Kāhu ki Rotorua: Olympics kick off a great weekend

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air

See below for English translation

English Translation

Ko Te Arawa hau Matangi rau

HE HUATAU NŌKU

E mea ana – kātahi tēnei wiki whakahirahira hoki. Tū te ihiihi, tū te mauri ora o te tangata. Ko te whakatūwheratanga o taku wiki whakamiharo ko te whakataetae taumāhekeheke kaumātua o Te Arawa, na, ko te whakakapinga ko te kaupapa i tū ki Rotowhio.

Ko Ōpērā i te pā taunaha. Engari ko te tino mātū o te mutunga wiki ko te mīti o te hanawiti, te hui nui a tau mō Tūhourangi Tribal Authority.

He ahakoa ki ētehi he kaupapa noa tēnei, ko te wā tuatahi tēnei i kite ai ahau i te hunga taitamariki e kōkiri ana i ngā take nui o te wā. He rongo kau anahe tāku i mōhio ai ki ēnei whānaunga ōku.Me taku whakahīhī hoki ki ēnei hua o te pā taunaha. Tūhourangi e tū.

Ko tētehi o ngā hautupua ko Kirkowhai Mikaere, tētehi wāhine mātauranga whakamiharo ki te whakahaere pākihi. Koia hoki te tiamana mō te TTA, he ahakoa i tōmuri ai te hui, nā tana kaha me tana mārama ki te whakahaere hui pēnei te nui i oti pai i te poupoutanga o te rā.

Nō mua rānō i tana hokinga mai ki te kāinga ka rongo kōrero mōna me Erana tana taina. Tērā tētehi waha papā nō te Wanganui Chronicle e whakateitei ana i tētehi wahine tokorua, he tuakana, he taina, nā ko tō rāua matua tane nō te awa o Whanganui. Koia tēnei te wā tuatahi e āta puta mai ana te toatanga o ēnei wāhine.

E tika āna hai tāku nā te mea he uri rāua nō Tūhourangi, he kāwai rangatira tēnei nō Te Arawa, ae rā hoki he uri hoki rāua nō Ngāti Whakaue. He hoa tata māua ko te matua tāne o Wiremu. Ko tōna koroua, ko taku koroua he tuakana, taina rāua.

E rua ngā taonga i whakahokia mai e Te Kirikowhai mai i te Muheama Pitts River i Oxford hai whakakitenga mā tātau katoa. Ko te tuatahi he paipera nā Makereti Papakura me tētehi whakapapa nānā tonu i tuhituhi.

He mea kawea te paipera e ia ki tana peke harihari engari te whakapapa i tiki ake mā te rorohiko. Ka puta tona wairua hīanga nōna e tonotono nā mō te whakapapa tūturu, ā – auware ake. Wheoi anō kai te taumata a Te Kirikowhai. Ko Deliah Balle he uri nō te whānau Hawe-Hamiora.

Kua piki ake te mana o te TTA i a Annie Balle. Nā wai rā ka mātika a Hana Tapiata, he kairangitaki rongonui, hai tāna ka tukuna e ia tona ihi ki te whakarākei i te paetukutuku me te taha ki te pae pāpāoho pāpori o TTA.

Nō te Paraire ka heke iho ahau ki Paepaehākūmanu , ko te taumāhekeheke kaumātua o Te Arawa te take.

E te tapeha tata, koia kai a koe e Laurie. Rangi whakahirahira hoki. Pakaru katoa te tinana me ngā whēkau i te katakata, kūrehurehu kau ana ngā pāpārainga i te aroha. Ka tū ahau ki te whakataetae a te tau hou. Piataata kau ana te whakawhānaungatanga o te rā.

Ko tētehi mea i tino kitea e ahau ko te kaha o te hinengaro ki a wikitoria ai te tīma, he ahakoa he whakataetae kaumātua tēnei, ko te puku o ngā pakeke me he toa.

Mate ururoa tonu atu ngā kaumātua. Ko tā mātau whakataetae tuatahi ko te kēmu hōkī. Ko Ngāti Rangitihi te hoa ngangare. E noho ana mātau kai te pupuri rākau nurara, ko te tikanga ko te hahau i te pōro ki te waha o te kupenga e whiwhi piro ai mātau.He ahakoa tō mātau kaha, ka hinga taku tīma i a Ngāti Rangitihi. Hai aha i a kotou Ngāti Rangitihi, hai aha i a kotou.

