-2032.
"This is a very special document and we're moving into some awesome space where everyone wants to say kia ora and we should use every opportunity to push our language," he said at a special presentation evening in Dannevirke. "We're going to be encouraging everyone to speak te reo so it can live."
Waiata at the release of Kahungunu ki Tamaki nui a Rua's Te Reo strategy and implementation plan in Dannevirke.
Working toward bringing Te Reo back into mainstream Tararua and beyond have been a team including Morry Black, James Kendrick, Pare Kino, Kingi Kiriona and Francis Hape.
"We've worked to capture our whanau's thoughts and it's been a real cool journey," Mr Hape said.
Pare Kino said it was important for Te Reo to enhance the whanau in Tamaki nui a Rua. "We're working towards revitalising Te Reo and to have Te Reo spoken in our houses and community and, by 2032, to have Te Reo a main language," she said. "We've put a lot of hard work into this strategy."
James Kendrick, (left), with Tararua District Council Deputy Mayor Allan Benbow and Morry Black.
James Kendrick told the Dannevirke News, although this is a Kahungunu Tamaki nui a Rua strategy, "what we want is for the community to own the strategy".
Morry Black said the team would have liked to see how other iwi had carried out their strategies.
"Some had them written up, but they hadn't implemented them," he said.
Determined not to let that happen here, Mr Black said there were four priorities for the strategy to achieveits objectives.
They are: the re-establishment and reconnection within marae; to recapture the stories and language; providing a means to convey the uniqueness of Te Reo within whanau and the community, and to increase collaboration and co-operation between key stakeholders, education providers and other agencies. There is also a need to instil confidence in rangatahi and support them as key drivers of the vision.
Mr Kendrick said his journey had included reviewing modern literature, as well as what the old people had written.
"The key driver to saving Te Reo are our young people," he said. "We need Te Reo to be implemented in our schools (as a compulsory part of the curriculum) and within our district council, to help bring the language alive.
"This is an evolving document and we need the community to drive it."
Mr Kendrick said kaumatua didn't know he was writing down their stories but he believed that was important for the future.
"This is a magnificent journey and I challenge everyone in our community to help us drive this vision forward. We've come up with something we can be proud of," he said.
The attitude toward Te Reo had changed over the generations, with Mr Hape recalling how his grandfather, a successful businessman, didn't allow Te Reo to be spoken in front of visitors.
"We had a family member locked in a cupboard at school because she'd spoken Maori," he said.
