For some tauira, connecting with te ao Māori is like finding your way home. For others, it can feel like turning up at the wrong house, standing at the front door and wondering if someone is gonna ask you who your parents are before letting you in.
University can be the first chance to reconnect with your whakapapa. Maybe you weren't raised on the marae, maybe you don't kōrero Māori, maybe you don't know tikanga or maybe you’ve always known you were Māori, but you’ve never really known what that means for you.
You don’t need to be fluent in te reo Māori, have a perfect pepeha, or have memorised twenty waiata to prove that you belong. There is no secret Māori entrance exam. And if there is, then we definitely didn’t get the study guide.
Start where you are. Ask questions, learn one kupu Māori, ask your whānau what they know. Go along to that hui, even if you’re nervous. If you get something wrong, learn from it and keep going. At Te Rōpū Māori, that's exactly where you can do that. You can come as you are, wherever you are on your journey. That's what this year's theme, Ake Ake Ake – A Forever Language, looks like to us. Reconnection doesn't have to happen overnight. It continues long after Te Wiki has finished.
This Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, give something a go. Come to an event. Learn a waiata. Try out some new kupu. Or just come hang out with us. You might arrive wondering whether you belong. You’ll probably leave having found your people.
From all of us at Te Rōpū Māori – kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawaroa. Your journey is yours, and there is no wrong place to begin.
Much aroha – Jarna xoxo
