Te Kura o Te Tira Mōrehu Reo o Moeraki

In the first week of the school holidays a number of our whānau descended on our papa kāika for Te Kura o te Tira Mōrehu Reo o Moeraki. With nearly 70 attendees it was our biggest te reo wānaka yet and lovely to have so many of the whānau committed to learning te reo and Moeraki history in the one place. Whānau came from as far north as Palmerston North, Wellington and as far south as Awarua to attend the hui.

We were also fortunate to be able to pilot a coding initiative with our tamariki for two days of the wānaka while the adults were in their language classes. With the support of our computer whiz, kaiako Tracey Henderson, and Coding Aotearoa, 20 of our tamariki were able to learn to code using our own stories and in the comfort of their own marae.

Our Upoko, David Higgins, shared the kōrero about our mural on the first night and the tamariki used that to make up quizzes using code for the whānau at the pō whakakahau on the Thursday night. Although it was a bit of a shock to the system for the tamariki who have been part of the reo wānaka for the past six years to be required to commit to ‘mahi’ instead of their free-Moeraki-fun time, they rose to the challenge and all participated well in the new learning.

Our kaiako for the classes were Hana O’Regan, Kare Tipa and Fern Whitau. In our classes the students learnt te reo, stories of Moeraki and even composed three new waiata which we were able to rock out at the cultural celebrations and awards on the last night. Outside of the akomaka we learnt about collecting and processing kareko and rimurimu, visited the boulders and our Moeraki urupā, and even made it to Waitati to collect tuaki for our hākari.

The hākari itself was another lovely new event for us as we celebrated our first tamariki cultural awards for the tamariki participants in the wānaka and a whānau reo award that was presented to Sarah-Jane Tipa for her commitment to revitalising reo in her whānau. Nola Tipa had organised Ngāi Tahu pounamu carver, Gavin Thompson, to make pounamu cultural badges for our tamariki that they could wear with pride on their school blazers to celebrate their leadership in te reo and manaakitaka on the marae. As always, it was sad to leave our beautiful kāika and return to our other homes, however we did so enriched and revived by our ūkaipō and our whanauka. It was a lovely whānau learning time and enjoyed by all.

To finish off our kōrero, here are the words of one of our waiata that was composed by the tuakana language group during the hui. It talks of the journey we make back home from all of the parts of the rohe and beyond, to follow the paths of our tūpuna and be refreshed by our whenua.

Whāia kā matakoke ki kā tapuae tapu
Follow the shooting stars to the sacred footsteps

I waiho mai nā, nō kā mauka whakahī
That have been left behind, from the majestic mountains

He awa kōpikopiko ka kanakana i te riu
The winding rivers dart about to and fro in the valley

Ki te huika o te iwi e…i
The many rivers of the people converge

Aohia kā wairere o Kākaunui
scoop up into the hands the flowing waters of Kākaunui

Tāuwhiuwhitia taku tinana
sprinkle my body with its waters

Kia purea nei au
So I may be cleansed

Watua taku waka
Send my waka forth

Ki raro ki Matakaea e
Down to Matakaea

He rakitahutahu kai ruka
There is a red sky above

Kai taku māpihi maurea
To my dearest treasure

E poki ō mata
Close your eyes

Rotua kia moe i te raki mārū
Be enchanted to sleep by the gentle tune

O te ūkaipō… ko tau e!
Of the motherland … we have landed!

We would like to thank Te Pūtahitanga and the
Ngāi Tahu Fund for supporting this kaupapa of ours. Mei kore ake koutou – toitū te reo!