the fact we are here, is enough. but to remain ‘here’, is not.

We are the most current expression of our whakapapa.

Unless we have tamariki or mokopuna, then they are the most current expression of our whakapapa. Of all who’ve come before them, the values and causes they stood for; the illnesses (spiritual, physical, psychological, emotional or otherwise) they survived and healed from; the adversities they suffered or lived with and the wins they celebrated — we are the most current expressions of that.

Ahhhh whakapapa in action in its simplistic beauty. Perhaps our entire lineage leading up to us has been its own rite of passage, in a way.. You know, because there are some whakapapa lines that no longer exist today.

However , we can’t wānanga and deliberate that idea in isolation with no context or connection to anything else because when you really enquire just a little deeper, you realise that is the baseline, it’s the starting point.

Yes, the fact we are here is enough.

But the legacy from which we descend demands that we make the well a little deeper, the whāriki stretch a little farther, the starting point for uri whakaheke, the next generations a little firmer and wider for them to add to and build on.

He kai kei a tātou ringa, there’s enough potential within us to at least start putting the systems in place for tupuna dreams to become manifest as the reality our mokopuna will live into.

Tēnā tātou,

Hana.