Use of Te Reo linked to success among Maori

Kayla Hollis, pictured with husband Michael, believes that if a person is grounded within their culture, including learning its language, they are more likely to succeed in all aspects of life.

It's easy to feel disconnected in a very globally connected world and knowing who you are and your language can give you comfort.

Kayla Hollis

In honour of New Zealand's annual Maori Language Week 2016, which began on Monday and concludes this Sunday, we spoke to past and present members of the Kapiti community doing wonderful things with Te Reo Maori. Among them was 25-year-old wife and mother of two Kayla Hollis.

Despite having never learnt to speak Te Reo Maori as a child, mother of two Kayla Hollis is now one of a collection of people working to fuel the prominence of the language in New Zealand.

The ex-Kenakena School student, who grew up in Paraparaumu before shifting to Wellington, is now a worker at Te Puni Kokiri, a principal adviser of government regarding the Crown's policies and relationship with iwi, hapu and Maori.

Her role, which followed a degree in political science and international relations at Victoria University, Wellington, is not one she imagined as a child growing up with little understanding of her cultural roots.

"My husband and I are both Maori but had no connection to our language growing up," said Kayla, whose sons Maia, 5, and Ihaia, 2, have a childhood awash with Maori legends, waiata and everyday use of basic Te Reo.

"I had very limited exposure to the language and coming from a diverse family and changing schools a lot meant learning the language wasn't a priority.

"I think if schools offered more Te Reo in everyday learning situations, I would've been more likely to learn the language earlier."

Now passionate about the use of Te Reo in schools, Kayla said it was a part of New Zealand culture as a whole, not just Maori.

She said with children spending up to 12 years at school, there was 12 years' worth of opportunity to learn the language and become exposed to the culture, "but schools don't have the capability or capacity to provide it".

"Unless you're at Kura, or your parents teach you, it's pretty difficult to learn until you're an adult and make the decision to."

Along with her husband Michael who also works for Te Puni Kokiri, she tried to incorporate Te Reo in everyday home life, usually in the form of commands to her sons.

"Our knowledge is limited but the resources for learning are vast.

"Most of the resources available focus on commands and everyday sentences."

She believed Te Reo and Maori culture went hand in hand, with connections to whakapapa, whanau and whenua an important component in learning the language.

"We're going to join a local kapa haka group, which will expose us to the language and culture more and give us further opportunities to create connections with others also learning."

She said research showed that if a person was grounded within their culture, they were more likely to succeed in all aspects of life.

"It's easy to feel disconnected in a very globally connected world and knowing who you are and your language can give you comfort."

Overall, she said, Te Reo was an opportunity to learn about Maori culture, New Zealand history and why the Treaty of Waitangi was important in New Zealand's functioning as a society.

"It's also about respecting our heritage, about everything that happened in the past, good and bad.

"I imagine non-Maori can be a little scared of learning the language because it's considered a taonga, but it's not just a taonga for Maori, it's a taonga for all New Zealanders.

"The All Blacks do the haka and tourists come to New Zealand for our culture.

"It should be embraced by all people and shared with all children in and out of school."