We Are Wairarapa

We Are Wairarapa

Sometimes it seems like there are more things that divide us than things that unite us but I’m proud to say the complete opposite was the case in Wairarapa last week.

For the past year almost every student in our region has been learning and practising a haka that was written so Wairarapa people could have a haka that was uniquely ours. And last week more than 6000 young people – from preschoolers right through to college students, adults and kaumatua - stood together and performed Ko Wairarapa (We are Wairarapa). In doing so they sought to break the world record for a mass haka but they also made history for our small corner of the world.

From this point on every young person has a piece of Wairarapa they can take with them wherever they go in the world but perhaps more importantly: every young person in our region knows a little bit more about the place they call home. I believe every child growing up in Wairarapa should feel comfortable walking onto a marae. Every child should know that the lake we name ourselves after (Wairarapa Moana) is the eye of Maui’s great fish. And all our children should be proud of their own whanau heritage whether they descend from the original pioneers of the kumara and the adze, the next wave of pioneers of the axe and the merino, and every wave of pioneers and people looking to make this place their home ever since. Whether they are Maori, Pakeha, Chinese, Indian, Samoan, Tongan, Philippino, Sri Lankan: all these kids are our Wairarapa kids, they all belong here and Ko Wairarapa is their haka.

Yesterday the children made it to Trust House Memorial Park in Masterton by foot and by bus. They came from private schools, country schools, bigger town schools and Kura Kaupapa Maori. Some had to travel more than an hour to get to Masterton. From 5 year olds who started school this week to 18 year olds who are about to sit their NCEA exams: our children were together for what we think is the first time in the history of Wairarapa.

Thirty years ago when I wrote Ko Wairarapa, te reo Maori was barely an official language in its own country. Our national anthem was sung only in English. And past injustices had yet to be acknowledged let alone reconciled. I remember being branded as a radical for advocating for Maori language schools and television.

This has all changed within three decades. Our anthem is now sung in te reo and English, te reo is an official language of New Zealand and Wairarapa iwi are heading to settle longstanding grievances. Back in the eighties I could never have imagined that almost every young person from our valley would be standing to perform a haka that was essentially written for them. The headline in the paper read: Haka unites region. These are things I could have only dreamed of all those years ago.

We have many to thank for this important day in Wairarapa history: Masterton Intermediate principal Russell Thompson whose idea it was to take the haka record back to Aotearoa; Peter McNeur, Trudy Sears, Makuini Kerehi and the team at Wairarapa REAP who helped make it happen (provincial New Zealand is so lucky to have the REAP organisations who help with local education). We’re indebted to amazing local companies and organisations like Tranzit Coachlines, Masterton District Council, Trust House Memorial Park, our Maori Wardens Wairarapa Aerial Imaging, Kahui Wairarapa, Noise Producation and Wairarapa TV, Wairarapa Road Safety, Compass Health, Wairarapa Police, Printcraft, Breadcraft. And of course our local Rangitane and Wairarapa iwi.

The other unsung heroes in this project are the teachers in each of the participating schools who lead the teaching of kapa haka (and usually all the other performing arts). More often than not they have little by way of resources and knowledge of te reo Maori to help them. They work tirelessly to ensure their students have some exposure to Maori culture and heritage. These are all people we know well in our community because they give so much of themselves for us and our kids.

There’s a lot of things we can learn from young New Zealanders and their pride in te reo and the haka is one of them. They do not see Maori culture as something foreign, they see Maori culture as part of their own identity, something that makes them New Zealanders. They are unconsciously confident, and expert navigators of diversity. Reflecting the confidence and expertise of their ancestors who once navigated from various parts of the globe to settle here.

In years to come future generations of Wairarapa people can look back on the moment the children of our region stood together in unity and they can be very proud. Our kids are leading the way and they honour us, their ancestors and future generations of Wairarapa people.

Ko Wairarapa. We are Wairarapa.

Paora Ammunson

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