Kahu ki Rotorua: Mārama nui a mahi kai riro i a noho - Te Reo Māori - a journey, not a destination

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E mea ana ngā pakeke he iti matakahi e hinga ai te totara nui, he ahakoa te roa o tōna wehetanga atu i tōna reo Māori e tu ana tōna whare whakairo hai whakakitehanga mā te marea.

Nōna e nohinohi ana i te pā taunaha o Waihi i Taupō, whiowhio ana te reo Māori. Ko te piringa puiaki ki tōna mātua tane te pou mārō o tōna manawa.'

He māori noa taku taitamarikitanga i te marae he arero Māori toku mātua tāne nā reira e kōrero Māori kau māua ko toku tuakana'.

'Ko mātou anahe e arero Māori nei kāre kau he tangata kē atu i tō mātou whānau'.

Nō Ōhinemutu tōna matua tāne a Hemi Kingi, 'Ka pakeke haeretia ahau ka mātau ai ahau ki te take i tapangia ai tō mātou tiriti ki te ingoa Kingi i Ōhinemutu'.

Nōna e kura tuarua ana ka akiakingia e tōna mātua tāne kia tū a Flavian ki ngā whakataetae Ngā Manu Kōrero he ahakoa kotahi tekau mā toru noa tōna pakeketanga i kaha tana tū.

Engari ka pā kino mai te whare tūnaha o Hinenuitepō ki a ia, ka mate tōna matua tāne.

'Kāhore he titiro ki te awatea ka hē katoa ngā whakaaro'. Nōna e kotahi tekau mā ono ōna tau ka hoki mai a Flavian ki te ūkaipō o tōna matua tāne.

'Ka noho ahau ki raro i ngā paihau o tō mātou rūāhine a Leah Clubb.' Kua whai waewae a Flavian inaianei ki te puku o Rotorua ka tahuri kau ki Te Whare wānanga o Aotearoa ka whakawhiwhia a Flavian ki tana tohu paetahi toi whakaari.

E nenehawa tonu nei a Flavian i tana mōhiohio kua pau ngā tau e hia kē a ia e whakaako kapa haka ana i te reo Pākehā kē atu, kare kau i tana arero Māori.

Kāre tētehi tangata i pātai atu ki a ia ki tōna take nei me te mea hoki kāre a Flavian i whakamōhiotia ko te reo Māori tana reo tuatahi .

Ka ngākau mangere a Flavian ka parangia tōna arero e te moe. Kua herea ōna ngutu. Koia hoki te taima e whakawhānau pēpī ana ia. I te tau e rua mano mā waru te tau ka whakapōtaengia ia.E rua tekau mā tahi noa tana pakeke.

'Ka riro te karaehe kapa haka i ahau engari ka huna taku reo ka waea haere ngā pouako ki taku wairua ka waihongia atu'.

Ka roa tēnei tū āhuatanga engari nō te tau nei ka hīnātore tōna hinengaro pōuriuri.

'Kua tae te wā ki te whakapakari i ahau me whakatāpū hoki tēnei tūāhuatanga karo.'

Ka wawe tana whakaoti i ngā pepa tono ki Te Wānanga o Raukawa i Otaki. Ka huri te kotahi wiki, nā, e whaka-te-Otaki ana a Flavian.

'Heke ana te toihau, pūkana ana ngā whēkau, whātero hoki ana taku whatumanawa – e parakitihi ana ngā momo āhuatanga katoa mō te pōwhiri me te aha noa atu – ko te tino wehi o te ngākau ko te taumata o taku reo'

He mōhio kē nō Flavian ki te pakeketanga o te reo inaianei, kua tohunga ia ki te mātakitaki i ngā tini kaupapa a Tā Timoti Karetū me te whai hoki i ngā wānanga o te Panekiretanga.

'E whakatata mai ana te wā tika ki te ruku i ngā wai hohonu kātahi au ka ruku atu'. 'Engari ko te wairua wiri – wīwiri katoa ahau mai i Waihī tae rawa atu ki Otaki.

Flavian Kingi as a baby and her father Hemi Kingi who was the biggest Reo influence in her life.

'Taku taetaenga atu ki reira i tino manaakingia ahau, e tama – I manaakingia hoki ahau e te tangata nōna te tīere'.

Ka nui rawa atu tana whakamihi ki tōna pouako nui ki a Rangi Te Whiu-Jury nāna au i whakakake atu ai ki te toi o te mātauranga.

