Jason and Willow Lovell, both 34, came home to Auckland from Australia in 2010 partly because they have Maori heritage and wanted to learn the language of their ancestors.
At first sight it would be hard to see much in common between the Lovell and Jacob families - but they share a passion to learn the Maori language.
Jason and Willow Lovell, both 34, came home to Auckland from Australia in 2010 partly because they have Maori heritage and wanted to learn the language of their ancestors.
READ THE FAMILIES' STORIES IN MAORI AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE
Arun Jacob, 47, and his wife Shalima, 38, returned to Hamilton from India in 2013, this time to stay. Learning te reo has given them a family in this country, they say.
"One of the first things I did was to enrol in a te reo course at Te Wananga o Aotearoa," Mr Jacob says.
"I was the only Indian I believe at the Raroera campus and I was overjoyed by how quickly my kaiako and my fellow tauira made me a part of the whanau."
Mr Lovell moved to Australia with his parents when he was 18, studied at university there and started a career in banking.
Mrs Lovell graduated in communications in Auckland before going to Melbourne to work in public relations. The couple had met briefly in New Zealand but got together in Melbourne and had their first children there: Zinzan, now 8, and Mereana, 5 (since joined by Emi Kowhai, 17 months).
Shalima and Arun Jacob with their children Alisha (rear), 13, and 10-year-old twins Natasha (front left) and Trisha. Photo / Dean Purcell
But Mr Lovell felt a strong pull to his Ngapuhi roots. His grandparents Hiwi and Patricia Tauroa are respected Maori leaders; Mr Tauroa was our third Race Relations Conciliator.
"They are the pou of our family, and me being the eldest grandchild I just got that whole exposure not only to te reo but to Maori culture and all that had to offer," Mr Lovell says.
He joined a kapa haka group and studied te reo at school but didn't really take it in at the time.
"Even coming out of school, my level of proficiency in te reo Maori was pretty lacklustre. For me, it was mainly because I didn't understand why I wanted to do it," he says.
"It wasn't really till I was overseas that you start to realise that what we have - my upbringing, the Maori language, the Maori culture - is all very unique to New Zealand. That it's really a taonga that is very special.
"There is a saying that the essence of what it is to be Maori is within te reo Maori, and I think that is because as Maori we share those common values and te reo Maori is what encapsulates those values.
"So for us it was one of those factors in making the decision to move back to New Zealand because I wanted to learn te reo, and that was important to us in terms of fostering that experience and upbringing for our kids."
Mrs Lovell supported her husband's decision to take a year off to study Maori intensively at Te Wananga Takiura o Nga Kura Kaupapa Maori o Aotearoa, even though her own Maori experience was more limited. She only discovered she had a Ngati Manu great-grandfather when an uncle delved into the family history 10 years ago.
"It was a really nice thing to find out, but also a bit sad because that part of our family heritage was not spoken about," she says.
Mrs Jacob also supports her husband's decision to study te reo, even though the couple already speak half a dozen languages between them. Their daughters - Alisha, 13, and 10-year-old twins Natasha and Trisha - have also learnt some Maori language, waiata and kapa haka routines at St Joseph's School in Fairfield.
"There are a lot of similarities between the Maori customs and what we do back in India, the feeling of the family and things like that," she says.
"I have picked up a few phrases that I use at work. I have a boss who's Maori, so she was quite interested when I replied to a comment in Maori. As a family we will get more fluent as time passes by."
Te reo Maori translation
I te tirohanga tuatahi, he mahi nui e kitea ai he ōritetanga i waenga i te whānau o ngā Lovell me ngā Jacob - engari rāua rāua e kaingākau ana ki te ako i te reo Māori.
E 34 tahi ngā tau o Jason rāua ko Willow Lovell, i hoki mai rāua i Ahitereiria ki Tāmakamakaurau i te tau 2010. He toto Māori tahi ō rāua, i hiahia tahi rāua ki te ako i te reo o ō rāua tūpuna.
I hoki tuarua mai a Arun Jacob, 47 ngā tau, rāua ko tōna hoa rangatira, a Shalima, e 38 ngā tau, i Īnia ki Kirikiriroa i te tau 2013, noho tonu mai mō ake tonu atu. Nā tā rāua ako i te reo Māori i whai whānau ai rāua i tēnei whenua.
Hei tā Arun Jacob, "Ko tētahi o aku mahi tuatahi he whakauru atu ki te akoranga reo i Te Wānanga o Aotearoa."
"Ki taku mōhio ko au anahe te Īnia i te papa o Raroera, me te harikoa anō o taku ngākau i te tere a taku kaiako me aku hoa i te akoranga ki te awhi i a au ki te whānau.
