Visiting Te Mahurehure Marae...

This weekend, am spending time at a combined noho Marae (weekend overnight stay) at Te Mahurehure Marae in Pt Chevalier i.e. in joining my rangahau (research) class with my two colleagues.

It's my first time visiting here with our little one and it's set in a beautiful setting which feels like we've in the bush with only a short 5 minute drive to Auckland Zoo and MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology).

I really count it a privilege in being given this opportunity to work within indigenous environments and to learn alongside a current and happening team of dedicated kaiako/teachers in the research space. It's something that mainstream research teams could really learn a lot from in not only researching topics but then also giving back directly to the local community in sharing knowledge and ideas for moving forward.

This weekend we'll be visiting Auckland Museum and viewing some of the artefacts in the Maori and Pacific space and then moving onto other exhibitions spaces to consider some of the tikanga (protocols etc.) associated with them.

The other neat thing is being able to share some of these experiences with my little one and recognising that often when our work spaces aren't shared with our families that they are in the dark about what we really do. In this way being together can ignite an understanding of different cultures especially in a Marae setting.

As in learning the protocols of one culture you begin to have a better understanding of your own in what the similarities and differences are. So if you haven't had a noho Marae experience, I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the Tangata Whenua of New Zealand i.e. the first nations people or better still you can join our classes in the new year to learn about local indigenous experiences...