Author devises tool for learning

Mount Maunganui College students (left to right) Ngawaiata Young, Treyarn Barbarich and Cheyanne McBurnie playing Koha. Photo/Stuart Whitaker

Author Tommy Kapai Wilson went back to school to launch his latest project last Friday.

Always passionate about encouraging people to learn about their turangawaewae (place to stand), Tommy's latest offering is a Department of Education-backed game designed to let people know the marae and taonga (treasures) of Tauranga Moana.

The game is called Koha, which means gift. "It's a tool for students to learn more about who they are," he told students at his old school, Mount Maunganui College, where the game was launched.

He told the gathered students that when he was at school there was no Maori content in the curriculum and he knew nothing of Maori culture. His mother spoke Maori at home, but only when she didn't want him and his siblings to know what she was saying.

When she attended school, she was punished for speaking Maori. The fact that he recently attended a Maori speech competition illustrates how much things of changed "and how far we've come in that time".

Tommy can trace the game's origins to a meeting with the Department of Education staff two years ago. "They challenged us to go back to our areas and come up with some local resources relevant to our those areas."

The aim of the game is to collect koha cards. There is a wharenui and awharekai cards for each of the 22 marae in the area. Once a player has a matching pair, they are placed on the map accompanying the game and the player has the chance to win a koha card.

Taonga cards attract two koha cards, if the player can answer a question - with the jewel in the crown, the Mauao taonga card - bringing with it three koha cards.

The winner is the player with the most koha cards at the end of the game.

All three local iwi - Ngati Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi and Ngati Pukenga - have come together in support of the concept.

"It's a simple game, but when you play it, you learn about what's in your own backyard," says Tommy, who hopes the concept can be used in other areas of New Zealand.