This article was first published by RNZ
Ngāi Tahu rangatahi are calling on young people to protect te taiao, te reo and the ways of their tūpuna.
Speaking at Koroneihana during Ako Ararau, a Māori language and culture expo, Aaria Rolleston urged iwi to take up leadership in caring for the environment and te reo Māori.
She was a kaikōrero for te whānau Cassidy, one of five influential Māori families invited to speak at this years celebrations.
This year’s kaupapa was ‘e oho rangatahi, maranga mai,’ - calling for young people to rise and uplift their iwi.
Rolleston (Ngāti Mako, Ngāti Irakēhu, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāi Te Rangi) alongside her partner Tumai Cassidy, is focused on restoring and protecting Kāi Tahu ecological knowledge and way of life.
She is one of 10 rangatahi Māori selected to represent their iwi at the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil, the first official delegation of rangatahi Māori to attend.
Rolleston spoke about the interconnection of language, land and sustenance.
“Rangatahi mā, e oho maraka,” she said.
Youth, awaken and be aware.
She recalled the words of her aunty and Wairewa representative Charisma Rangipunga:
“Anā ka pēnei tana kōrero, ka hāhā te tuna ki te roto, ka hāhā te reo ki te kāika, ka hāhā te tangata ki te whenua.”
She said: if the lake is breathing and full of tuna, and the houses full of language, the people will be well.
Rolleston grew up in Wairewa where tuna harvesting was central to her hapū and where te reo Māori underpinned daily mahi within their lives.
She said the relationship between te reo and te taiao lived in the traditions of her iwi, Kāti Mako.
“He iwi mahi tuna a Kāti Mako no tua iho. Ia te tau ka heke te tini manomano o te tuna mai te roto o Wairewa ki te moana, ā hei reira te hapū mahi ai i kā tuna ki kā kōawa kirikiri, ki kā pā tuna me kā hinaki hoki.”
Kāti Mako are a tuna-harvesting people. Every year, thousands of tuna descend from Wairewa to the sea, and there, the hapū work to harvest tuna in the sand pits, traps, and baskets.
“Ko te tuna te kai nui a taku hapū, ā i aua rā ko te reo Māori te reo kawe i kā mahi katoa. Ki ruka i te whenua kā mahika kai, ā i roto hoki i o mātou kāika ko te reo Māori te poutuaroko, ko te taiao te poutokomanawa o tā mātou wharekōrero.”
Tuna is the main food of my hapū, and in those days te reo Māori was our main language. On the land, working and eating, and in our homes, te reo Māori is the supporting pillar, and the environment is the main pillar of our wharekōrero.
Rolleston said during colonisation their lands were damaged and water polluted, resulting in the death of the tuna.
“Kua kore he kai nui hei whākai i te iwi, ā ka mate te nuika o kā whānau ki te kimi kai.”
There was no food to sustain the people, and families struggled to find food.
“Nō reira, ka huri ki te ao Pākehā hei whaioraka mā rātou, nāwai, nāwai ko te reo Pākehā te reo o te kāika. Koira te ao o ōku kaumātua.”
People turned to the Pākehā world for survival, and over time, English became the language of the home. That was the world of my grandparents.
Despite this, Rolleston grew up in the kaupapa of Kotahi Mano Kāika, a Ngāi Tahu language strategy aiming for one thousand homes where te reo Māori is the first language.
As well as attending kura kaupapa Māori, she also participated in the mahi of her whānau and hapū, on the land and in the waters.
“Ahakoa i whai atu au i kā mātauraka pūtaiao a te Pākehā ki te whare wānaka, ko te reo Māori tērā, ko kā kōrero tuku iho, ko kā mahika kai... i whakapakari i taku mōhiotaka o te ao.”
Even though I later engaged with Pākehā scientific knowledge at university, te reo Māori, the ancestral knowledge, and our family’s practical work on the land strengthened my understanding of the world.
Rolleston said the world was seeing the damaging effects of environmental exploitation and urged Aotearoa to take climate change seriously.
“Ināianei, ka mate tātou ki te whakahoki i ērā kahere i turakina i tērā rautau. Kei taka te rahika o kā puke o kā hiwi ki roto i kā wai, waipuketia rānei kā kāika e te parawhenuamea. Ia te wā ka heke mai he awhā nui i te kotahi rau tau ia te tau.”
Today, we must restore the canals and channels that were destroyed in the last century. Or the hills will collapse into the rivers and our homes will be destroyed by floods. We are seeing a one in one hundred year storm every year.
Her ancestors did not know of these conditions, she said.
“Kāore hoki mātou o ināianei e mōhio ana ki ēnei āhuataka. Heoi, ki au nei, he oraka kei roto i kā mōhiotaka o rātau mā.”
Nor do we fully understand them today. However, in my view, our survival will be in the knowledge of our ancestors.
She ended her kōrero with a wero, asking iwi for a helping hand in protecting te taiao.
“Nā reira, ka tuku rākau ahau ki taku hāpai, ki te whānau, ki te iwi, kia ora ai te reo Māori, kia ora ai te mana Māori, kia ora ai kā mahi Māori i roto i tō tātou kāika me te hapū.”
Therefore, I extend a hand to my supporters, whānau, and iwi, so that te reo Māori may thrive, Māori mana may thrive, and Māori practices may flourish within our homes and hapū.
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By Layla Bailey-McDowell of RNZ
