We were again contracted by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu to cater the Kura Reo ki Te Waipounamu, which celebrated its 20th year.
Kura Reo ki Te Waipounamu are week-long te reo Māori educational symposiums designed to elevate the intermediate speaker to an advanced level and the advanced speaker to higher levels of proficiency.
As part of our commitment to Te Reo Māori we help to facilitate and cater the Dunedin based Kura Reo every second year. We have garnered a reputation in the kitchen for producing healthy and delectable food. HWK runs the kitchen catering for 140 people for breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, dessert and supper every day for the five days of the wānanga. We also encourage members of our kapa and our community to participate in these Kura Reo. This year it was held back at Ōtākou Marae and our role in the organisation and facilitation was critical to its success. Because it was locally based, we encouraged as many of our Ōtākou, Dunedin and HWK te reo Māori community to attend.
We work closely with the Kotahi Mano Kāika team from Ngāi Tahu and are involved in organising all aspects of the wānanga from the venue, to the kaiako, from the pōwhiri to the hākari. This year we celebrated the 20th year of Kura Reo ki Te Waipounamu and the last Kura Reo for Tā Tīmoti Karetū.
Some of our Titirei and adults played key roles in the cultural aspects of the wānanga with Kiliona, and Waikahutia Tamati-Tupa’i and Waiariki Parata-Taiapa preforming the wero to lead our 120 manuhiri up the path in to the whare. Tūmai Cassidy stood and performed the welcome speeches alongside his kaumātua Edward Ellison in the pōwhiri and HWK supported with waiaita kīnaki.
To celebrate the 20 years and to acknowledge the leadership, expertise and unwavering support that Tā Tīmoti has given to the revitilisation of te reo Māori in the south. To also acknowledge Hana O’Regan and Charisma Rangipunga who established this wānanga in the south and the many teachers past and present we held a special celebration on the final evening. There were many speeches, songs, memories from the first one to now. Kiringāua spoke for the rangatahi having spent his whole life attending alongside his whānau. It was a fantastic celebration that recognised the important contribution that the Kura Reo, that Tā Tīmoti, that Hana and Charisma and the multitude of teachers has given to growth of te reo Māori here in the south.
The praise we received from Professor Timoti Karetu at the 20th celebrations of Kura Reo ki Te Waipounamu cannot go unstated. It was a huge honour to have received such a tribute at such an auspicious occasion. For him then to honour Kiringāua with a special acknowledgement, a young man who has grown up in this environment, is also a great testament to Kiringāua and to the vision that we have for our rangatahi.
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