Second cohort of Te Matakahi o Ngāti Whātua graduate

Te Kurataiaho Kapea is already looking for students. Photo / Michael Craig

Efforts by Ngāti Whātua to revive the Māori language and customary practices among iwi members are paying off in Auckland and Kaipara.

Thirty people graduated from a Te Matakahi o Ngāti Whātua programme, an academy that teaches traditional knowledge and practices. More than 30 students have applied for the next course.

Students are sent on haerenga throughout the geographical boundaries of Ngāti Whātua, from Maunganui to Tāmaki, where they are taught knowledge, history, whakapapa and tikanga that apply to the iwi.

For the better part of two years, students have studied everything to do with the iwi, including the knowledge of their ancestral lands.

According to one of the facilitators of Te Matakahi, Te Kurataiaho Kapea, the course has gone from strength to strength since its inception.

‘Coming along nicely’

He says while they are celebrating the graduation of the second cohort, they are looking for the next batch of potential graduates.

Efforts by Ngāti Whātua to revive the Māori language and customary practices among iwi members are paying off.

“It is coming along nicely. We are developing people who are knowledgeable in history, understand the language, and are proud to be Ngāti Whātua.

“This is the third cohort coming in. Over 30 have registered. We will just have to wait and see who are the committed ones once we get through the interview process.”

Second cohort graduate Otene Hopa says one of the many positives of Te Matakahi is the ability to go to actual sites of significance for the iwi, which brings alive the stories and genealogies that they learn.

“We could envision the Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi sailing upon the Kaipara. We saw the conditions found on the harbour in the saying ‘Kaipara, the capsizer of vessels, that leaves women bereaved’.”