'Renaissance' of Māori culture starts at home — everyone's home

Tuesday, 11 August 2020

Hawaiki Kura co-owner Kiley Nepia says educating non-Māori is key to the revitalisation of Māori culture.

A new initiative from whānau business Hawaiki Kura seeks to help non-Māori better understand and engage with iwi.

Through their iwi tourism business Hawaiki Kura, co-owners Kiley and Donna Nepia run several initiatives seeking to revitalise Māori culture in Marlborough.

Having offered educational tourism to cruise ship passengers for several years, Hawaiki Kura is turning its attention to educating the community closer to home.

A new cultural awareness workshop – “Māori 101” – gives non-Māori an insight into basic te reo Māori, the correct pronunciations of local places and an insight into iwi culture and tikanga.

Hawaiki Kura is running cultural awareness workshops for Marlborough organisations.

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Kiley Nepia, of Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne, said there was often a “sense of nervousness” among non-Māori in engaging with iwi or attempting to speak te reo.

Aside from Hawaiki Kura, Kiley Nepia co-manages Omaka Marae with his wife Donna, and is the cultural advisor to Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō.

“We really tried to make it as comfortable as possible knowing that for a lot of people, this is the first time that they’ve interacted with Māori,” he said.

“There’s an understanding that you’re learning and that everyone is going to make mistakes.

“But if we live in fear that we’re going to be told off every time we go to say something, then we’re not going to say it.”

Nepia's grandmother Kath Hemi was a key figure in establishing Omaka Marae.

With money from Whānau Ora commissioning agency Te Putahitanga, they held their first series of workshops for Marlborough organisations a few months ago.

Since then, they had received a number of enquiries about the workshops which would be available from next month.

Through his other roles as co-manager of Omaka Marae and cultural advisor to Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Nepia’s aim was to instigate a renaissance of Māori culture in Marlborough.

Omaka Marae was his “playground” growing up, and it was his aim to keep it thriving after the death of his grandmother.

One of their many initiatives was Te Pā Wānanga o Omaka Marae, a bilingual, satellite class of Renwick School, based on the marae.

“Rather than our children having to leave their cultural identity at the gate, the whole curriculum is based on their cultural identity,” he said.

Growing up in Wairau, Nepia had a strong sense of his iwi identity, although without today’s resources and cultural understanding.

Kiley Nepia says Māori values can bring people together in times of crisis.

He “vividly remembers” reading Māori books, which were simply “English books with the English scribbled out and the Māori written on top of it”.

Growing up in the “playground” of Omaka Marae, established with help from his late grandmother Kath Hemi, Nepia felt a pull to learn more about his culture, and went to study at Te Wānanga o Raukawa in the North Island.

“That was where for the first time I really felt at home, the people looked like me, they spoke like me, they had the same types of thoughts … that’s where I really started to learn te reo Māori.

“My time up there was a pivotal time in terms of creating a solid understanding of the Māori world view, knowing too that it’s a process that never ends, you’re constantly learning.”

Wānanga gave Nepia the tools to pass his knowledge on to his community, both Māori and non-Māori, which he brought into the role of managing and revitalising Omaka Marae after the death of his grandmother.

“We started a new vision Pā Ora Pā Wānanga which means a thriving, sustainable, marae,” he said.

“It’s built on the belief that our people will be better off or more well when they are connected to the marae, however the marae itself has to be sustainable and alive.”

Social enterprises such as Maori-inspired preserves business Manaaki, and a Hawaiki Kura merchandise business run by his daughters Te Ao Mārama, 14, and Māreikura, 10, were some initiatives aimed at bolstering te reo and iwi culture within Marlborough.

Education around Māori values and culture was also “timely for our community” – it could also be used to bring people together in times of crisis, such as the current global pandemic, Nepia said.

“When you look at the values of Manaakitanga – these values aren’t exclusive to Māori,” he said.

“They are there for anyone who resonates with them … Once you’re able to unpack these for people, there’s a real yearning for connection and understanding.

“We’re hoping to be the broker to guide and navigate people through that understanding.”

One of Nepia’s biggest joys was seeing the difference he had made in the community.

“I like going places and seeing someone who’s been through one of our programmes, and they say ‘Kia Ora’ or they give you a hongi, or they pronounce the name properly.”

Cultural awareness programmes were available to book through the Hawaiki Kura website.