I had to move to Rūātoki to learn te reo Māori. Our tamariki shouldn’t have to

The useful part

Growing up unable to understand her own whānau, Rawinia Higgins went home to Rūātoki and discovered a place where te reo Māori wasn't simply taught – it was the language of everyday life. Thinking about te reo towns, the theme for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2026, my mind goes to Rūātoki – a small town just south of Whakatāne where I learnt to speak Māori. When my native reo Māori-speaking mother and family would get together, they would all be speaking Māori, laughing and sharing stories.

How it works

• I would feel left out because I couldn't understand and take part in what was being said.
• The school was the first officially recognised bilingual school, back in 1978, and was well established by the time I got there in 1985.
• It was the result of a community where te reo Māori was the norm, staffed by Tūhoe relatives of mine including Koro Whitu McGarvey – who was my teacher – and Tāwhiri and Kaa Williams, among others.
• It was in this small-town community I learnt te reo Māori – where I was finally able to access the richness of the world that I had been missing.
• A baptism of fire I won't romanticise it – learning the language was a baptism by fire.

What to take from it

I had known of remedial classes at my school in Wellington, but that was for English. I still chuckle thinking about it today – it was like living in a parallel universe.

Details worth keeping

I grew up in an English-speaking home in Wellington.