LtoR: Tilly Smith, Hirere Moana and Maliana Smith
More than 700 years ago, Polynesian people navigated their way across the Pacific Ocean to Aotearoa. Much more recently, a group from French Polynesia has been following in their wake.
The group has been visiting New Zealand, including the King Country, as part of plans to establish a cultural learning centre on their island, Raiatea.
“We don’t have any kura,” one of the group’s representatives, Maliana Smith, said. “In the French public school system, our reo is taught but only for two hours and 40 minutes per week. Most of our kids don’t speak Tahitian (te Reo Mā‘ohi), so it’s time to re-appropriate our language as well as the knowledge of who we are and where we come from, our entire story.”
After being hosted by Ngāti Whātua at Ōrākei Marae in Auckland, the group was in Te Kūiti last week where they were welcomed by Ngāti Maniapoto. They have been touring kōhanga reo, wharekura and kura as well as Tainui landmarks and will visit Rotorua before returning to Raiatea.
Leading this team of teachers and artists, Maliana Smith and her husband Tilly Smith, are seeking to build on mahi from previous trips.
“We came here for the first time to prepare everything for the whole group to follow,” Maliana Smith said. “It’s important for everyone to see how everything is working here before we start building at home.”
In addition to language, other taonga such as ancient navigation skills and traditional crafts are to be preserved at the centre.
While there is no set date for building to begin, Smith said the centre will be constructed as soon as possible, beginning with an art school.
“We want to have an art school first, so students from public schools can come in and have more time learning our reo while they also work on carving, tattoo and other crafts,” she said.
“Our local government is ready to support us, and we now have the land, but we are waiting for papers from them before we can start.”
On Friday, the group attended workshops at Te Kūiti’s Centennial Park School. A teacher at the school, Hirere Moana, has been guiding them.
“They’ve come to see what we do and how we do it so they can create their own learning environments for the retention of their language and culture,” she said.
“Aotearoa is a trailblazer for indigenous peoples – we’re setting an example of where they would like to be.”
The bond between Raiatea and Māori is preserving culture.
“We’ve had a relationship with them since 2011 – they’ve been coming back and forth to observe at our schools and learn from us,” Moana said. “They want to retain what they have and build on it for future generations to make sure that it’s not lost forever.”
LtoR: Tilly Smith, Hirere Moana and Maliana Smith
