Māori Queen urges future generations to transform trauma into triumph

"E kore teenei whakaoranga e huri ki tua o aaku mokopuna, ka puta, ka ora" - Kiingi Tawhiao.Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po has called on Māori to change the trajectory for future generations, urging her people to move from the legacy of Raupatu to a future of Rauora.In her second Koroneihana address, Te Arikinui told thousands who gathered at Tūrangawaewae Marae and beyond that the mauri of kotahitanga, carried and protected by her father, Kiingi Tuuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero te tuawhitu, now rests with everyone.Her use of the term Ratapu refers to the impact of colonisation and intergenerational trauma that has continued to trickle across te ao Māori. Rauora symbolises wellbeing, health and prosperity.Te Arikinui delivered the kauwhau in te reo Māori, and the office of the Kiingitanga provided translations which reflected in English the sentiment she carried."We are descendants of Raupatu. But we must also become Toa o te Rauora," Te Arikinui said."Rauora is more than recovery. It is revival. It is the full expression of who we are and who we can become."It is our tamariki growing up strong in their reo, their whakapapa and their potential, knowing they can stand anywhere in the world without leaving behind who they are."It is our whānau healthy and secure. Our people owning homes, building wealth, creating businesses and institutions, growing leaders and determining our own future."It is our whenua and wai flourishing alongside us."And it is Māori looking beyond the challenges of today to the possibilities of tomorrow, leading in technology, innovation, enterprise, science, energy and industries yet to be imagined."Te Arikinui drew on the words of her tūpuna Kiingi Tawhiao, asking what his hope that his mokopuna would prosper and thrive should look like today.The Māori monarch, Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po.Image courtesy of Te Tari o te Kiingitanga"Rauora is not simply having a place in the future. It is having the strength, confidence and imagination to shape it. A people alive with possibility. That is Rauora."She said kotahitanga did not mean Māori would always agree, but meant being able to disagree without diminishing or dividing one another."Let us spend less of our strength fighting one another and more of it building what our people need."Te Arikinui grew up in the shadow of Raupatu, as did many of her generation."Raupatu is part of our story. It must never become the limit of our story."She said Māori would never forget what happened, but the burden of the past could not be allowed to determine how far future generations could go.She questioned whether it was enough for some Māori to prosper while too many whānau continued to struggle with the basics."Surely our tūpuna wanted more for us than survival.She challenged Māori to stop asking only what had happened to them, and instead ask what they would do now."The question for us is no longer only what happened to us; it is also: What will we do now? When do we decide that what we inherited will not be what we hand on?"When do we say, 'The trajectory changes with us'?"Tamariki bring their loved ones to Tūrangawaewae.Image courtesy of Te Tari o te KiingitangaTe Arikinui said the circumstances Māori were born into should not determine the limits of their lives."E ruhi mā, e koro mā, tamariki mā, mokopuna mā: Koinei te rā. This is the day. This is the day I say: Raupatu was part of the world I was born into, but Raupatu is not all that I am. I am an uri of Raupatu, but I will be a toa of Rauora. Ka puta. Ka ora," she said."I will not allow the circumstances into which I was born to determine the limits of my life. I will learn. I will work. I will lead. I will build. And I will leave something stronger for those who come after me. Koinei te rā."E koro, Raupatu, rest here. You have brought us this far. I will never forget you. There will be times when I reach for you again and draw strength from you. But today, let the burden fall from our shoulders."Te Arikinui has urged Māori to look within their own whānau, and become living and breathing examples of health and wellbeing."Aku toa o te Rauora, now it is our turn. Maranga mai rā. Rise. Rise from poverty, from dependency, from the belief that somebody else must determine our future.There will be successes. There will be setbacks. But we are not powerless. We are descendants of Raupatu. Now let us be champions of Rauora."The time has come for our pakeke to guide and strengthen a generation that is courageous, capable and ready. And the time has come to stop believing that our future sits entirely in the hands of government."Government has responsibilities. Those responsibilities must be honoured. But we also have responsibilities to ourselves and to those who come after us."We must build our own whare. Our reo, our taiao, our hauora and our pā harakeke are foundations for that future. Our Kotahitanga gives us the strength to build it together."She acknowledged that government still had responsibilities to Māori, but said Māori also had responsibilities to themselves and those who would come after them.