Forty kākahu and 40 piupiu for students from Wellington High School and Onslow College were stolen as well as their teacher, Tina Mihaere-Rees’ car, days before a regional kapa haka competition. Photo / Supplied
By Justin Wong, Stuff
A Wellington teacher whose car was stolen – along with 40 students’ kākahu and piupiu – is asking for the return of the kapa haka gear that’s for a competition less than two weeks away.
Tina Mihaere-Rees’ car, a dark blue 2019 Mazda CX-5, was stolen from outside Wellington High School in the early hours of Saturday morning, during a noho marae (overnight marae stay) for the Wellington High and Onslow College students to practise for a regional kapa haka competition on June 23.
In the car’s boot and back seat were 40 piupiu (skirts) in two black suitcases and a clear plastic container of 40 kākahu (cloaks).
“We have been preparing and practising for the whole of this year,” Mihaere-Rees said. “We’ve had noho every weekend since the end of April. They [the students] only come together during noho because we’re from different schools so no one has the opportunity to practise together.”
The regional competition is the first big opportunity since Covid for kapa haka students, says Tina Mihaere-Rees. Pictured: Te Whānau-a-Apanui, the winners of this year’s Te Matatini. Photo / Supplied
Knowing their equipment was stolen was tough for the students, but they were pushing through their practice while the teachers did everything to find their equipment.
“I thought, ‘how could someone do this?’,” Mihaere-Rees also said. “These are young people practising and celebrating their culture.
“Because we’ve had such a hard time during Covid over the last three years, our kapa haka students have found it really difficult to bounce back and this competition is one of the first big opportunities since Covid to celebrate being Māori and performing in front of our whānau.”
Other schools in the capital have already offered to help. Newlands College lent the Wellington High School and Onslow College students their piupiu on Sunday so they could practise.
Onslow College and Wellington High School students were at practising at a noho marae for a regional kapa haka competition on June 23. Kevin Stent / Stuff
“We are so grateful to Newlands College for showing manaakitanga,” said Mihaere-Rees. “We can’t thank them enough.”
Her message to those who took her car was they wanted only their kapa haka clothing back.
“They are taonga to us. No-one has any need for them except us. They are important for our performance. We can’t go onto the stage without them,” she said.
“In te ao Māori we have a belief that taonga will find a way of coming back to us and we believe really strongly that if the people who took them have any sense they will bring them back.”