Te Uranga Waka bringing Kahungunu traditions and dialect to the fore

Te Uranga Waka founder Dr Joseph Te Rito with tutor Hiria Tūmoana. Photo / Supplied

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The Māori faculty at EIT is focusing on Kahungunu practices in ongoing efforts to foster and promote iwi customs and dialect.

Te Uranga Waka tutor Hīria Tūmoana (Ngāi Tūhoe) says people should listen to Radio Kahungunu where they will hear the voices of kaumātua and Kahungunu dialect.

Radio Kahungunu started broadcasting from EIT in the late 1980s.

Tūmoana says Te Uranga Waka has focused on growing the numbers of speakers on the orators' bench and the number of women who can karanga. She began teaching Kahungunu words and phrases such as, kai te (kei te), katau (matau), anikā (ānei), pakahiwi (pokohiwi), aua nei (ahau nei), kai te haere tō au (kei te haere tonu au).

"We were being fed the language all the time, not just te reo Māori but also the language of Rongomaiwahine and Kahungunu," says Parekura Rohe-Belmont (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine), another Te Uranga Waka tutor.

"And not only from 9 to 5," she says.

Rohe-Belmont is a former EIT student and is now encouraging today's students to pursue the dialects of their respective iwi and whānau.

Parekura Rohe-Belmont is a former EIT student and is now encouraging today's students to pursue the dialects of their respective iwi and whānau. Photo / Supplied

"I encourage students from other iwi to find and use the language of their tribes and homes. This isn't just a school, it is more the embodiment of a home."

The faculty was founded by Kahungunu academic Dr Joseph Te Rito who began the work to return iwi reo, old waiata, and traditions to Kahungunu.

Ko Te Uranga Waka o Te Aho a Māui tērā e whakapau kaha nei ki te whakaora tonu ai te reo me ngā tikanga ake o Ngāti Kahungunu.

Hai tā tētahi kaiwhakaako a Hīria Tūmoana (Ngāi Tūhoe), mēnā kai te whakarongo tonu te iwi ki te reo irirangi, me ngā kōrero kua hopukia a ngā tīpuna, ngā Kuia, Koroua i runga i ngā kōpae, kai reira te nuinga o te reo o Kahungunu.

Ko Te Uranga Waka te kāinga tuatahi o Te Reo Irirangi o Ngāti Kahungunu, ā, i whakatūria i ngā tau 1980s.

Hai tā Tūmoana, e aro pū ana a Te Uranga Waka ki te whanaketanga o ngā kaikōrero i runga i te paepae, ngā wahine karanga ērā āhuatanga katoa o te marae. I whai wāhi mai aia hai pouako ki te kura, ā, e tīmata ana aia ki te whakaako i ngā kupu kua oho mai nō Kahungunu ake, pēnei i te, kai te (kei te), katau (matau), anikā (ānei), pakahiwi (pokohiwi), aua nei (ahau nei), kai te haere tō au (kai te haere tonu au).

Hai tā tētahi kaiwhakaako anō a Parekura Rohe-Belmont (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine) "Ko te mea waimarie o tērā wā, ka maringi noa te reo māori kātahi, engari te reo o Rongomaiwahine, te reo hoki o Kahungunu. Kaua mai i te iwa ki te rima."

E tīmata ana a Rohe-Belmont ki te kura nei i aia e 18 tonu tōna pakeke, hai tauira i te tuatahi. Ko āna mahi inaiānei kia akiaki te hunga nō ērā atu iwi kia whai i tō rātau ake reo.

"Ki te hunga nō iwi kē, e akiaki ana ahau ki a rātau ki te kimi, ki te whai i te reo ake, me ngā kupu o te kāinga. "Ehara tēnei i te kura noa iho, he kura kāinga."

He kura tēnei i whakahua mai i te moemoeā a Tākuta Hōhepa Te Rito (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine), ko te moemoeā hai tā Hīria Tūmoana, kia whakahoki anō he reo ki te kāinga, kia whakahoki anō ngā waiata koroua, me ngā tikanga i runga i te marae ki a Ngāti Kahungunu.