Kia ora koutou e te whānau
A huge mihi to all of you who attended or supported our Marae Noho at Wheke Marae in Rapaki over the weekend. A special thank you to those whānau who travelled from Arowhenua, the Manawatu, and further afield to join us. The atmosphere was one of aroha, powerful wairua and kotahitanga. Our rōpū is growing in both size and strength and we feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to come together for a few beautiful days. May the kōrero and whanaungatanga we started on the Marae continue!
Marae Noho highlights
A highlight of the Noho for all was the mīharo kōrero from Mātua Isaac. Learning the whakapapa of the pou within the wharenui was a very special experience. We thank Isaac for sharing the stories of his tūpuna with us all and for being such a generous and welcoming host throughout the weekend - even if there wasn't much luck with the kaimoana!
Saturday morning was spent planning together for 2020. Whānau contributed many fantastic ideas for hui and topics they would like to learn about next year. We will share the ideas collected next week and we will also be asking for your feedback so we can ensure we put on hui that are well attended by whānau. Your input is essential to our success as a rōpū, so please don't be shy in sharing your thoughts on what we could do better.
Many of us then enjoyed exploring the stunning surroundings and dipping our toes into the moana. We were also treated to some ka rawe tunes from a ukulele group - including Gary's 'favourite' Tūtira Mai. Tia especially loved joining in with this group and was our waiata queen for the entire Noho. Thank you for choosing such great songs for us to sing Tia and for getting us all up and dancing over the weekend.
We were excited to welcome Marralomeda Trust back to Rapaki for lunch and then spent Saturday afternoon together decorating and getting ready for our 70s disco evening with the fabulous DJ Ramanui. The outfits were epic, the dance moves were big and bold, and the themed kai and punch went down a treat - what an evening! A shout-out to Brett for tearing up the dance floor all night.
On Sunday, we ended the Noho activities on a fun note, with an ātaahua demonstration from Jolt Dance. A huge thank you to Lyn for coming along to share this kaupapa, and to Karl and Ben for showing us how it's done! We all had huge smiles on our faces as we boogied away.
Thank you to our supporters
The whole weekend could not have run smoothly without our wharenui organiser Moana, who made sure we could pack in more than 40 whānau for both nights. Ngā mihi nui Moana. A huge thank you also to our chefs and kitchen helpers for keeping our bellies full of delicious kai. We had so many positive comments about the food.
Finally, a big thank you to Te Pou for helping to fund our Marae Noho. Without the support of this team we couldn't come together as whānau in this way and we are incredibly lucky to have the backing of this kauapapa.Here are some photos from our beautiful weekend on Wheke Marae with whānau.
We'd love your feedback and photos
We think the weekend was a huge success, but we can always improve to make our hui better for whānau. Please email ruth@kanohikitekanohi.org with what you enjoyed, or what you would like to see changed next time. A quick comment from you would help us hugely.
We'd also love to see your photos so we can add them to the gallery on this page and to our album on Facebook. Please email them through to ruth@kanohikitekanohi.org or send them via Facebook Messenger.
Finally, put the details for our Christmas hui in your diaries: to be held on Saturday 7 December from 3pm. We'd love to see you all there and will confirm the location and other details via email. It will either be at our place or Lorraine's and will be a BYO BBQ with a $5 Secret Santa.
A huge mihi to you all and we look forward to seeing your beautiful faces again soon.
Arohanui,
Ruth, Gary, and Waikura.