100 Miles for our Kōhanga Reo

Tenei au e mihi atu nei ki a koutou katoa!

Ko Josh Te Aomarere tōku ingoa, he uri ahau nō Ngāti Raukawa te au ki te tonga me Ngāti Rārua

Ko au tētahi o te whānau o te Kōhanga Reo o Tumanako ki Kawerau.

E mihi ana ki a koutou!

To all my friends and whānau, please throw a bit of love our way.

On Sat 13th Feb (and half of Sunday) I’m attempting to run 100 miles (160km) as part of the Tarawera Ultra Marathon and I’m using this as an opportunity to raise some much needed funds for our Kōhanga Reo.

Without delving into a history lesson, and for my mates from different parts of the world, Kōhanga Reo, started in 1982, is early childhood education delivered in Te Reo Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand. Like most things Māori, Kōhanga Reo has had to fight for its existence in Aotearoa, and that fight continues.

Our Kōhanga Reo in Kawerau, in particular our teachers, do an amazing job. Like all Kōhanga Reo we are grossly under funded, under resourced and our staff are under paid. We rely on a heap of love from our kaiako and whānau to give our kids the best that we can. But love doesn’t buy new resources and I’d love our Kōhanga to have more. Our Kōhanga Reo is aiming to re-vamp our outdoor space and create opportunities for outdoor learning in a more natural, authentic context. This will help to further develop the language skills of our tamariki and provide a new teaching space for our teachers. We are aiming to raise $3000 for this project and I’m keen to put as big a dent as possible in that figure.

So please, I’d love it if you can back me on this run by supporting the awesome kids who attend Tumanako Kōhanga Reo. We operate on next to nothing so honestly, by Giving A Little you really are giving a lot! I’m eyeing up about 30 hours of pain and knowing that our kids are going to benefit from what I’m doing will be huge motivation.

From me, my whānau and all of us at Tumanako Kōhanga Reo, I thank you for your support.

Ahakoa he iti he pounamu

Mauri ora, Josh