“When I think of a Kiwi, I think of someone who is mixed race, whether that’s half Pakeha, half Māori, or part Tongan. That’s just the norm now. And I think that’s a good thing about New Zealand. Most people are very accepting.”
Nearly one quarter of all Māori live in the Auckland region, far away from their iwi.
Many have no connection to their whakapapa, and only about one-fifth can hold a conversation in Maori – with increasingly fewer young people among that number.
So where is home for them?
Mother-of-one Sarah Babbington, 20, is what people call “urban Māori”. She has ties to Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngai Tahu and Ngāti Porou iwi, but lives in Auckland.
Like many urban Māori, she has two homes. The first is her mother’s house in west Auckland. “Home is this house. We’ve been here the longest. It’s the people who are here, so I think wherever my family, like my mum and my son Noah, is – that’s home.”
Home is where she shares good food and music with her family, but her turangawaewae is Masterton, where she was born. Continue reading.
Source: The Wireless
Photo: The Wireless