Ko wai au? Ko Maria ahau. Te taha o tōku Māmā
Maria Sydney,
Monday, 17 July 2023
Gosh, its been a while since we have posted here in this blog space. It feels like many of us are still playing catch up… not just in mahi – but in life! So today I’m practicing what I preach and letting go of the fact that I haven’t been as present in this space as I would have liked to have been and continuing on with the haerenga of contributing here in a more regular capacity.
I’ve decided to just start with small kōrero as I’m am not much of a blogger however just like the sentiment in the whakatauki “Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu – although it is small, it is still a treasure” talks about. Even though our contribution may feel small, in the context of the whole – it can be so much more significant than what we ever imagined! 🙂
So just to begin with a little intro – ko wai au? I te taha o tōku māmā. Ko Tainui te waka. Ko Puniu te awa. Ko Kakepuku te maunga. Ko Ngati Raukawa te iwi. Ko Parawera te marae tīpuna. Ko David rāua ko Dawn Diamond, Ko Charlie rāua ko Kerikeri Tumohe ōku tīpuna mātua. I te taha o tōku kuia nō Ingarangi ahau. I tae mai ōku tīpuna ki Aotearoa ki Whatatū i ngā tau 1841 me 1842 o ngā waka ko Will Watch, ko Lloyds, ko Bolton. Ko Dodson te whanau. Ko Dawn tōku māmā.
I was born in Tauranga however spent most of my life living in Waihi Beach and Waihi. In my pepehā I acknowledge my whakapapa from where my Mama was born, I whanau ia I Te Awamutu ki Waikato. I acknowledge some significant tupuna, places and landmarks in my Mama’s whakapapa – Tainui being the waka that my tupuna travelled to Aotearoa on, Puniu being the awa that my tupuna travelled down to find shelter, which they eventually found under the protection of the mountain Kakepuku. My whanau are part of the iwi Ngāti Raukawa which as history shares with me first settled in the South Waikato and then later migrated towards the West Coast of Te Ika a Maui, finding home in the areas of Whanganui and Otaki too. Although nowadays, many of the uri of Ngāti Raukawa (just like all our other iwi) are widespread all over Aotearoa.
In my Mama’s whakapapa I also acknowledge new connections that I have discovered only in the last 3 years. This is my whakapapa to my English ancestry. Back in 2020, during the first lockdown I took on the task of exploring this whakapapa further. With one name, Vera Jeffries and a 1 months ancestry.com subscription I managed to track back my great-grandmothers English ancestry all the way back to 1642!! Before this time, my Mama who was adopted as a tamaiti had no connection back to her bio Mama so as you could imagine – there were a lot of tears as we discovered these new hononga and reconnected back to our whakapapa!
One thing that I have become very aware of as I explore my whakapapa is that it is a privilege to know who you are, to know your whakapapa and to have those connections intact. For many of us, sadly this is not the case. I am reminded of this even more so when I think about the tamariki and whanau that come through our doors – who aren’t as connected to their identities as they would like to be. How do ensure they experience a safe place of belonging? How do we support them to connect in to their unique identities, to their whakapapa, to the stories that come with who they are?! Do we do this justice? Or do we just ask whanau to fill in a pepehā template at enrolment so that box is ticked? 🧐 Just some whakaaro. Lets reflect together.
Looking forward to pondering this and these kaupapa further in this space.
Ngā mihi,
Maria
