01/02/2024
Tips for coming to Waitangi with aroha ❤️ on the marama of Otane.
First ask yourself why you want to come and what is your purpose for coming?
Be a good Manuhiri and a welcoming & helpful Tangata Whenua.
All the acom is full, the infrastructure will be strained so parking, toilets and fresh water stations will be minimal.
Be self supplying and think ahead. You’ll need to walk everywhere in the hot sun as the road from the round about is shut on the 6th. Great exercise!
Waitangi is alcohol and drug free, uphold the kaupapa. Never in all my years have I ever seen this.
There will be no one to yell at on the 6th, the government has gone home by then so ❤️
The 6th is mostly a whanau day, the kids and their safety takes precedence so make sure they are having fun!
The hikoi leaves at 9.00am from the roadside by Tou Rangatira at Te Tii Marae to walk to the Whare runanga up top with a message to deliver. Remember the hikoi ki Waitangi have carried the mauri from Te Rerenga Wairua and it would not be polite to jump in the front of them as we have seen in past years and create renegade hikoi promoting your own issues, this is when kotahitanga kicks in, join in on what is already happening. If you didn’t cover the whole distance tautoko, it’s very important and support the speakers to be heard.
Make some funny signs that express your feelings of the moment and take pics of your tamariki on the hikoi to send to their grandparents!
Join along with the chants during the hikoi and be proud, cheering along demonstrates your support.
To wear a gang patch on Waitangi Day? your whanau and hapū are your gang so your marae tees, flags and potae are just right.
Toilets will be limited but still don’t Mimi in the moana! This is the best time to practice kaitiakitanga, no smoke butts in the sand or casual rubbish scattered, volunteers work really hard at helping to keep areas tidy. There’s heaps of bins! Animal lovers Kuri don’t belong here, aroha mai, there’s just to many people.
Haere mai, haere ❤️ When it’s time to go home, go, Waitangi is not an excuse for attempting to occupy by staying on for another two months. True story.
If you see police profiling and taking pics block their view, arouse attention to them so everyone knows but don’t get close and don’t touch them please.
If you have tamariki kaua e do the above as you’re responsible to them first and can’t disappear in a police car 🤣
If you are a non Māori, tangata Tiriti, you are safe! Enjoy the day.
You are not sensored, dress up, get creative, say your speak, meet and wananga, we still must challenge ourselves not to be friendly to the government.
Conservative talk is common, let’s hear more from the grass roots voices, the up and coming protestors who don’t sensor themselves cas of tribal politics, this is the heart of the Waitangi wananga and learning spaces, if your a iwi leader, politician and public servant, your job is to make change in your own organisations, you are not the radical voice ok 🤣 & you don’t have to justify your presence or motel room by presenting, do hand over the microphone to the voices we don’t usually get to hear from! Karawhiua!
Teach the kids about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and that it’s not just a day for selling trinkets and promoting your health and social service agencies!
Or free rides and music, tell them about their tuouna names who signed and everything that was done from then til now to uphold the legacy to live by rangatiratanga.
And finally kōrero Māori and eat good kai! We will always win by speaking our native language and taking care of our hauora! Mauriora ki a tatou!
Also, check out the Housing forum where some pop of our merchandise will feature at our whareuku exhibition! Maramataka calendar flip charts & our new activism wear! Nau mai piki mai
