A group of tamariki in Christchurch are the stars of a video clip for a new waiata He Waka Eke Noa.
The waiata was composed by Antonio Toetoe who works as a kaiako at Kōmanawa, the bilingual unit at the Haeata Community Campus in Christchurch.
"He Waka Eke Noa talks about all of us being together in light of what's happening today, the rāhui going on. I thought it would be a great idea to compose something really positive for our tamariki which involves te reo Māori, some upbeats, fun music and something for them to just jam to," he says.
Toetoe gave the children a task to search their whare for materials to make instruments out of and send him a video of them playing the instrument.
Some of them made instruments out of cardboard boxes and chopsticks. One of the tamariki, Jaxon Ferris, made a set of drums.
“I sent Matua Antonio a video of me playing my three drums made from a can of baked beans that was washed up, a pickle jar and a jam jar. Then I used rubber gloves to attach them,” he says.
Once all of the tamariki had sent the videos to Toetoe, he made the video clip.
"I compiled them all together into a video, played them alongside the video and then made He Waka Eke Noa. It's a really cool piece because it's got all of our tamariki playing, all of our kaiako playing, even some whanau that aren't in Kōmanawa, he says.
“It’s been really positive for us to be together, even though we’re all far away, that we’re all in the same boat.”
Toetoe says Kōmanawa has an online platform that the kids have been able to go on daily to do activities, like learning their pepeha.
He says their new video can be found on the Ministry of Education Facebook page.