Wahine – Women

I’ve decided to have this page dedicated to “Wahine” or “Women” – to acknowledge our importance in the world, our struggles and our triumphs. The following is a brief presentation that I gave a few years again for International Women’s Day. I found it just the other day as I was going through my Toastmasters International Speeches! How about that! I will share more of those stories as well….but here goes…Jo x

Ko Taranaki, Ko Matawhaura, Ko Tarawera nga maunga
These are the mountains that connect me to Ranginui the Skyfather & Papatuanuku the Earth; they are the link to my ancestors, my connection to the land. My inspiration.

Ko Matanehunehu, Ko Waitotoroa, Ko Rotoiti, Ko Tarawera nga wai e rere ana
These are the healing waters that flow from these mountains that carried my ancestors here to Aotearoa many years ago. These are the healing waters that provide sustenance and give forth life. My inspiration.

Ko Taranaki, Ko Ngati Pikiao, Ko Tuhourangi – Ngati Wahiao nga iwi.
These are my tribal connections, my extended whanau. My inspiration.

No reira, e te iwi o te ao, ko tenei te mihi atu ki a koutou katoa kua huihui mai nei ki te whakanui ki te hapai i tenei kaupapa o nga wahine o te ao. No reira, ka nui te mihi, ka nui te aroha, tena ano tatou.

I remember when I was 5 years old, having to stand in front of my class and give a speech about a recent trip overseas. I was absolutely terrified! I balled my eyes out and thought how could my teacher be so mean (she was actually a lovely teacher)…I’ve given a few speeches since then so I think I have grown, I no longer ball my eyes out, but I still get all nervous inside like when I arrived today and saw you all here. I was kinda hoping for a smaller crowd, I shouldn’t have invited so many people!!

Last week I attended a health conference right here in this very room and I listened to many speakers and was inspired particularly by the women who stood to speak. One of the woman talked about having to step up to the mark, to take up the wero or challenge of walking alongside our people in their journey to reclaim their health, their journey to reclaim who they are.

So here I am stepping up to the mark, facing one of my many fears that I’ve had since my childhood. And what an honour it is for me to be standing in front of you today, to be given the opportunity to speak on being a young Maori woman in today’s society and what this means to me.

I first of all would like to acknowledge my kuia (grandmother)- my paternal kuia, Ani Ruakere who I neverreally knew because I was just a baby when she passed on, but I have heard many stories about her and heard she was a wonderful kuia. And she must have been to have had 13 children – my Dad being one of them! I also want to acknowledge my maternal grandmother, Arai te Uru Morehu whom I was lucky enough to have met and spent some time with. She was one of those nannies who wore big glasses with one cm thick lenses that magnified her eyes and gave her that cross-eyed look. She was a wonderful kuia and very special to me as she passed away on my 9th birthday.

So I stand before you with both my kuia beside me and I speak for them also.

So my journey up until this point as a Maori woman living below my ancestral mountain with no power and kereru (wood pigeons) that greet me everyday has been an interesting one full of fun & laughter, sorrow and pain, joy and happiness and most definitely love.

In order for me to know where I am today is for me to understand and know my past. Because it is my past also that will carry me forward into the future.

Growing up in Rotorua, we never went to kura kaupapa. I grew up in a village, a community, I went to mainstream school and I learned very little of my own language as it was hardly being taught.

I learned things in school such as economics, science, maths and English, not that I really cared about the way that I spoke; I think my English teacher was the only one who cared about that! I needed to know about life, and how to live life. How do I deal with all these emotions and feelings that constantly come up especially around that time of the month! When I was a rangatahi (youth), I didn’t want to know about what the gross domestic product was or even about GST even though it will be handy now!

I wanted to know about life skills, how could I manage to live my life?

So I grew up learning from experience, I’m not sure that I would recommend this but this is how I learnt.

I do believe that the colonisation of my people and the confiscation of land has played a major part in contributing to the many issues that my people are faced with today. There is actually no come back, no amount of remuneration that can compensate for the loss of land and the effect that this has had on my people.

When you take away the foundation of a people, that which sustains them and gives them life, then the effects are major and we see it in the issues that many of my people face today.

So as a young Maori woman today, this is what I am faced with: my people have diabetes, they are overweight, our Maori women have one of the highest rates of lung cancer in the world and many are experiencing breast cancer even at a young age. Our Maori men fill our prisons, a large number of our people are so called consumers within the mental health system, there are high levels of violence amongst our people, high rates of suicide, high teenage pregnancy, high gambling rates amongst Maori and the list goes on and on and on…so this is what I am faced with as a young Maori women in today’s society. It paints a picture of despair but it is reality.

But! There is hope – we need to celebrate our achievements as Maori.

So today in my mahi (work) I want to be a part of assisting our whanau, hapu and iwi to move forward, to celebrate what it is to be MAORI, and I mean celebrate because there are many things for us to celebrate. I am proud to be Maori, and we are a beautiful people with a beautiful culture.

I celebrate the revival of our reo, our language that once upon a time was on the verge of being lost, I celebrate the revival of the art of ta moko, that is seen everywhere, I celebrate the achievements of my people across the board, in education, in sport, in the arts…So there is hope for our people and I take hold of that hope, and I celebrate our rangatahi because they are our future, they are our leaders of tomorrow and we need to nurture them and love them so that they grow up confident, knowing who they are and where they come from so they know how they fit into this thing called life.

So life is tough as a young Maori woman in today’s society, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t, but then when I think about what our tupuna had to endure, it puts everything into perspective and motivates me and gives me the courage and determination to push on through. I look at my parent’s lives and I also think man I have it sweet compared to them and how they had it. In saying that, I have carried a lot of the stuff that our parents have. So I do believe that it is my obligation to my people and our children and our grandchildren to clear the pathway, to stop the cycle and give them a good start to life.

So I celebrate being a Maori woman in today’s society, I wear moko within my skin as a constant reminder of my connection to Papatuanuku, my connection to the land, and the importance of the land to my people. I walk freely into the realms of Tane, into the forest and I feel totally at home.

And I know today is about celebrating women, but I would also like to acknowledge our Maori men. We need our men, we need them to step up to the mark with us and walk with us because they can, and because they are important – important particularly in the eyes of our tamariki (children). We need good role models that our tamariki can look to.

I would like to also acknowledge my parents who created me and brought me up the best way they knew how and my mother who endured the pain to bring me in to this world, who taught me about resilience and through her life, is a constant reminder of my own inner strength.

Finally before closing, I would like to finish with a whakatauki, one that was told to me by my Maori teacher in high school. It sums up my stance on the future.

Whaea e koe te iti kahurangi ki te tuohu koe me maunga teitei.

And this was her translation:

Follow the desires of your heart, if you are to bend, let it be to a lofty mountain.

So today as a Maori woman I follow my dreams to be the best I can be. And I live below our beautiful mountain, the lofty mountain that I honour and respect that guides me and whose peak is where I aim for in my life – to be the best I can be.

I do believe I have finally found my passions in life within the arts, within the land and with helping people. And so I continue my journey committed to these things, because they are part of who I am and have been handed down to me from my tupuna. And no doubt their desire would be for me to hand them on.