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Tainui Rangatahi Summit 2007 |
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TAINUI RANGATAHI SUMMIT
Hana Nepia was fortunate enough to represent Brisbane at The Tainui Rangatahi Summit held at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia from 25th to 28 September 2007. Six representatives from Australia were selected to represent their perspective Tauraahere Roopu from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Hana shares her experience.
How did you find out about the summit and what motivated you to go back?
I learnt of the Rangatahi Summit during the Tauraahere Consultation that was held in Brisbane. I learnt that the Tainui Rangatahi Summit 2007 was the first of its kind for Tainui and after reading the proposed programme I was really impressed with the diversity of the activities, workshops and forums that had been organised. I couldn’t wait to be part of it and absorb all the information I could. The summit had a strong focus on growing leaders and the development of Tainui rangatahi by initiating learning opportunities on Tainui heritage and to enable succession planning by seeking rangatahi ideas and views for future and on-going initiatives. I wasn’t really sure what would be expected of me, but I wanted to ensure that I represented our rangatahi here in Brisbane to the best of my ability.
In terms of the summit itself, what were some of the highlights for you?
It was really overwhelming being home again amongst such familiar surroundings. I was moved by the powhiri, seeing all those familiar faces sitting on the other side of the paepae. You instantly felt the sense of importance of the occasion. It’s difficult to pin point only a couple of highlights as everything about the summit was equally inspiring and the wealth of information shared from the keynote speakers and kaumatua and kuia were more than most of us in Australia could hope to experience. But you couldn’t have asked for a better way to kick start the Hui than to have international youth ambassador Marcus Akuhata-Brown. He had the ability to inspire us all to strive for our goals and exceed beyond our expectations. The most memorable highlight was having the opportunity to go on the Tainui hikoi. A large group of us went on a journey visiting several marae and numerous significant landmarks then finally reaching our final destination, Kawhia. The wealth of information I gained from that hikoi was more than I could ever have imagined and possibly more than I could ever hope to justifiably share. At one point during presentations the Australian representatives were asked to take the stage so that everyone could see those of us who had travelled from ‘across the ditch’. Some were fascinated that we lived abroad, but most asked things like ‘whats it like living over there’ and ‘do you know my aunty and uncle’, that kind of thing. We were treated really well and I believe I input into the forums were valued.
Was there anything that you thought could possibly be improved?Yes, opening this opportunity to allow more Tainui Rangatahi to experience. It is too big a task to expect representatives to share the magnitude of information that was provided during the summit. I think the next hui would benefit from input from rangatahi that represent the UK, Japan & the US as well, I know we have small groups as far abroad as that. There was also a noticeable difference in the age dynamics of the participants. I think it would be more beneficial for the participants and organisers to provide different session for rangatahi and taiohi. As I come from the more mature end of the rangatahi scale I think there was more of an appreciation for some aspects of the summit than the younger ones and like wise for the younger participants.
With this being the first-ever Tainui Rangatahi Summit, how did it feel to be a part of that?
Again I was overwhelmed by the whole experience and extremely honoured to have been apart of it. I felt privileged to have been able to contribute to my Iwi in such a way that will impact on future generations. It was with great pride that I was part of a small group that represented our people from Australia. We were treated with great respect for our efforts to attend and represent our Aussie states.
Would you encourage more of our whanau based in Australia to come back for things like the summit and upcoming Tainui Festival?
Most definitely! This is an opportunity you simply can’t miss. We’d need plenty of notice so that we can all prepare to go home again.
Overall, what did you take from the summit and would you participate in any future initiatives like this again?
We all need to make the effort to go home and reaffirm our roots. It’s not just about going home to visit whanau. It’s about maintaining and strengthening your identity and striving to be all that you can be. To empower yourself with knowledge! Be it through tertiary education or embracing our cultural heritage through active participation on our marae and within our hapu. It’s all about utilising our human resources to further develop our Iwi and preparing our future leaders of tomorrow.Yes! I would leap at the opportunity to participate in any similar future initiatives and would certainly encourage others to do so too. I would love to see similar workshops and forums take place hear in Australia. We a very large number of rangatahi living here in Aussie now. I think we could make a significant contribution to developing future strategies for Tainui.
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