Jesse Mulligan was scrolling through twitter updates and a post caught his eye - it was from a woman who was nervous ahead of her first karanga at a powhiri on her marae last Saturday.
With her niece’s blessing on the horizon, Kaylene Pohatu (Rongomaiwahine) from Mahia, on the East Coast, was asked by her whānau if she would perform the karanga.
It would be the first time she stood on her marae to do so.
Pohatu spoke to Jesse Mulligan about her experience preparing for the day.
Kaylene Pohatu Photo: Public Domain
“[It] was quite daunting for me because I’m not really one to get up in front of lots of people, I’m quite shy.
“As my cousin put it, you can’t just run and hide in the kitchen all the time, there’s roles on the marae that have to be fulfilled so sometimes those who try to hide in the kitchen like me have to get out of the kitchen and go to the front of the marae. Just step up.”
Having good whānau support was an important part of the process, Pohatu says.
“When you’re on your marae with your own people, and just that constant support, it really does help.”
Pohatu’s cousin, Karina, in Gisborne also guided her through the process.
While she thought she would be learning the words by memorising what Karina taught her, she quickly learned she needed to find her own oro.
“She helped me a lot but I was still quite nervous about it, especially when you know there’s other fluent reo speakers there as well.”
Leading up to the day of the blessing, Pohatu says she was finding it hard to sleep but Karina helped her to break down the barriers she was facing.
“She was just just like ‘you know you’ve got this, we’ve found your sound and we’ve taught you how to wiri your voice’.”
When the day came, Pohatu was nervous but her whānau were there to support her.
Once she saw the manuhiri and she saw her cousin, all of her nerves fell away and she just wanted to make her whānau proud.
“I can’t even explain how I felt…I just felt like my wairua had shifted into a different place, into a really good place, a strong place and you just feel…your ancestors, and I really tried to channel my nan and my papa and thought about them.
“Now I feel like I could do it again.”
