An English translation follows this reo Māori article.
Ko Tākuta Te Ripowai Higgins QSM, ONZM nō Ngāi Tūhoe, he toa o ngā mahi whakarauora i te reo Māori i ngā tau e 40 neke atu, nō tēnei wiki ka whakamānawatia e te Kāwana-Tianara, e Kahurangi Cindy Kiro, ki te tohu Āpiha o te Kāhui Hiranga o Aotearoa.
E 76 tau te pakeke o te kuia nei, he rongonui mō āna mahi i te ao mātauranga, i te ao Māori anō hoki. I tana whakawhiwhinga ki te tohu, ka tere rawa te hoki o ōna mahara ki ngā whiu i pā ki a rātou ko tōna reanga i raro i te pūnaha mātauranga i te wā i a ia e tamariki ana, ko te reo pākehā anake te reo i ngā kura o te motu.
“Mō tēnei hōnore i hōmaihia nei, ko hau te waimarie,” hei tāna.
“Nā te mea, ki ahau, i tipu mai mātou, e patua ana i te kura mō te kōrero i tō tātou reo. Ka mutu, koirā anake te reo i mōhio ai mātou.”
Ko tana waimarie hoki, ko ōna pakeke anō ērā i tū totohe ki ngā kaupapa here mātauranga a te kāwanatanga i ērā wā.
“Ko te tangata koia te mea kaha ki te patu i a mātou, he Māori, engari kāre i kōrero Māori,” hei tāna.
“Kātahi au ka kite i tētahi o aku kōkā, ka mea atu au, ‘Mōhio koe, i patua mātou i te kura mō te kōrero Māori.’ Ka mea mai, ‘Ko wai i te patu i a koutou?’ Ka kōrero atu au. Ka haramai ia ki te kura, kātahi ka mea, ‘Me mutu tō patu i wā mātou tamariki.’”
Nāwai rā, i aroha kē atu a Te Ripowai mā ki te kaiako nāna rātou i patu.
“Ka noho ko mātou kē i te ako i a ia ki te kōrero Māori,” tāna i kī ai me te kata.
I taua wā, ko te reo Māori tonu te reo matua o tōna hapori, ā, i pōhēhētia ai ka ora tonu i roto i ngā mahi ako i te reo Pākehā. E ai ki a Higgins, kīhai rawa i whakaaro ake ka ngaro haere te reo Māori.
“Koirā te kōrero a ō mātou kuia, koroua i te kāinga: ‘Kia kaha koutou. Ahakoa patua koutou i te kura mō te kōrero, me ako e koutou taua reo rā. Kei te pai ō koutou reo Māori. Engari kua rerekē te wā ināianei. Kua nui ake ngā Pākehā e haramai ana. Ana, me ako koutou tō rātou reo, kia mōhio ai tātou kei te aha ngā kōrero.’
Ka tae ki ngā tau e 70, i kitea te memeha haere o te reo Māori i te motu. Ka tahuri ētahi pou mātauranga Māori nei, a Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira rāua ko Ngoingoi Pēwhairangia ki te whakatū i te kaupapa whakaako i te reo, ko Te Ataarangi. Nā tētahi o ngā pāpā tonu o Te Ripowai, nā Hoani Te Rangihau ia i tono kia āwhina atu, ka whakaae atu. Ā, i te tau 1982, i tohua a Te Ripowai hei mema o te poari tuatahi o Te Ataarangi.
“Ka mutu, ka mea mai anō [a Ngoi], ‘Ka pai, me mahi e tātou.’ Ā, koirā te tīmatanga,” tā Te Ripowai i mahara ake mō Ngoi, he wahine i mōhiotia ai i Te Urewera mō tana taki haere ki reira ki ngā whakataetae kapahaka.
“I haere noa iho au nā te mea he rawe ki a au te kuia rā, a Ngoi Pēwhairangi. Pēnā au i kore e mōhio mō tērā [kuia], kāre pea au e uru atu, e peka pērā.”
Ko te whakatū reo irirangi Māori anō tētahi ara i whāia hei whakarauora i te reo. Ko Te Ripowai tētahi i whai wāhi nui ki te whakatūnga o Te Upoko o te Ika, te reo irirangi Māori tuatahi o Aotearoa. Ā, e toru ngā wā ka tohua ia hei mema poari o Te Māngai Pāho.
Engari ko te mahi kaiako tana tino mahi. I pau i a ia ngā tau e 20 ki Te Herenga Waka hei pouako, nāwai rā hei tumu hoki i Te Kawa a Maui, ā, kua whiti atu ia ki Honu Whenua ki te āwhina atu i ngā iwi taketake o reira ki te whakaora ake i ō rātou reo.