Ka tutakitaki i ahau a Pipi Haira me etehi atu o aku hoa tawhito.

Ko Keita Pehi tetehi, ko Manutai Schuster, ko Dudu me Linda Northcroft hoki. He tīma whakataetae nō Taupō i puta mai ki te kaupapa o te rā. E ai ki te kōrero, e whitu rau katoa ngā pakeke i whakataetae.

Ko te pakeke o rātau katoa ko Hariata Ririnui nō Ngāti Te Iwimokai he hapū nō Ngāti Tarawhai. He kotahi rau mā wha tona pakeke. Ka mā rima a te Akuwhata o tēnei tau. Hai tā Laurie Morrison, te manu whakahaere o tēnei kaupapa, ko te take i mana nui ai te rā ko te kaha o te hāpori me te hunga tautoko.

Nō reira he whakamihi ki Rotorua Trust, Bay Trust, Te Puni Kokiri, Pukeroa Oruawhata, Ngāti Whakaue Lands Trust, Te Arawa lakes Trust, Te Pumautanga Trust me ngā taratī huhua o Ngāti Pikiao.

E toru tekau mano tāra te nama mo te kawe i tēnei kaupapa. Ka tu a Te Koutu te kura kaupapa Māori ki te whakangahau ki ngā kaumātua, puta mai ngā tauira o Hato Paora me te kura o ngā kōhine ki te whakakitakita i te wairua o te whakataetae.

E rua ngā tīma o Te Pakira. Ko ahau te whakapakanga o to mātau tima ko June Marino te pakeke. Kai te iwa tekau o ngā tau tona pakeke. Koia hoki te taniwha oreore o mātau katoa. Pakari nei. Nau mai te tau hou me te whakataetae hou.

Nā, ko te whakakapinga o tēnei wiki whakaharahara ko te kaupapa Ōpērā ki te pā taunaha i Te Rotowhio.Mangu katoa te ātea nui o Te Rotowhio. E noho tahi ana māua ko taku taina a Watu ki tahaki o Tim Smith me tōna matua wahine me ngā tamariki hoki a rāua ko Tamati Coffey.

Ko Tutanekai me Taitimu. I Pōneke a Tamati e mahi ana. Nā Aneta Morgan ngā manu tīoriori i karanga ki te ātea nui o Te Rotowhio, nā Monty Morrison me Ken Kennedy ngā mihimihi.

Ko Mercia Yates te manu taki mō te pō, engari anō a Ludwig Treviranus mō te purei pīana e hoa, kai a koe. Ehara ahau i te tangata mātauranga nui ki tēnei ao engari he mema ahau nō te karapu, ' whakatangihia kia rongo ai aku taringa me he pai he pai’. Tūturu pai ki ahau te reo waiata tāne nā reira i rarata ai aku taringa ki a Moses Mackay me Kawiti Waetford.

Ka hinawanawa taku kiri i a Elisha Hulton-So’ioalo me Ellis Carrington. Engari ko te mana o te pō kai te kaupapa o te pō. Ko te ātea hoki tēnei i puta ai a Moses me Kawiti ki te ao whānui. Ka tūtakitaki hoki i a tātau a Nathaniel Pirika me Tiana Hunter e waiata takirua ana, hai tā rāua ko te pae tawhito ko te whare wānanga ki te whakawhanake i te puna o te waiata. Ka rawe hoki.

—Na Raimona Inia i whakamaori tenei purongo

OPINION

What an enriching, informative and thoroughly rejuvenating weekend I’ve just spent.

It started with the sometimes slapstick comedy of our performance in the Te Arawa Kaumātua Olympics and ended on a high note with the soul-feeding sounds of Opera in The Pā.

But it was what happened in between that was the real eye-opener for me.

The AGM of the Tūhourangi Tribal Authority hardly seems a world-changing event, but it was the first time I had seen the younger trust members in action.

I knew them by reputation and whakapapa.

This time I saw them in their iwi-entity work environment. Tūhourangi is so lucky to have such a competent generation to take us on the next leg of our journey.

There can’t be many iwi anywhere in the motu who have someone as well-qualified as Kirikowhai Mikaere to run their business. She is the TTA chair and the meeting was so well run that even after a late start we were early for lunch.

Years before Kirikowhai came home to her father’s Ūkaipō I learned about her and her sister Erena.

