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National | Haka

Kawakawa family reaches out to tamariki through haka

Kapa haka has taken a major Covid hit with Te Matatini being postponed twice, and regional competitions a distant memory. Despite all that, the Maunsell family from Kawakawa decided to take a leap of faith and start a business to teach haka and the move is paying off.

Arts and culture have been hit by pandemic proportions. In October last year Te Matatini was once again postponed and coming together as a group to haka seemed like a dream. It was then that the Maunsell whānau stepped into the deep and started a business sharing their expertise with tamariki. It isn ow in 25 schools across the country and the demand keeps growing.

"Haka may be cancelled for competitions but it's not cancelled in this where," Raiha Maunsell says.  So Maunsell Whānau Haka Tutors was formed and its reach stretches across Northland.

'This is our oranga'

"We are mainly in mainstream schools. that's where our Māori kids are. This is our way of keeping the culture alive in Aotearoa" Maunsell says.

From humble backgrounds passion grew. "We were pretty poor, we didn't have money to give, taonga to give, We didn't have much to give to our marae to our whānau but we had our waiata," she said.

It's a passion that thrives in this whānau, it's not just the adults in on it. The many children filled the air with song and entertained with haka and poi, challenges were laid and whakapapa shared through music and performance. They are undoubtedly the biggest players in the Maunsell team and when it comes to the stage the most enthusiastic.  One of the Maunsell children told Te Ao Mārama: "This makes us happy, this is our oranga."

These heartwarming sentiments were echoed by Horace Maunsell who said, there's nothing more exciting than seeing the love of te ao Māori grow in his tamariki.

Like all things Māori, Maunsell Whānau Haka Tutors is about the next generation.

"We try to make our next generation better than us and then their next generation will be better than them," Raiha says..

2022 is looking promising with more schools calling on the Maunsell family and their programme celebrating Hine Rehia and Tane Rore.