Kawakawa celebrates te reo Māori

Muia pai te pāka o Johnson ki Kawakawa i te Rāhoroi kua hipa e te tini me te rau ki te whakanui i te reo Māori.

Oti ana te hikoi Kirihimete ki te tāone, ka whakaterehia te tuatahi o ngā ngahau e whā ko "Oho Whakarere", tōna ingoa, he kaupapa reo Māori mo te katoa ahakoa to taumata reo.

He ngahau te mahi, i uru mai te kaupapa o "reo café", nga tūnga hoko kai, me tētahi wāhi tākaro, haumaru mo ngā tamariki.

Hei tā Helen Locke, te kaiwhakarite o te rā, i oho ia i te tini o ngā tangata i hāere mai ki te noho tahi.

Te tuarua kā tū a te 5 o Pepuere ki Waitangi, tētahi anō ki Kaikohe me Kaitaia.

Nā Ngāti Hine FM me Te Hauora o Ngāti Hine mā te āwhina a moni nei o Te Mātāwai i puta te ihu o tēnei kaupapa ki te āo.

Na Peter de Graaf ngā pikitia, na Amber Smith i whakamāori.

Hundreds of people gathered in Johnson Park after Kawakawa's Christmas parade on Saturday for the first Oho Whakarere Māori Language Festival. The event, the first of four around Northland this summer, was a chance for fluent speakers to put their reo to use and for beginners to get started. Attractions included live music, a "reo café", debates, a beginners' station, free Wi-Fi so people could access more information online, food stalls, and bouncy castles for the kids. Coordinator Helen Locke said she had hoped for 200 people so was very happy with the turnout, which was "way more than that". The next festival will take place at Waitangi on February 5; others will be held in Kaikohe and Kaitaia. The event was organised by Ngāti Hine FM and the Ngāti Hine Health Trust with funding from Te Matawai. Photos by Peter de Graaf; translation by Amber Smith.