He kai menemene mō te kaimahi Makitānara, i te rerenga o te kupu whakapāha a te rangatira o tana whare mahi, mōna i wenerautia mō te kōrero Māori. Hei tā Janine Eru-Taueki ko te taunga o te whakaae kia rere noa ai te reo Māori i te hunga kaimahi te mutunga tonu mai.
Kua ea te hīkoi a Eru-Taueki ki te whakanui i te Wiki o Te Reo Māori.
“Kua tau tōku ngākau ināianei,” i kī atu ia.
“E whakaae ana māku otirā te toenga o ngā kaikōrero Māori, ngā kaimahi o Makitānara ki te kōrero Māori ki ngā kaimahi ki ngā kaihoko. Kei te tino harikoa te ngākau.”
I te wiki tonu nei i whāki atu a Eru-Taueki i tōna kore āhei ki te kōrero Māori i tōna wāhi mahi. Ā, ko tāna, ehara i te mea ngāwari te kōrero atu.
“I pōhēhē au ka panaia ahau engari nā tō rātou huri he mahi tonu tāku.”
Mai i tōna whakaputa kōrero, kua huri a Makitānara ki te panoni i ngā kaupapa here kia āhei ai ngā kaimahi katoa ki te kōrero i ngā reo motuhake o Aotearoa, whērā i te reo Māori.
I te rā nei, he tuku whakapāha, he tuku tautoko hoki te mahi.
“I tino harikoa ahau i taea e au te haere ki te mahi ka taea e au te kōrero Māori me te kore hameretia, te kore tē taea tētahi te kī mai me kaua koe e kōrero Māori.”
Ahakoa i puta whanui kē te take nei ki te motu i aukatihia mātou e Aotearoa Makitānara ki te tango pikitia o te hui whakapahā tāpiri atu ki tera, kāore te kaiwhakahaere matua ō Krikiriroa i te hiahia kia whakapāhotia tōna āhua.
“Ko te reo tētahi o ngā reo matua o Aotearoa.”
“Ināianei ka taea e au te kōrero Māori. Tē taea e tētahi te kī mai me mutu te kōrero Māori.”
E whakarite ana ngā toa ki Kirikiriroa kia reo rua ngā rārangi kai.
