Awe: te mauri o Wharemauku

AWE is a learning experience from the taiao, to the taiao.  

Weaving together the voices of the awa itself, with a team of haukainga, environmental educators and the community, AWE is a series of four workshops that provide a unique curriculum experience for educators at all levels within the Kāpiti rohe.

AWE draws on the power of narratives to understand ourselves, our relationships to each other and to this whenua. Each of the workshops centre the messages and stories of the Wharemauku river and haukainga. Through centring this mātauranga, we are all able to access and connect with values from a worldview that remembers what it is to relate to te taiao with love, reverence and humility, values that are essential for our collective future. 

We began in the season of Takurua, gathering at Kaitawa Reserve with a focus on Mauri Ora. Led by haukainga taiao facilitator, Sharlene Māoate-Davis (Ngāti Wehiwehi, Ngāti Huia, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngai Tahu, Taranaki, Te Ātiawa), we:

– connected with the maramataka

– listened to pūrākau from mana whenua

– centred Waikōrero and consider the different types of wai 

– explored embodied practices that celebrate our interconnectedness

– provided inspiration and guidance for kaiako around next steps and learning pathways in the classroom