Tahiti studies Maori success (+video)

Local Maori are helping Tahitian people gain back their language and cultural identity.

Impressed with New Zealand's kohanga reo system, the group aims to gain enough information to go back to Tahiti to petition their government for funding to help retain their language.

The Rotorua Lakes Council welcomed the Tahitian Puna Reo Delegation in a festive ceremony last week on behalf of Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick, who was in Wellington.

District councillor and Rotorua Lakes Council cultural ambassador Trevor Maxwell was there to welcome them and even played the ukulele with the Tahitian band while the group performed some of their traditional songs and dances.

"I have been to Tahiti on two occasions so I know some of the songs. It's wonderful to be able to host them here, but they have said after this they are going to buy some woollens because it's too cold for them," Mr Maxwell said.

In Tahiti, French is the main language and Tahitian has fallen behind, leaving the native people with little idea of how to speak their native tongue.

A decade ago, they heard about the kohanga reo movement in New Zealand and made contact with Derek Te Ariki Morehu from Ngati Pikiao, Te Arawa, who was a trustee of the movement at the time.

Mr Morehu helped them to establish the Tahitian Puna Reo Delegation in 2003, to teach Tahitian, which is similar to Maori, to their kids.

They have now returned to New Zealand to learn more about Maori culture, te reo and are interested in the pathways Maori have to retain te reo.

Heeni Morehu, Mr Morehu's daughter, said the delegation did not get government funding.

"They have to fundraise everything on their own to be able to learn, but when they do learn they are like little sponges."

She said the kids and adults just wanted to keep their culture alive and that it had been an honour to help them in that task.

"They have become a part of our family," Mrs Morehu said.

Dom Leoture, secretary of the delegation, said people from New Zealand went to Tahiti 30 years ago to research their culture and to learn from them, but now they were the ones researching our culture.

They aim to petition the French government to implement programmes in schools to teach Tahitian.

- To see a video of Trevor Maxwell playing ukulele with the Tahitian band, visit www.rotoruadailypost.co.nz.