Every day this week, Hawke's Bay Today has been publishing a page showcasing powerful, positive stories of education and success in our community.
It is our daily Maori Language Week page, proof, if it were needed, that the learning of language can make powerful connections within and between communities.
Occasionally we get
an outburst of Maori-bashing in our text-the-ed column. Being a nation accustomed to free speech, such outbursts can result in a return broadside of pakeha-bashing.
Once those inclined to indulge in such behaviour get it out of their system, we are left none the wiser. In fact a good many of us wonder whether we are ever going to move on and learn the sort of understanding and respect required to advance a truly multi-racial nation.
Anyone who has taken the time to read our Maori Language Week series, compiled with help from Ngati Kahungunu, must surely be impressed by the range of positive initiatives flowing from local pride in te reo and all aspects of manaakitanga (hospitality), the theme for this year's special week.
Yesterday we featured the awe-inspiring Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Ngati Kahungunu Ki Heretaunga - a big name for a little school that has achieved amazing things through its prowess in kapa haka and te reo. The Bridge Pa immersion school has just 150 pupils and has won the regional schools kapa haka competition for the last three years.
Today, on page 4, you'll find the story of a whakairo (carving) group from William Colenso College. Tutor Caine Tawhai says his students' programme is a perfect fit with the theme of Maori Language Week.
"Manaakitanga is the power to nurture or to support, and that's exactly what we are doing here. We are supporting them by helping them now to get credits for their future, but in the bigger picture we are helping them to understand who they are for their future," he says.
That says it all, really.
