Ngāpuhi iwi calling on its people to reconnect with their whakapapa in Tāmaki Makaurau

Ngāpuhi ki Tāmaki hui organisers Penetaui Kleskovic (left) and Tasha Hohaia.

Organisers of a Ngāpuhi hui in Tāmaki Makaurau says Saturday’s event will be an uplifting experience for all who attend.

Penetaui Kleskovic (Te Aupouri, Muriwhenua), the lead for the Ngāpuhi ki Tāmaki event at South Auckland’s Due Drop Events Centre said this hui will hopefully galvanise whānau who have not had the opportunity to reconnect with their whakapapa.

“Whānau can expect that we’re going to portray our tupuna in such a way that it’s going to be relevant and interesting.”

‘There’s a lot of people that are culturally bankrupt’

More than 1000 people have already registered and Kleskovic expects that number to rise once word gets around.

“There’s a lot of people that are culturally bankrupt and they want to find a way to get back in touch with their Māoritanga,” Kleskovic said.

“60 per cent of the 180,000 population of Ngāpuhi live in South Auckland and many were not brought up in Te Ao Māori.

Ngāpuhi ki Tāmaki crew preparing for Saturday's Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu gathering at Du Drop Events Centre in Manukau.

“It was the regions that built the cities. The cities never had any resources. All of the Kauri trees, and the urban migration in the 1960s and 1970s of people from the north and other regions throughout Aotearoa, who moved to the cities and essentially found themselves there.”

“We have kōrero from Rerenga Wairua ki Tāmaki,” event director Tasha Hohaia adds.

“We have the Bombays, and we have the pūriri trees... Our people are everywhere and we want to love and look after our people wherever they are.”

Ngāpuhi ki Tāmaki 2019

The annual event will host well over 1000 Ngāpuhi descendants in Manukau where whānau will learn waiata, haka and the history of their iwi.

Kleskovic is confident that it will be a memorable experience for all whānau members who attend, especially those doing so for the first time.

“Especially for young families who I hope will find the motivation to share it with the children rather than some ancient relic like the bone of a dinosaur.”