Student Response - Ngā Manu Kōrero
Student Response - Ngā Manu Kōrero
On 29 July 2017 JTeReo, the Māori Performing Arts class and some senior students travelled to Christchurch to support the speech participants from Westland High School, in the Waitaha/Aoraki Ngā Manu Kōrero competition. Zion was entered to compete in the Junior English section of the competition and I was entered into the Junior Māori section.
We were accompanied by students and staff from Westland High School, Greymouth and Buller High School. Buller High School also had a speaker entered in the Junior Māori section.
While in Christchurch we stayed at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whānau Tahi. On arriving at our accommodation we poured out of our school vans to greet our friends and staff from Greymouth and Buller High Schools. We all blended pretty well despite my heart being in my throat most of that time due to the fact I was extremely nervous. I was apprehensive and on edge as knew I had to deliver my speech the next day in front of students and staff from secondary schools around Christchurch and Timaru including the judges. After the whakatau we mucked around until dinner. Dinner was amazing by the way, the watery mince and potatoes were the bomb!
After breakfast the following day, around 7:15am we travelled to Christchurch Boys High School where the Ngā Manu Kōrero competition was held. Following the pōwhiri we were instructed to go to the holding room in order to practice our speeches and waiata tautoko. At 10:30am I apprehensively walked onto the junior stage, standing not only for my school, but more importantly my whānau, hapū and iwi. It was a true pleasure to be on the stage stating my thoughts and opinions pertaining to my chosen topic, E ora tonu ana ngā tikanga Māori i Aotearoa nei. I conveyed my message to those in attendance to uphold the customs and practices established by our ancestors as guidelines for my generation and the next. As I completed my speech it felt like the world had been lifted off my shoulders, just the share relief of it being over felt liberating.
Early that afternoon our teachers decided we had to leave prior to prizegiving. If we had stayed the risk of being stranded in Christchurch increased as the weather in Arthurs Pass was not favourable. As we headed into the small township of Kūmara not far from Hokitika I received a phone call from my mother who was yelling and cheering. She informed me that I had come 2nd equal in the junior Māori section of the Waitaha/Aoraki Ngā Manu Kōrero Competition 2017.
I felt elated as I realised that all the effort and hard work had reaped benefits.
That actually made my night as I had not expected to be placed.
Nā Aleigha Ngaamo