Growing the next generation of river guardians Nearly 200 rangatahi Māori will have a greater appreciation of their ancestral awa after taking part in a Waikato River Authority-funded environmental programme aimed at connecting youth to the stories of the Waikato River.
“I feel we're having more impact this year, our second year, with new kura on board. In the long term for us, the rangatahi we are capturing now, in the future, they will be us. They will pick up this knowledge and be the next generation of kaitiaki,” Turanga Barclay-Kerr.
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Waikato River Authority
Annual Report 2023
Kura Waitī Ki Kura Waitā is being run as part of the Waikato Regional Council’s environmental educational programme under the tutelage of waka and river expert Turanga Barclay-Kerr from Te Toki Voyaging Trust. The Waikato River Authority is funding the programme for three years to 2025 and over that time it will be delivered to 19 Kura Kaupapa Māori, 171 kaitiaki rangatahi and 19 kaitiaki kaiako, with the aim of connecting our young people to the river, its stories and their ancestors, and to produce the next generation of kaitiaki taiao for their tūpuna awa (ancestral river). Barclay-Kerr leads the programme and is enjoying working with the next generation of guardians of the river. “If these students return to their schools, their families, their communities, and marae and take up the role of being a guardian over the environment of their rivers, this kaupapa will be a success,” he says.
