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National | Rangatahi

Ngāti Tarāwhai take advantage of school holidays

Te Arawa tribe Ngāti Tarāwhai are developing and upskilling their leaders of tomorrow.

Taking advantage of the school holidays the children of the tribe put down their cell phones and returned to their marae to learn and prepare for the future.

Young Natalia Mihinui-Shultz says, "If I wasn't here, I'd probably be at home playing on my phone or the computer or talking to mum."

Natalia says it's a chance to meet her relations from her tribe to build everlasting bonds. She says she's learnt so much already.

Raimona Inia from Ngāti Tarāwhai is a strong advocate and wants to give back to his own people and that's why he has made the move home to his marae.
 
"That's what we do as Māori, we come together, so we need to do better. We have to make sure our marae aren't just used for funerals or left abandoned," he says.

The programme is supported by the Ngāti Tarāwhai Iwi Trust.  Angela Tūnui is one of the trustees.

She says, "It is really beautiful to watch our young ones. It's is also beautiful to hear our children speaking Māori. It is so inspirational to hear our young ones maintaining Ngāti Tarāwhai traditions. They are our leaders of tomorrow."
 
Raimona agrees, saying, "We must continue to nurture and take care of our children into the future."

"Things about the bush, the trees I didn't know, which Raimona taught me. We learnt how to make stilts and the cooks have even shown us how to make a really yummy pudding," says Natalia.

Perhaps a stellar example of tribal succession.