18 ngā tau o Matua Lovell i tana hūnukutanga ki Ahitereiria me ana mātua, ka haere ia ki tētahi whare wānanga i reira, ka whai oranga mōna i tētahi pēke.
I puta te ihu o Whaea Lovell i te ao whakawhiti kōrero i Tāmakimakaurau, i mua i tana haerenga ki Poipiripi ki te mahi i te ao hononga tūmatanui. I tūtaki te tokorua nei i konei, ka whai rāua i Poipiripi, ka puta ā rāua tamariki e rua, a Zinzan, e 8 ngā tau, rāua ko Mereana, e 5 ngā tau, i reira (ka whānau mai ko Emi Kōwhai, 17 marama te pakeke).
Ka rongo a Matua Lovell i te kumea ōna e ana pūtake o Ngāpuhi. He rongonui tana koroua me tana kuia, a Hiwi rāua ko Patricia Tauroa; Ko Hiwi Tauroa te Kaikōmihana tuatoru o te Tari Whakawhanaungatanga ā-Iwi.
Hei tā Matua Lovell, "Ko rāua ngā pou o tō mātou whānau. I te mea ko au tā rāua mokopuna pakeke katoa, ka kite au i te oranga nui kei roto i te reo me ngā tikanga Māori."
I uru atu ia ki tētahi kapahaka, i whai anō i te reo Māori, engari i tērā wā kāore i titi rawa ki tana whatumanawa.
E ai anō ki tāna, "I te mutunga o taku kura, kāore i pērā rawa te pai o taku reo Māori. Ki a au, i pērā i te mea kāore au i tino mōhio he aha au i whai ai i te reo."
"Nō taku haerenga kē ki tāwāhi ka oho taku ngākau ki ngā taonga nei - te āhua o te whakatipu i a au, te reo Māori, te tikanga Māori - nō Aotearoa taketake ēnei taonga, ka mutu he taonga motuhake."
"Tērā tētahi kōrero e kī ana ko te hā o te noho Māori, kei te reo Māori, me taku whakaaro iho, nā te noho Māori tonu i rite ai ō tātou uara, ko aua uara rā e kōpania ana ki te reo Māori."
"Nō reira, mō mātou, koia nei tētahi take i tau ai te whakaaro kia hoki mai mātou ki Aotearoa, he hiahia nōku ki te ako i te reo. Ka noho hira tēnei ki a māua, arā, te whai i te reo me te whakatipu tahi i ā māua tamariki."
I tautoko a Whaea Lovell i te whakaaro o tana tāne, arā, kia tāpuia tētahi tau kotahi ki te whakapau kaha ki te reo Māori i Te Wānanga Takiura o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa, ahakoa te iti ake o tana mōhio ki te ao Māori. No te ketuketu haere kē a tētahi o ana matua kēkē i ngā kōrero tuku iho o te whānau 10 tau ki mua, ka mōhio ia he tupuna tāne tōna nō Ngāti Manu.
Hei tāna, "Tino kore nei au i mōhio. I tino koa taku ngākau i taku mōhiotanga, me te pōuri anō hoki, i te mea kāore tērā taha o taku whānau i kōrerohia."
Kei te tautoko anō a Whaea Jacob i te whakatau a tana tāne kia whai i te reo, hāunga ia ngā reo e rima, e ono e mātau ana te tokorua nei. Kua paku ako anō ā rāua tamāhine, a Alisha, 13 ngā tau, me ngā māhanga a Natasha rāua ko Trisha, kua 10 nei ō rāua tau, i te reo. Kua ako anō i ētahi waiata i te kapahaka, i te Kura o Hato Hōhepa i Fairfield.
Hei tāna anō, "He maha ngā āhuatanga o te ao Māori e rite ana ki ō mātou i Īnia, te whanaungatanga me ērā mea."
"Kua mau i a au ētahi kīanga hei kōrero māku i taku mahi. He Māori taku rangatira, me tana aro mai anō i taku whakaututanga i tētahi kōrero ki te reo Māori. Ā-whānau nei, ka pakari haere ō mātou reo i roto i te wā. "
Credit
Nā Te Haumihiata Mason i whakamāori mā Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori [Translated into te reo Māori by Te Haumihiata Mason on behalf of Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori.]
Background note: Te Haumihiata Mason is the translator for the recent te reo Māori adaption of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and translated Troilus & Cressida that was performed at Shakespeare's Globe by Rawiri Paratene last year.
The New Zealand Herald, with Maori Television and the Maori Language Commission, is marking New Zealand's 40th Maori Language Week with Maori words and phrases for a different theme each day.
