Maatua Whaangai continued

More on Te Kohanga Reo

Visits to Kohanga Reo centres always involved a Powhiri at the local marae, and in this way I visited many of the marae in Taranaki. On one occasion we arrived at the Potaka Marae at Rahotu minutes ahead of a formal, official visit by John Rangihau, the national leader of the movement. There was no local male elder available, so I had to stand in!  My Maori language was pretty hesitant but I managed to convey the whanau’s welcome to the honoured manuhiri. 

John must have thought I did OK, for a few weeks later he got in touch and suggested I apply for the job of national co-ordinator! I did not apply; Wellington was not on my list of desirable places to live at that stage. 

Margaret and I decided that Matthew was more than ready for some sort of pre-school, so we took him to the St Joseph’s Kohanga Reo and enrolled him, and found that Julia was welcome as well. This gave us a great insight into the way the language nests were operating, and enabled us to meet some great people. 

Erima Henare, James’s son, was Director of Maori Affairs in New Plymouth, and his twin sons were attending the kohanga.

After about six months the advisory committee suggested we try a new project to divert at-risk teenagers into more productive pursuits by giving them a crash course in Maori culture. We had a separate office for Maatua Whaangai, which was on the third floor of the new TSB Bank building in Devon Street. 

What eventually ensued was an eight-week course held on four marae around Taranaki, including Parihaka, led by Sonny Waru, with Te Ru Wharehoka as his right-hand man, and we obtained funding to enable us to employ a worker for a few weeks to set this up, select the young people, and get it going.  The worker we secured was Albie Martin, who is now a respected senior Anglican clergyman, and he joined me in the office in the bank building. 

The young people came from institutions (eg DSW Boys Homes) and the community; all were recommended by social workers as needing help. Unfortunately we did not have any system of assessment of the results or of follow-up for the members of the course, so I know nothing about how successful it was. 

By the second year we had a young man, Bill Kaitoa, whose original home was in the Far North, (at Whatuwhiwhi) as Chair of the advisory committee, and I had become convinced that he would make a good Maatua Whaangai officer. So I moved back into the volunteer work, and Bill was appointed as the DSW half of the Maatua Whaangai team.

By this time Maraea had retired, and her place had been taken by Pat Hond, who was from an old Okato family, and whose husband, Jeff, was a tireless volunteer worker for WEA, Labour Party, and Adult Literacy, among others. Pat and Jeff’s son, Ruakere, later led the movement to retain and progress the Taranaki dialect of Maori language.