I tīmata te wiki o te reo Māori inanahi nei, heoi ia te rā, ia te rā koinā ko te reo Māori e whakawhitiwhiti ana i ngā arero o ngā kaimahi tekau ki Te Kaikohekohe.

Kei te rangirua a Kaiako Matua Hoeta Maxwell mō te mana kua riro i Te Kaikohekohe hei kōkiri i te rautaki Reo Ora mā Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

E whakahī ana, engari anō, e tāhurihuri ana i te mōhio ko Te Kaikohekohe anahe te whare puta noa i te motu ko ngā kaimahi katoa he matatau ki te reo Māori.

E whakahī katoa ana te whare ki te rongo ko te reo Māori e ngunguru ana ki taua whare o te wānanga, heoi ko te tino hiahia kia pērā ngā whare katoa, hei tā Hoeta.

Ko tā mātou he whakahau, he whakatenatena i te motu kia aro mai ki tēnei kōkiritanga Reo Ora.

Ko te whāinga matua o te rautaki Reo Ora he whakapiki i te ōrau korero Māori a ngā kaimahi ki te 50 hei te tau 2030.

Ko tā Pou Reo Paraone Gloyne e taea ana e te hau toru o ngā kaimahi 1100 neke atu te korero Māori, engari anō, he iti ake i te hau whā he reo Māori te reo o ia rā.

Kua māori te kōrerotia o te reo e ngā kaimahi ki Te Kaikohekohe, hei tā Hoeta.

Arā atu anō ngā whakamahinga reo Māori, atu i ngā pōwhiri, karakia me ngā wā waiata. Ia rā ka whitiwhiti reo Māori. He taumata anō tō te whakawhitinga korero reo Māori.

Ki te kōrero Pākehā he hāmama kau noa te mahi, (kāore he uto).

Ko tā Hoeta Maxwell, he mauri tō te reo, he mauri hono i a tātou ki ō tātou mātua tūpuna, ka mutu he mea tautohu i a tātou te iwi taketake o tēnei whenua.

Ko tāna, ka riro mā mātou te reo Māori e pupuru, he taonga tuku iho nā ngā mātua tūpuna ki ngā tamariki mokopuna.

Māori Language Week started yesterday but the annual promotion is an everyday occurrence at Te Kaikohekohe site where all 10 kaimahi are fluent te reo speakers.

Kaiako Matua Hoeta Maxwell is in two minds about Te Kaikohekohe leading the Reo Ora strategy charge for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

He is both proud and perturbed that Te Kaikohekohe is the only site in the country where all kaimahi are fluent te reo Māori speakers.

“Our Te Kaikohekohe site are proud to be the bubbling metropolis of te reo Māori for the wānanga but we want all our sites to be proficient in te reo Māori,” says Hoeta.

“We encourage all sites throughout the motu to join the Reo Ora campaign.”

The Reo Ora strategy aims to see 50 percent of all kaimahi becoming proficient in the Māori language by the year 2030.                                                           

Pou Reo Paraone Gloyne says a third of the 1100-plus TWoA kaimahi have the capacity to kōrero Māori, but less than a quarter actually do so on a daily basis.

The kaimahi in Te Kaikohekohe have made the speaking of te reo Māori a “natural and normal practice” every day, says Hoeta.                                 

“Our use of Māori extends beyond pōwhiri, karakia and waiata sessions. We communicate in te reo Māori on a daily basis with each other. Te reo gives conversation a deeper meaning.” 

“When you express yourself in English it holds no water (doesn’t have the depth of meaning.)”

Hoeta Maxwell says te reo Māori enables a spiritual connection to our ancestors and identifies who we are as the indigenous people of this land.