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I hope everyone had a meaningful Mental Health Awareness Week in Aotearoa! The theme for 2022 was ‘Reconnect – with the people and places that lift you up, hei pikinga waiora’. I acknowledged MHAW by attending the New Zealand Sea Lion/Pakake/Whakahao Annual Forum Hui alongside the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust, Department of Conservation, Forest […]

This past week I have been busy expressing my pakake pride. On Thursday the 22nd I attended the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust’s annual AGM, where my new appointment was announced: Education Lead on the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust Board. Yesterday I attended the New Zealand Sea Lion Annual Forum Hui alongside the New

Thank you Richard Davison at the Otago Daily Times for continuing to update the public about the ‘Vehicles on Beaches Bylaw’ campaign! Raising awareness is important as the species involved: New Zealand sea lions/pakake (rarest seal in the world), and yellow-eyed penguin/hoiho (grace the 5 NZD) are special to many Kiwis across Aotearoa, and are

28 months ago, Luke and I witnessed an endangered New Zealand sea lion/pakake bull being harassed by a truck on Cannibal Bay in the Clutha Region. 28 months ago, I wrote approximately 30 letters to local councillors, politicians and organisations expressing my concerns about sea lions safety. 27 months ago, after receiving unsatisfactory responses to

Ko Oreti tōku awa Ko Takitimu tōku maunga, Ko Takitimu tōku waka Ko Ngāitahu tōku iwi Ko Te Rau Aroha tōku marae No Mossburn tōku kainga Ko Jenny Campbell ahau. Connecting with being Māori has been an awakening as I have gotten older. I was denied that when I was a child. That is true

Reflecting on this year’s Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori conjures a range of thoughts and emotions. It is a reminder of language degradation and cultural loss, which stirs up grief passed down from one generation of Māori to another. It also offers the potential for renewal and an opportunity to have conversations about why

Our language is an oral language. We hear pronunciation, annunciation, and dialectical annotations (some subtle, but to the trained ear, noticeable), and rhythmically. Like patere, moteatea, pao, waiata, haka, and poipoi. These were taught to us by an old method called ‘black outs’, where the room was totally black, words were repeated, tones and tunes

Tēnā koe taku hoa tata. E ora tonu pai ana hoki. Ko Hemara Tōku Whānau. Ko Soli Tōku Ingoa. I was born and raised in central North Island Ohākune (Ngāti Rangi, Whanganui dialect), fluent te reo. College education at Hato Paora, Fielding and had to learn to read and write te Reo Māori, (Ngāti Porou

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori/Māori Language Week occurs annually in Aotearoa between the 12th – 19th of Mahuru/September and is an annual recognition of Te Reo Māori. This year is particularly monumental, as it marks 50 years since the Māori Te Petihana/Language Petition’s success. On the 14th of Mahuru 1972, the Māori Te Petihana

It’s Conservation Week in Aotearoa from the 5th – 11th of September! The ocean/moana has felt like a fibre of my being for as long as I can remember. Many of you will feel the same way; whether you are keen on fishing, foraging for kaimoana, diving, surfing, or swimming. Or maybe the mountain’s call