E te Kīngi, Tūheitia me tōu whānau, Te Kāhui Ariki, nei rā te mihi. Pai Mārire. Ki ngā mate, haere, haere, haere atu rā. Ka huri noa ki te whānau o Kai Tahu, ahakoa nō hea, ahakoa nō wai, tēnā koutou kātoa.
Koroneihana week was as busy and exciting as we expected. Starting off with the Ngāi Tahu Roadshow on Tuesday held at the Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Mangakōtukutuku campus in Glenview, Hamilton.
There was a good turnout for the event and I must say whānau, more numbers were thrown around than bingo night at the local RSA – auē. Luckily, we had our chiefly experts explaining what this all means for us as ordinary whānau members and they updated us on what is happening.
The lasting impression was that our iwi organisation is complex and the skills needed to keep it pointed in the right direction and growing are considerable. But our iwi organisation is in capable hands.
Next we had Matua Terry Ryan, who comes up every year for Koroneihana. He has had an association with the event since his childhood, pouring the cups of teas in Kimiora wharekai.
He took time out from his attendance at Koroneihana, to help some of our whānau with their whakapapa questions at Jane Stevens whare, just down the road from Tūrangawaewae Marae.
His knowledge is invaluable and has done so much to help uplift our whānau here in the Waikato. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts Matua Terry for your ongoing support of our Taurahere rōpū.
We also attended Kawe Mate o Te Motu, to support several of our whānau taking their mate on to the marae as well as to represent and upheld the mana of Ngāi Tahu.
Lastly, we had the raranga noho. We were privileged to have Matua Terry also attend kai with us on the Friday night. He stayed on after the rest of the Ngāi Tahu contingent had returned south in the preceding day or so. He commented on the wonderful atmosphere at our noho and the great kai. His presence seemed to prompt us to talk about our various whakapapa links and helped us to weave our whakapapa kōrero beautifully into the event.
We have more photos on our Facebook page and if anyone wants to be on our mailing list, please send an email to [email protected]
We will be having a little break now but our next raranga noho will be towards the end of September.
Email us for more details. Thanks to all who attended our events over Koroneihana week. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
From left, Helena Hetaraka, June Rowland, Jane Stevens, Steven Kent, Ruth Ivey, Marama Olsen, Front, Phillipa Hakapa, Matua Terry Ryan, Irene Brady, and missing from Photo is Brendon Tangiora.
Some of our whānau who attended Kawe Mate o te Motu.