![]() ![]() In 2004 Te Panekiretanga o te reo Kairangi - (The Institute of Excellence in the Māori language) was the brainchild of Professor Pou Temara, Sir Timoti Karetu and the late Te Wharehuia Milroy. ![]() In 2016 he was made a companion of the NZ order of Merit for services to Māori. During its fifteen years of operation, 350 students graduated from the school.Ī teacher of kapa haka and whaikōrero Temara was recognised for his contribution to Māori arts in 2012 at Creative New Zealand AW, Te Waka Toi awards, a year later in 2013 he received an honorary doctorate from Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi. Pou Temara is an exponent of the Māori language and Tikanga Māori, in 2004 he was a director of the now defunct Māori School of Language excellence, Te Panekiretanga o te reo Kairangi. “The students of today are not surprised by my view that in fifty years’ time even the marae may not have the same significance for my generation…as it will for the people of the future, marae are not that important to the bulk of the students that I teach.” he says But as Māori communities live further away from home, and the convenience of online engagement increases, Temara says he has noticed a shift. ![]() The marae is a complex of buildings associated to iwi (tribes) and hapū (sub tribes) known as the last bastion of Māori culture, where tikanga Māori (practises and customs) are mostly carried out. He is often asked by his people “why won’t you move back?” To which he replies no, I like my coffee and having a supermarket nearby.Īlthough there is jest in his response Temara knows the importance of retaining ones ‘fire’ or ‘Ahi Kaa’ to their tribal homelands and marae, and the difference is going back there often to keep those fires going. While he knows that his heart lies in the valley and that he’ll be buried there one day amongst his people, he has no plans of moving there anytime soon. Pou Temara left Ruatahuna when he was just 15 years old to attend college in Auckland, and has not returned since. ![]()
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