E ai ki a Te Ripowai, he mahi mutunga kore te mahi mō te reo, ā, kei te kitea tērā tauira i tōna ake whānau tonu. Ko tana tamāhine, ko Tākuta Rawinia Higgins, kei te ārahi hoki i ngā mahi whakarauora reo, hei Toihau o Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, hei Tumu Ahurei o Te Herenga Waka anō hoki.
Heoi, o āna mahi katoa, ko Te Ataarangi pea te tino hua o te tohu hōnore nei kua whakawhiwhia ki a ia.
“Karekau noa iho au e tino aro ake [ki te tohu],” ka kata mai anō a kuia.
“Ko te āhua pea, mō ngā tau e mahi ana, he pai tonu kia kitea hei tauira, kia kaha ake ai tō tātou whānau o Te Ataarangi. Kia kite rātou, i tua atu i tō rātou mōhio ki te kōrero Māori, he taumata atu anō kei runga atu.”
Ka mutu, inā kē te tauira ko ia mō te oranga o te reo ki tua, kia kore anō ai te reo e patua kia mate.
“Ki a au nā, ki te kore koe e noho ki te whakatauira atu, me pēhea rātou e mōhio ai?”
The English translation for the article:
Dr Te Ripowai Higgins QSM, ONZM of Ngāi Tūhoe, a champion of Māori language revitalisation for more than 40 years, was invested as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit by Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro this week.
The 76-year-old is renowned for her work in education and te ao Māori. As she received her medal, her immediate thoughts reflected on the assimilationist education system of her childhood, when English was the only language permitted in schools across the country.
“I feel fortunate to have been given this honour,” she said in te reo Māori.
“Because we grew up being beaten at school for speaking our language, and it was the only language we knew.”
Her sense of good fortune also came from having elders who stood up against the government’s education policies of the time.
“The person who beat us the most was Māori, but he couldn’t speak Māori,” she said.
“Then I saw one of my aunties and said to her, ‘You know, we were beaten at school for speaking Māori.’ She asked, ‘Who was beating you?’ I told her. She came to the school and said, ‘You must stop beating our children.’”
In time, Te Ripowai and the other children came to feel compassion for the teacher who had beaten them.
“In the end, it was us who taught him how to speak Māori,” she said.
At the time, te reo Māori remained the main language of her community, and they assumed it would continue to thrive as they learned English. Higgins said it never occurred to them that te reo Māori might begin to disappear.
“That was what our kuia and koroua at home told us: ‘Be strong. Even though you are being beaten at school for speaking, you must learn that other language. Your Māori is fine. But times have changed. More Pākehā are coming, and you must learn their language so that we will know what they are saying.’”
By the 1970s, the decline of te reo Māori was becoming increasingly evident across the country. Māori education leaders Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira and Ngoingoi Pēwhairangi moved to establish Te Ataarangi, a movement dedicated to teaching the language.
One of Te Ripowai’s elders, Hoani Te Rangihau, asked her to help, and she agreed. In 1982, she was appointed to Te Ataarangi’s foundation board.
“Then [Ngoi] said, ‘Good, let’s do it.’ And that was the beginning,” Te Ripowai recalled of Ngoi, who was well-known through visits to Te Urewera for kapa haka competitions.
“I became involved simply because I thought that kuia, Ngoi Pēwhairangi, was wonderful. If I hadn’t known her, I might never have become involved or followed that path.”
Māori broadcasting became another avenue for revitalising the language. Te Ripowai played a significant role in establishing Te Upoko o te Ika, recognised as Aotearoa’s first Māori radio station, and served three terms on the board of Te Māngai Pāho.
Teaching, however, was the heart of her career. She spent 20 years at Te Herenga Waka as a lecturer and later as head of Te Kawa a Māui. She also travelled to North America to help Indigenous peoples there revitalise their languages.
Te Ripowai said working for the language was never-ending, and that legacy is evident within her own whānau. Her daughter, Dr Rawinia Higgins, is also leading Māori language revitalisation as Māori Language Commissioner and Tumu Ahurei at Te Herenga Waka.
Of all her work, however, it was to the whānau of Te Ataarangi that her thoughts returned as she considered the significance of the honour.
“[The honour itself] isn’t something I’ve given much thought to,” she said.
“But perhaps, after all these years of work, it is good to be seen as an example that might strengthen our Te Ataarangi whānau. It shows them that beyond knowing how to speak Māori, there are even greater heights to which they can aspire.”
The example she has set stands as a testament to how the language can flourish into the future, ensuring it is never again suppressed to the point of extinction.
“To me, if you do not set an example, how will they know?”
Nā Piripi Taylor nō Pūkāea
