Manuhiri Huatahi: finding the words

On the path to reclaiming her language, Manuhiri Huatahi says she’s faced many hurdles and triumphs.

But ultimately, she describes a deeply personal journey.

“When I was 12, I told my family I wanted to learn te reo Māori,” recalls Manuhiri (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kauwhata), a Kaiārahi at Te Tumu Herenga Libraries and Learning Services, where ReoSpace – a new space to kōrero te reo Māori – is based.

“Their response was, ‘Why do you want to do that? It won’t get you a job.’”

At the time, she struggled to voice why learning the language was so important to her.

“I didn’t have the right words at the time to articulate that, deep down, it was a yearning for connection – to my identity, my heritage and my mana as Māori,” she says.

“Now that I’m older, I also regret that I never got to converse in te reo with my mother, who was fluent. I remember feeling envious watching her kōrero with my paternal grandmother. My mother passed away when I was 19.”

Instead of te reo Māori, Manuhiri studied French at school and even spent a year in Honduras as an AFS student, where she learned to speak Spanish.

“Spanish and French were more accessible to me than te reo Māori. That shouldn’t have been the case, given its significance as a taonga passed down by our tūpuna for all Aotearoa.”

But her passion for te reo Māori never waned.

“I started learning by correspondence as a high school student in the Eighties,” she explains. “I picked up the language again at Victoria University in 2003, and then again in 2015 at AUT, and last year at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.”

At times, however, personal and professional priorities have taken precedence over her learning, she says.

“Access to reo learning is still problematic, but I’m at a point in my journey where I feel comfortable enough to give it a go, even though the kōrero doesn’t flow with the ease I hope to achieve one day.”

Hence her passion to champion the creation of ReoSpace. She believes that while classroom learning builds knowledge, it’s the everyday kōrero that keeps the language alive.

“As one of my kaiako has told me, the way to develop that fluency is to kōrero.

“ReoSpace links to the university learning experience by offering the opportunity to kōrero outside of the classroom. It’s our contribution to revitalisation,” she explains.

And the response to ReoSpace so far has been encouraging.

“There are learners and speakers like me who want to develop fluency. Some are mokemoke [lonely] for the reo because in the wider academic world, they must speak English to be understood. Others have started their journey but struggle to continue for various reasons.

“These factors are not unique to Waipapa Taumata Rau, and I bet a ReoSpace in other universities would generate as much excitement in their respective spaces as it has here.

“I absolutely see other universities joining us in the ReoSpace movement. There can never be too many spaces where te reo Māori is welcomed and celebrated.”

Te Rina Triponel