Te Ariki Derek Morehu – lifetime of service to Māori arts (Te Waka Toi Awards 2015)
Channel: Creative New Zealand
Date: 2015-12-16

Rotorua's Te Whetu Takitahi Te Ariki Derek Morehu, CNZM, is an elder of Te Arawa and Mataatua and has spearheaded the retention and revitalisation of the customs and traditions of his iwi. Translation below. He has been heavily involved in the kohanga reo movement. In 2015 he received a Ngā Tohu ā Tā Kingi Ihaka Te Waka Toi Award, which honours kaumātua and kuia who have devoted their lives to strengthening Māori culture through their support of Māori arts. In this video, Te Ariki talks about kohanga reo. Video commissioned by Creative New Zealand; shot & edited by Michael Hall. More on Te Waka Toi Awards: http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/news/honouring-contributions-to-maori-arts-with-2015-te-waka-toi-awards

A rough translation:

(Seated. Close up)
"I started working with... probably because I knew how to speak Māori... I was approached by the elders from here to help with the Kohanga Reo... it was already established by then. It happened before my wife died; she was one of the Kohanga Reo teachers. She was a wonderful woman – she was kind, she was clever and humbly modest too; she knew and observed Ngati Pikiao customs, and she never tried to influence us to practise Ngai Tuhoe traditions... she was a good woman, my wife.

I said to her one day, 'The old people want you to go and teach our babies, using te reo Māori.'

(Walking out of the meeting house)
...it was then of course that I was enlisted to help out with what they were doing at the Kohanga Reo.

(Standing at the top of the steps in the porch of the meeting house)
I completely agree with what Kohanga sets out to achieve – to ensure that our babies are brought up speaking Māori."