TAKU PATU, TAKU PATU MĀORI MANA MOTUHAKE! TAKU IHI, TAKU IHI, TAKU WANAWANA!
FEBRUARY 2025 by TE RIU RAIHANIA
Can you hear it? The sound of political chains and subjugation crashing down around us pounds in my heart like the raging Moana of Kiwa eating away at the takutai. Colonial violence is real. Climate change is real. The systemic removal of Te Tiriti O Waitangi from the very systems that are meant to serve Māori, is real. Emancipation too then is surely real. If we can see it, hear it, taste it and feel it, we can then, step by step, inch by inch, make it happen. Nothing is too hard.
Holding space for important kaupapa to support creating our own narratives so that we can thrive in our whanaungatanga here at home, in our place is pivotal in the vision of Ahikaa. The Taku Patu workshop recently held in Tokomaru Bay was about allowing us as a people to be authentically ourselves. Being "Unapologetically Māori" is our weapon in this resistance.
We enlisted the expert services of three amazing wahine, mātanga in their own rights. Tina Ngata, activist and advocate for environmental, indigenous peoples and human rights, spoke about the doctrine of discovery and how it has shaped the world we live in today. We learned about the origins of racism, de Zurara and how some indigenous populations are dismantling the systems of oppression they are living in on their own lands, followed by a process of “tuku” to let all the hara and darkness you encounter go so you don’t dwell on the horrid things that are, have been or are yet to come - in my case, I tuku so all of that yuckyness doesn’t eat away at my soul. Dr Teah Carlson, from the Tīpuna project and kaupapa Māori researcher and evaluator for Massey University, took us on a creative outlet journey, taking into account our relationships with and championing our taiao as a space of not only wonder and beauty, but healing and hope. Sealing the breakout with a pledge to tipuna passed on and a promise to future mokopuna - a very powerful practice to hold ourselves accountable and to stay the course in times of turmoil.
Dr Veronica Tawhai Pukenga Tiriti of Te Atakura Educators and Associate Professor of Massey University, wrapped up the afternoon with a Te Tiriti o Waitangi breakout. Conscientising practices that are us, naturally enacting our own mana motuhake and helping us to articulate our ways of fighting the good fight when we don’t actually know we are actively resisting. And as always, Ronnie reminds us of what our tīpuna signed up for by going over the provisions of Te Tiriti and cutting through all of the fluff and rūpahu that ingrained systemic racism and successive governments tend to try and cloud our minds with. We parted ways with critical decisions to action at mahi on Monday - and little gems to help develop our own bespoke plans for the future.
These Māori scholars, proud indigenous women, activators of learning, stirred up the ole fire in the belly and had me questioning the actions of this racist, white supremist government. “When is enough, enough? How much more are we to take?” Then I listened to Maya Angelou, (thanks for the link Teah!), as if she too has learned versus from my tīpuna waiata tukuiho, as though she too has donned the tipare and piupiu my Nanny wore as a young member of Te Kapa Haka o Te Hokowhitu Atu.
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated. That it may in-fact be necessary to encounter defeats. So we can know who the hell we are. What can we overcome, what makes us stumble and fall and somehow miraculously rise and go on. I know that a diamond is the result of extreme pressure. Less time and less pressure and it's just crystal or coal or fossilised leaves or just dirt. But time and pressure will create a diamond. It is considered one of the most beautiful elements and it’s one of the most hardest elements on our planet.” Maya Angelou.
This is one of my favourite Nanny Ngoi waiata, it’s as though she was a prophet - everything she wrote and sang about back in the day’s is relevant now - like she knew there was a tidal wave of concientisation coming our way and wanted to help us through it all:
As I sit here and ponder
Ka noho au i konei ka whakaaro noa
Me pēhea rā te huri a te ao katoa?
Ngā rongo kino e tukituki nei i te takiwā
Ngā whakawai e hau nei i ngā tamariki
Kua kore noa he ture hei arataki
Te mana, te ihi ka takahia mai
Kia kaha tātou ki te whakahoki mai
Te mauri ora me te wairua
Auē! Ngā iwi e!
My tipuna senses have been off the chain lately, and I can feel something coming. Only time will tell I suppose.
Reflections: As I sit here on the wet sand on my Takutai, watching my baby and moko’s play and swim, I think to myself, “enjoy your time as unknowing specs of dirt my babies, before the pressure gets hold of you, adding layers turning you into a lump of coal like me and your Aunties. Or later on when the vice grip gets tighter and you’re transformed into a crystal like Nan and Papa, then ultimately after enduring layer after layer of experience and time, you will be a pressurised diamond, - the hardest and most beautiful element, just like your Tipuna. So for now just play, be happy and carefree. Roll around on the sand, feel the dirt, taste the water, listen with all of your soul to the taiao that is yours - my cherished little bundle of mud and dirt.
