Ahorangi o mua Whatarangi Winiata
TVNZ, Te karere
‘Me pūmau tonu au kia pai ake te reo o aku tamariki i tōku reo’
He uri nō Ngāti Raukawa, he pūkenga pārae roa, i whakawhiwhia a Ahorangi Whatarangi Winiata ki te tohu Oranga Angitu ki Ngā Tohu Reo Māori i te tau 2018, mō āna mahi whakarauora i te reo Māori, i roto i te haurua rautau.
I te tau 1975 ka riro i a ia te tūranga Toihau mō te tari mahi kaute i Te Whare Wānanga o Wikitōria. I ērā tau nā Ahorangi Winiata i tīmata te kaupapa Whakatupuranga Ruamano, ko te rautaki whakarauora i te reo ki te rohe o Te Ātiawa, o Ngāti Raukawa, me Ngāti Toa, i Te Upoko o Te Ika, i Horowhenua me Manawatū.
Na tāna tama, nā Pakake Winiata i kōrero i te wā tuku taonga i te tau 2018, mō ngā mahi a Whatarangi, ‘Tuatahi, kia whakahokia atu te reo hei reo tuatahi mo tōna whānau, tuarua, ki te whānau whānui tonu, tuatoru ki tōna iwi, tuawhā, ki te marea’.
Nā te whakamahi i ōna pūkenga ahorangi akoranga mahi kaute, i whakatauhia e ia me Māori te reo kōrero i te kāinga, mā tērā, e ora tonu ai te reo: ‘Me pūmau tonu au kia pai ake te reo o aku tamariki i tōku reo.’ I tēnei rā, nā āna mahi, kua reorua te tāone o Ōtaki, e kōrerotia ana te reo Māori i roto i te 50 ōrau o ngā kāinga.
Ko Whatarangi Winiata te Tumu Whakarae o Te Wānanga o Raukawa mai i te tau 1994 tae noa ki te tau 2007, ko ia anō hoki te Perehitini i te tīmatanga o te Pāti Māori (2004–2009).