Impressive young orators push important topics at Ngā Manu Kōrero

Monday, 12 June 2023

Category winners at the Manawatū Horowhenua Ngā Manu Kōrero speech competition on Monday receive a haka from the audience. From left, Maro Preston (Freyberg High School), Prya Simon (PNGHS), Maraea Coleman (Manukura), and Keepa Whaiapu (Te Wharekura o Manawatu).

The way Cyclone Gabrielle affected her people provided a Manawatū teen with the inspiration to perform an outstanding speech.

Manukura student Maraea Coleman won the senior Māori category at the Manawatū Horowhenua Ngā Manu Kōrero speech competition at The Regent on Broadway on Monday.

Students spoke in te reo Māori and English, and there were some impressive entries. The four winners all qualify for the national final in Dunedin in September.

Coleman’s topic was “ka waipuke ana te whenua ka waikurahia ngā tikanga” or “when the land is flooded our customs are destroyed”.

* Aucklanders get 'dotted' against Covid-19 on field of Eden Park

* Covid-19: Undecided put off by people telling them what to do

Manukura student Maraea Coleman won the senior Māori category.

Coleman is from Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast, but her family moved to Manawatū so she could attend Manukura.

Being from East Coast she knew many people, including whānau members, who had been hit by bad weather when the cyclone struck in February.

“I spoke about how the floods destroyed our tikanga and in different ways how technology has flooded upon us.

Maro Preston (Freyberg High School) won the senior English competition.

“How there was no tikanga created to help us move forward, we only have old tikanga.”

She was relieved the speech was over, having spent time every night practising.

It was the first time she had entered the competition as she said she was normally shy. Being involved with kapa haka had helped her.

The winners are honoured with a haka from the audience.

She had a few things to work on and improve before the national final, she said.

Ihaka Rapira of Palmerston North Boys’ High School was second and Horowhenua College student Rihara Norgrove-Rangihuna was third.

Freyberg High School student Maro Preston, 15, won the senior English competition with his speech “It’s election year Māori mā maranga mai!”, “or rise up Māori”.

He has entered the competition the past two years, finishing third and second, so he was “over the moon” to win the title.

When Te Paati Māori won two seats in the 2020 election and MPs Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi entered parliament, that lit the fire for Maro’s interest in politics.

He hoped Māori representation in Parliament would improve and had designs on being prime minister one day.

He had been busy researching his speech since the speech topics came out three months ago.

Manukura student Kohae Cherrington was second and Tararua College’s Claudia Sigvertsen was third.

The junior English category was won by Palmerston North Girls’ High School’s Prya Simon. Manukura student Maia Moss was second and Pikiora Scanlon-Tunua from Te Wharekura o Manawatū was third.

Te Wharekura o Manawatū is a new secondary school which opened this year through the existing Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Manawatū.

The junior Māori category was won by Keepa Whaiapu of Te Wharekura o Manawatū, with Maihi Brown from Hato Pāora College second and Manukura’s Maioha Merritt-Mcdonald third.