A colleague from the Whanganui Chronicle was raving about these sisters and their schoolteacher father who lived up the Whanganui River. The girls were beginning their careers and had made quite a splash.

I told him that I didn’t expect anything else as they were Tūhourangi, Ngāti Wāhiao, Ngāti Whakaue, and I grew up next-door to William’s father. And his grandfather and my great-grandfather were brothers.

At Sunday’s AGM were displayed two Taonga Kirikowhai brought home from a visit to Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University last year — a Bible belonging to Makereti and a scroll of a Tūhourangi whakapapa Makereti had written.

The Bible Kirikowhai carried home in her hand luggage and the scroll she downloaded from a PDF the museum gave her. She smiled as she said she had tried for the original.

Re-elected to the TTA with Kirikowhai was Deliah Balle a member of the Hawe-Hamiora whanau who is a senior policy and engagement planner with the Te Arawa Lakes Trust’s (TALT) environmental team, Te Papa Ahurewa.

The TTA board is committed to engaging more widely with their community and has taken on board Annie Balle.

Blogger Hana Tapiata, also a Hamiora mokopuna, told the meeting she had agreed to help with the TTA website and social media.

On the Friday I got dropped off at the Rotorua Events Centre not knowing what to expect at the Te Arawa Kaumātua Olympics.

Cousin Laurie Morrison take a bow: What a fabulous event.

It was awesome and so much fun I’ve got my name down for the next ones.

Everyone I spoke to — and I made a point of moving around the hall — said there has to be a next event.

The whakawhanaungatanga was awesome.

Thanks Dudu Light and the rōpu who meet at TTA headquarters on Tuesdays.

I will treasure my Te Pākira Gunz T-shirt.

Originally, I was going to be a supporter but didn’t want to be left out of what looked like it was going to be fun.

One thing I learned from the kick-off was that age does not diminish the will to win and that those kaumātua don’t take any prisoners.

Ngāti Rangitihi were our first opponents, in a hockey match where the opposing teams are seated and use exercise noodles to try to whack a basketball into nets.

I must admit we were outgunned but that set the tone for an awesome day.

Fun and whanaungatanga, it doesn’t get much better.

I caught up with other pā kids of my generation — including Pipi Haira, Keita Pehi, Karen Cribb, Manutai Schuster, Dudu and Linda Northcroft who brought a team from Taupo.

There were a reported 700 or so kaumatua from around the middle of the North Island who participated. The oldest was 104-year-old Hariata Ririnui from Ngāti Tarāwhai.

Laurie Morrison puts the success of the event down to her committee of strong volunteers and her supportive funders, the Rotorua Trust, Bay Trust, Te Puni Kōkiri, Pukeroa Oruawhata, Ngāti Whakaue Lands Trust, Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Te Pumautanga Trust and a number of Ngāti Pikiao Trusts. The event cost $30,000 to run.

Rangatahi from several schools including Te Kura o Te Koutu who also entertained at lunch time, John Paul College, Rotorua Girls High school, help keep the games flowing and the floors clear of sports gear.

Te Pākira had two teams. I was the youngest participant in ours and June Marino, at 90+ the oldest. Auntie June is also the fittest.

Roll up the next kaumātua Olympics.

And what better note to end the weekend on than Opera in the Pā at Te Puia.

What a superb setting and the “Full House” sign went up several times.

Sister Watu and I sat with Tim Smith, his Mum and his and Tamati Coffey’s children Tutanekai and Taitimu. Tamati had been called to a meeting in Wellington.

The performers were called onto the ātea at Rotowhio by Aneta Morgan and the mihimihi were performed by Monty Morrison and Ken Kennedy.

Mercia Yates was a sparkling MC and pianist Ludwig Treviranus was an outstanding accompanist.

I don’t know much about classical music and belong to the “I know what I like when I hear it” club.

I do know that I prefer male voices to female and in Moses Mackay and Kawiti Waetford we had some of Aotearoa-New Zealand’s finest.

Despite that I got tingly feelings down my back listening to Elisha Hulton-So’ioalo and Ellis Carrington. Opera in the Pā was billed as a special celebration of opera.

It has long been known as a venue for young singers including Moses and Kawiti.

We were introduced to Nathaniel Pirika and Tiana Hunter who plan to pursue music at university. They performed a duet and also participated as members of the Youth Choir. Kā rawe hoki.