He mihi nui ki a koe e Temetiu, e te rakatira mō āpōpō. Nāu i whai atu i te mātauraka o kā tūpuna, o kā mātua hei oranga mō te taiao, mō te iwi hoki!

This is a success story about Temetiu Togia, he is 11years old and is a student at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Whānau Tahi.

Temetiu has shown himself to be a natural when it comes to learning mahi and tikanga from the time of his tūpuna.
He is a real pātaka of knowledge about te mahi hī ika – fishing, and anything related to the technologies and tools used in both modern day practice and those of his tūpuna. He is a fabulous writer and can churn out stories about fishing exploits down at Kaitorete spit and surrounding areas.

He quickly absorbs any new information, and is especially interested in tuna, inaka and pātiki, the challenges they face and their needs for a clean environment and one that can support their wellbeing. It is so important that we have young people coming through that have a keen interest in mahinga kai, knowing, treasuring and passing on these ways so that they will be successfully preserved for generations to come.

He is seen here extracting muka, a skill he picked up very quickly. His learning is being carried to him through te reo rangatira, this takes a big commitment from whānau to travel each day to kura, me mihi ka tika hoki ki a rātou, te whānau Togia.

Keep up the good work Temetiu, we need to grow our experts!

Mō tātou, ā, mō kā uri a muri ake nei.