Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week: Deaf Northlander Eddie Hokianga

Eddie Hokianga is helping to develop a Māori sign language: ringa tohu reo. Photo / Tania Whyte

Deaf Northlander Eddie Hokianga was on a troubled trajectory in life until he got his hands on te reo and connected with his Māori culture.

And now he is helping to develop a Māori sign language, ringa tohu reo, to unite tangata turi (deaf people) with their culture so as to avoid the path he once took.

"In the past, there was nothing there, there was a lot of problems - I went to jail, for example - it was just a really bad sort of lifestyle," he said through an interpreter.

"[...] once I found my Māori culture and connection and began to teach that, it was easy to usher myself and others down a different path."

Additionally, Hokianga (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Porou) and Kim Robinson of Deaf Action New Zealand are delivering a groundbreaking initiative in the form of an eight-week course to be held, ideally, across 20 Northland marae.

The course, Māori Ringa Tohu Reo, will teach New Zealand Sign Language and incorporate signing Māori words and concepts to empower tangata turi and their whānau.

Hokianga's own struggles accessing his culture were rooted in his childhood.

"When I was 3 years old I was in a marae with my family in Hawkes Bay. It was only visual for me at that point, I didn't understand anything. There was no kōrero, no te reo," he said.

Hokianga relied on some lip reading and basic signs to grasp a few shreds of the Māori world around him.

"I couldn't understand the carvings or anything of what it meant... my family never taught me, so I didn't realise and I didn't know. I was in two different worlds really."

Less than five years ago, those worlds collided when Hokianga enrolled with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa to learn te reo with the help of an interpreter and note-taker - while simultaneously teaching his tutor ringa tohu reo.

"My Māori side is really trying to catch up with my New Zealand Sign Language side and my English side is trying to catch up with my Māori side," he said.

That piecing together will take a long time and a lot of hard work but Hokianga believes the journey is worth the reward.

"There's quite a lot of beauty, awakening and understanding that comes with te reo."

And now Hokianga wants to pass the aroha he has for ringa tohu reo onto others in the deaf community.

"We've been waiting for the rest of the Māori community as well to jump on board, to get the bug. It will be a relief when we get many onboard," he said.

And Māori Ringa Tohu Reo is a way people from any generation and walk of life can start, Robinson said.

He stressed the importance of learning ringa tohu reo given how many people move in the same circles as tangata turi.

"There was a time about two years ago when Eddie received funding to teach grandparents who had a deaf granddaughter," Robinson said.

"They were so isolated. They were living out in the forest and so we drove really far out, in and out, for 10 weeks just to give them the basics."

Robinson said breaking down barriers for isolated communities was the inspiration behind teaming up with Northland marae.

Since Hokianga has been teaching ringa tohu reo, he can see the language growing.

"People are approaching me more and more. I didn't realise there was such a huge need."

And if more people learned ringa tohu reo, the limited pool of essential trilingual interpreters - those fluent in te reo, English, and New Zealand Sign Language - can expand.

"We have about 120 sign language interpreters, in all, over New Zealand," Robinson said. "Of those 120, maybe six people can also kōrero Māori as well as sign - and that's for the whole country."

The start dates for Māori Ringa Tohu Reo and He Aha - a half-day workshop around communication strategies that is separate from the sign language course - are on October 1 at Motatau Marae from 2pm to 4pm, October 2 at Mokonuiārangi Marae from 10am to 12pm and again at 2pm to 4pm.