5 minute read
A very personal sabbatical
Jack and his son Alex after completing the 34-week immersion course
Dr Jack Hill | Auckland Anaesthetist
Ko taku reo, taku ohooho, ko taku reo, taku mapihi mauria. My language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul
Tuatahi, te -nei to -ku mihi maioha ki te wha - nau o Toi Mata Hauora. Te na - koutou e a - ku rangatira. Tuarua, he mihi nunui ki Te Wa - nanga Takiura o Nga - Kura Kaupapa Ma - ori o Aotearoa. He ta - ngata manaaki, he a - whina, he tu -manako hoki a ra - tou. Mauri ora e te wha - nau wha - nui o Takiura. Tuatoru, ka tukuna e ahau i te -nei mihi ki a Papa Tawhiri Williams (Kaitiaki Huhua) ra - ua ko Nanny Kaa Williams (Pouako Matua). Ko nga - poutokomanawa o te reo. He manukura o te ao Ma - ori. Ko Jack Hill ahau. He uri o Nga - ti Wha - tua, ko Nga - ti Kahungunu, ko Nga - Puhi, ko Nga ti Tu -wharetoa ra - tou ko Nga - ti Raukawa. In 2021, I enrolled in a 34-week total immersion course in te reo Ma - ori at Te Wa - nanga Takiura o Nga - Kura Kaupapa Ma - ori o Aotearoa. Takiura was established in 2000 for the purpose of teaching te reo Ma - ori to teachers, but over the years it has broadened its student base, offering a rumaki reo course. Is learning te reo Ma - ori a legitimate CPD activity? A fair enough question, considering my CPD allowance helped finance my tuition. As an anaesthetist working in a tertiary obstetric hospital, like many, I have observed health care inequities and inequalities experienced by Ma - ori. There are multiple determinants for these inequities and inequalities – unconscious bias, microaggression, internalised racism, institutional racism, and negative
stereotyping. Addressing these inequities and inequalities is a complex matter for many DHBs. Integrating tikanga Ma - ori and ma - tauranga Ma - ori into institutional culture is seen by many to be a strategy to counter these negative determinants. These strategies are centred around te reo Ma - ori.
I grew up observing te reo Ma - ori being used for po - whiri, poroporoaki, hui, and tangihanga. Despite my four grandparents being fluent speakers, neither my parents nor I got an opportunity to learn from them. Understandable, given the prevailing negative attitudes regarding the worth of te reo Ma - ori and tikanga Ma - ori. My niece, who had been a student at Takiura, believed a total immersion course was the best way for me to nurture my reo. Hence my haerenga to Takiura.
Organising and applying for a sabbatical is a time-consuming process – in my case, nearly two years. In preparing my application, I sought support and advice from my kuia (Dame Naida Glavish), as well as consulting my directorate and clinical services managers. I was fortunate to have enough annual leave to cover the weeks not covered by sabbatical leave. I was also able to continue my after-hours on-call obligations during the year. To ensure that I kept my ‘hand in’, I elected to return to the day roster during term breaks. I started in a class with 29 other students, one of whom was my son Alex, a secondyear law student. Most students were tangata Ma - ori, with a range of ages, te reo proficiency, and demographics. Despite these differences, my akomanga quickly bonded, developing a strong sense of whanaungatanga and kotahitanga. We often drew on the support of one another as we faced the rigours of our course. For the first few weeks we could speak English, and after that we were encouraged to speak te reo Ma - ori on campus. In the course of the year, I managed to compose a mo - teatea referencing important tribal relationships and a waiata tautoko. My waiata was specifically composed to acknowledge our babies, our mothers, and their wha - nau. It was a fundamental component of my work and that of my colleagues. In recent times when I have spoken at hui at work, I have used this waiata to complement my ko rero. Reflecting on my year, I must admit to being cocky before starting Takiura. How hard could this be? Three-years BSc, six-years MB ChB, five-years Fellowship, I’m sure I will be a kaiwhaiko rero pu -kenga in next to no time. Aue -!!! Four weeks into the course, these expectations were completely dashed, and I was in a state of perpetual confusion. I was trying to write things, creating Excel spreadsheets with grammatical rules, hoping things would stick. Many a morning I would share my anxieties with my son on how difficult it was.
One day he said to me, “Haki, kia whakarongo koe, ka taka te kapa” (Jack, when you listen, the penny will drop). I eventually took his advice and my fluency improved. I made the effort to speak te reo Ma - ori as often as I could, even if it meant making occasional grammatical mistakes. Through the patience, support, and perseverance of my kaiako and my akomanga, I was able to make progress. This became my wero to myself to push onwards. To encapsulate what learning te reo Ma - ori has meant to me, I recall that during my sabbatical year, my son gave a whaiko - rero on behalf of our akomanga at the tangihanga for a classmate’s father. A big responsibility on young shoulders, particularly as he was addressing a taumata of esteemed Tainui kauma - tua. In that moment, his whaiko - rero embodied the ngako of te reo Ma - ori, te reo rangatira. It is summarised in my whakataua - ki.
He aha te mea nui mo - te reo rangatira? Ko te kotahitanga, te whanaungatanga, te manaakitanga, te a -whina, te tautoko me te aroha. What are the important things about the esteemed language? Unity, connectedness, respect, care, support and love
