https://poutamapounamu.org.nz/news/2017/ngā-manu-korero-te-tai-tokerau-competition
This year, Thomaseena Paul and Otamatea High School privileged me with an invitation to be a kaiwhakawā in the English section of the Te Tai Tokerau Ngā Manu Kōrero. I wish to begin by thanking them.
Background
For the last eight years I have worked to support Kura Auraki (English medium schooling) to create contexts in which Māori students can stand firm in their identity, language and culture, but the nature of the contracts under which this mahi has been undertaken has meant that Ngā Manu Korero has always sat outside what I have been able to connect with or focus on.
For me, it had always been something that happened ‘over there’, led by people other than the teachers and school leaders I worked with and to be honest, that is about as much thought as I gave to it.
A colleague recently challenged me on this, suggesting I had much to learn about Māori succeeding as Māori if I did not see the connection and importance of Ngā Manu Korero to our professional development work. As is often the way when there is something important for you to learn, a teacher will appear – in this case in the form of this invitation.
The experience
I learnt many things from this experience but there are perhaps two key things I came away having ‘felt’.
Firstly, I breathed in a cultural context that was determined by te reo me ōna tikanga Māori but physically located in a ‘western’ context - a school hall in a mainstream secondary school.
I heard the possibilities of a truly bi-cultural partnership in the voices and the silences of that space over those two days. A partnership in which the harmonies created through the strength of our combined voices can create a society in which we all flourish.
Secondly, the importance of kanohi kitea.
This concept has been part of professional development conversations I have had, but from the far end of the judging line in the draft of the door, I felt its importance. I may have been in the building, I may have been on the judging panel but there my place both began and ended.
And that is an important lesson for those of us who carry a sense of entitlement to claim space and to speak.
The competition categories
The event itself was awesome! Twenty-one schools were represented by speakers in four categories:
- Te Himi Henare (bilingual)
- Tā Turi Kara (junior Māori)
- Rāwhiti Ihaka (junior Māori) Korimako (senior English)
- Pei Te Hurinui Jones (senior Māori).
Acknowledgement must go to all of the speakers, their whānau, and kaiako; and congratulations to all of the winners:
Results
Te Himi Henare
Unique to Te Tai Tokerau this section was first included in the June of 1990 at Otiria Marae, and is a memorial to Sir James Henare. Annette Ross was the inaugural winner of Te Timi Henare. The greenstone taonga that is now around the neck of Te Himi Henare was placed there on the passing of Dame Whina Cooper in 1994 at the request of her people. (Facebook)
- Te Aroha Pawa – Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Pukemiro (3rd)
- Waimahana Henare – Te Kāpehu Whatū (2nd)
- Kareriera Komene - Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rāwhitiroa (1st)
Korimako
- Phoenix Henare-Clark – Northland College (3rd)
- Ebony Smythe – Rodney College (2nd)
- Tasha Perrett - Te Kāpehu Whetū (1st)
Pei Te Hurinui Jones
- Kiritopa Allen – Te Kāpehu Whetū (3rd)
- Julius Reihana - Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rangi Āniwaniwa (2nd)
- Kuao Moore - Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rāwhitiroa (1st)
Tā Turi Kara
- Skyla Cloey Anderson-Wynn – Pompallier Catholic College (3rd)
- Rehutai Kingi – Kerikeri High School (2nd)
- Shallen Desmond - Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Pukemiro (1st)
Rāwhiti Ihaka
- Kahurangi Hauraki - Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe (3rd)
- Hirini Greaves - Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rangi Āniwaniwa (2nd)
- Fleurnik Raui – Te Kura Takiwā o Taipā (1st)
Good luck and best wishes to all of you who will represent your whānau, your kura and Te Tai Tokerau at the national competition at the TSB Stadium, New Plymouth 20 – 22 September 2017.
Ngā mihi Dawn Lawrence
For other pieces Dawn has written: