HE MIHI NĀ TE TUMU WHAKARAE

Tērā a Puanga ka rewa i te pae Nau mai haere mai, te hua o te tau hou Tākiri te ata, ka pua te ata, kōrihi te manu tino awatea. Ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea. Tīhei mauri ora!

Ka rere te ia o mihi ki te hunga mate, hoki wairua atu rā ki o mātua tipuna.

Ki te hunga mauiui, ki te hunga e taami ana e te pōuritanga, kia piki te ora me te māramatanga ki runga i koutou.

Ka rere hoki te mihi ki tātou e ora ana, e tū tonu i tēnei ao hurihuri nei.

Nau mai e te tau hou Māori ki tēnei tauira! Whakaatu mai ngā hua o tēnei wahanga o te tau ki tātou e takahi ana i ngā tapuwae o rātou mā. He maha ngā mahi kei mua i te aroaro e te whānau, nā reira, kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui.

Kua hoki anō ahau ki te wā kāinga! Ki te haumarutanga o tō tātou nei tauheke maunga, ki ngā wai tukukiri e rere ana ki tawhitinui, tawhitiroa, tawhiti pamamao.

For those who were’nt aware, I have not long returned from an eight day professional development trip to New York and Toronto. To say that the trip was enjoyed is an understatement. Whilst there was opportunity to do some sightseeing, I had a jampacked itinerary to fulfil, including networking, being the recipient of mentorship and attendance at the NAISA (Native American Indigenous Student Association) conference.

As explained by NAISA, “The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) is an interdisciplinary, international membership-based organisation comprised of scholars working in the fields of Native American and Indigenous Studies broadly defined.

NAISA began through exploratory meetings hosted by the University of Oklahoma in 2007 and by the University of Georgia in 2008, incorporated in 2009, and has since become the premier international and interdisciplinary professional organisation for scholars, graduate students, independent researchers, and community members interested in all aspects of Indigenous Studies.

NAISA hosts an annual meeting that welcomes faculty and students in colleges, universities, and tribal colleges, community-based scholars and elders, and independent professionals working in the field. The annual meetings have grown exponentially: from 350 attendees at the first gathering in 2007 to over 2000 attendees at the 2019 conference held at Waikato University. NAISA especially encourages Indigenous community-driven scholarship. NAISA is also responsible for the journal Native American & Indigenous Studies (NAIS), published by the University of Minnesota Press.”

The focus of this trip was to expose Te Korowai o Ngāruahine to international networks, to expose appropriate parts of our mahi to an international audience through networking, strengthening relationships with iwi taketake and to provide cultural support where appropriate to our whanaunga who were presenting at the conference. We are proud to have been there to support Tū Tama Wāhine o Taranaki, the He Waka Eke Noa kaupapa, Rere-No-ARangi Pope, Arama Rata and Ripeka Hudson in their presentations to over 1000 people.

As our aspirations as whānau, hapū and iwi become a reality and we all continue to work hard, it is exciting and extremely beneficial to seek out the work of our indigenous whanaunga. While we face challenges and success in our own territories, it was an opportune time to listen to the experiences, their challenges and their wins. As iwi taketake, our histories, stories, whenua and travels can inform our pathways to prosperity, right here in our kāinga. It was exciting to learn and see that as Ngāruahine, we are in a strong position, our future is ours and it is bright!