'Tāna mai ki ahau, ki te hē, ka hē, kāua e māharahara tukua te reo kia rere, ka rua, kia maumāhara hoki tātou – ko te huarahi o te mātauranga he ake ake, kare kau tana otinga'.

Nā tana hokitanga ki Te Kura o Hīrangi hai kura-mahita ākonga, kua tino ātawhaingia ia e tōna pouako hāpai a Mere Ham. 'Ko te reo Māori anahe ki te karaehe nā reira me ū atu ai ahau i runga i te ngākau kaha'.

Ko te mahi rangahau māna, mā Flavian Paea Te Uira Kingi ko te whakatikatika i ngā wāhanga itiiti o tana reo me te whakakaha i āna rerenga kōrero.

He uri nō Tūwharetoa e whai pānga atu ai ki a Ngai Te Arawa otīa he Ngāti Kahungunu, he Rarotonga hoki ōna kāwai whakaheke .

Ko Brook George tona hoa rangatira me te māia hoki o te tokorua nei ki te whakaako me te whāngai i ngā mahi a Rēhia ki ngā taniwha huhua o te whakatupuranga hou, taiohi mai, Wharekura mai, pakeke mai hoki.

-Te Puna Whakatongarewa kua utua e Irirangi Te Motu

It's been a long journey back for Flavian Kingi to be as fluent in te reo now as when she was a toddler.

As a child growing up in Waihi village on the southern shores of Lake Taupo, Flavian's first language was te reo maori.

It was a little girl's special bond with her dad. "It was normal for me growing up on the marae. My father was fluent and my brother and me spoke reo all the time with him.

"No other members of the family spoke Maori."

Hemi Kingi, her dad, came from Ohinemutu.

"I didn't realise until I was older that Kingi was the name of the road where our whanau lived in Ohinemutu."

While she was at school in Waihi, Flavian's dad encouraged her to extend her reo by
participating in the Ngā Manu Kōrero competition for secondary students.

She was 13 and placed well in the competition. But then her dad passed and "everything just went off the rails. I completely lost it."

When she was about 16 Flavian went to Rotorua to try to reconnect to where Hemi grew up.

"I reconnected to my Arawa heritage.

"My Aunty Leah Clubb took me under her wing. [Leah Ratana (nee Clubb) was married to Gus and is acknowledged as one of Rotorua's ''golden voices''. She died in 2008 at the age of 65.]

Flavian Kingi and her two eldest; Kahurangi and Hemi-Ariki George. Photo / Supplied

While in Rotorua, Flavian enrolled at Te Wananga o Aotearoa where she completed a Bachelor in Performing Arts.

Flavian is amazed that for years she worked as a kapa haka tutor and yet did not use reo maori. Nobody questioned her and she never let on that Maori had once been her mother tongue.

She grew lazy about her reo and it disappeared.

By then she had started having children. She was 21 when she graduated in 2008.

"I started teaching kapa haka at kura but found ways not to use reo.

"Soon the other kaiako just accepted the way I taught and left me to it."

That continued for some time until this year Flavian had a lightbulb moment.

"I knew I couldn't make up any more excuses. I had to do a catch-up."

So before she could make excuses to back out Flavian enrolled for a post-graduate degree in blended learning at Te Wananga o Raukawa in Otaki.

The very next week she was on her way to Otaki.

"I was so nervous I was practising all the way down all sorts of scenarios for a pohiri and what I might expect there.

"One of the other scarey things was that I felt I was behind the mark about where the trends in reo had travelled."

Flavian knew there had been changes because she loves shows featuring the travels of Ta Timoti Karetu and his Panekiretanga classes. And now she can catch the punch line of jokes in reo.

Another barrier she imagined was being a mother of five.

"I knew at some stage that I would have to throw myself into the deep end and just do it.

"But I had the wiri, wiri, wiris all the way from Waihi to Otaki. When I got there even the dairy owner made me feel comfortable."

She can't thank her kaiako, Rangi Te Whiu-Jury, enough for her success in achieving her degree.

"He told me not to worry if I got things wrong, just let the reo flow. He also said we are students for life and will continue learning."

Returning to Te Kura o Hirangi for her practicum, Flavian is grateful to her kaiako hapai, Mere Ham, for her encouragement.

"Only reo is allowed in her class and teachings so I have to work at it."

The rangahau now for Flavian Paea Te Uira Kingi is to perfect the "nuts and bolts" of the language, proper sentence structure.

The uri of Tuwharetoa, Te Arawa, Ngati Kahungunu and Rarotonga, and her partner Brook George, have tutored kapa haka at Te Kura o Hirangi, for taiohi and wharekura and started a pakeke team.