Manawa Hou - great initiative

Tangata whenua face many challenges in today's world and one of them is how to instill cultural knowledge in our youth, many of whom live away from the rohe and their traditional tribal lands. Ngāi Tahu have developed a great initiative to facilitate this called Manawa Hou

a youth initiative designed to pass on knowledge of traditions, history and stories, to help rangatahi get a sense of their Ngāi Tahu identity.

These rangatahi are immersed in their culture and

learnt about Takahanga Marae and toured the historic Kaikōura Peninsula. They stayed on Te Ati Awa's Waikawa Marae; and they visited the ancient Kaihinu Pā site in Tory Channel – the first Ngāi Tahu settlement in Te Waipounamu.

as Tā Tipene O'Regan says

The idea of the hīkoi is to take them to a few places of our forebears and ancestors and help them to develop a sense of who they are as Ngāi Tahu. To let them practice and enjoy some of the cultural traditions and be participants rather than observers. It's also important that the rangatahi meet each other, so that the inter-relationships within the tribe are on a personal level rather than just on a theoretical, academic basis - so they know each other as people.

What an awesome program and so very important to help our people reclaim their heritage and build their relationships with the iwi.

Te Karaka

Manawa Hou is a long-term programme with the vision of eventually having four per year in different parts of Te Waipounamu. Place-based learning is the main characteristic of Manawa Hou, with learning taking place outdoors on marae and in other places of cultural significance.

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