ASHER KĀTENE

continued to grow, and as a result, my wife and I decided to commit full-time to an immersion reo Māori program this year (Te Tohu Paetahi). Ultimately, what informed our decision was that we want our future children to be raised with te reo Māori as their first language. It was a major commitment for us to study te reo Māori full-time that involved us putting aside work, other study, and moving from Dunedin to Hamilton for a year. It was not an easy commitment to make but I can confidently say there is nothing else that can compare. Through learning te reo Māori it has opened my eyes to the depth and breadth of our culture, it has given me confidence to stand proud in my identity, and paved the pathway for us to pass along this taonga to our future children.

E tika ana te kōrero a tā Hēmi Hēnare “ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori”. He tino rerekē te reo Māori i te reo paraoa i te mea he reo ā wairua tēnei mea te reo Māori. Ki ōku nei whakaaro, ki te akona te reo ka mōhiotia te hōhonutanga o te whakaaro Māori me te ao Māori anō hoki. Ehara i te mea he huarahi māmā ki te haere, he uaua kē. Heoi anō, he tino taonga tō tātou reo rangatira me pupuru e tātou te reo kia ora tonu ai. Nō reira mehemea, e hiakai ana koutou ki te ako i te reo, whāia te ara reo Māori kia whakatutuki ai i ō koutou wawata.

Mouri ora.