Te Tiriti in our Language project launched in Waikato

 

By Ingrid Huygens

An exciting Te Tiriti o Waitangi project with ethnic communities is growing in the Waikato! Many migrant and refugee communities are keen to learn about the Treaty, and even keener to learn about tikanga Maaori. So two local organisations pooled their talents to run a programme called Tikanga and the Treaty.  Rauawaawa Kaumātua Trust ran the Te Puna Tikanga programme, and Tangata Tiriti – Treaty People ran the Treaty for Everyone programme.

Te Tiriti workshop group at Hui Te Rangiora Marae, Hamilton

We targeted the talented translators and workers at Decypher Translating and Interpreting and also at Waikato Red Cross. They attended workshops at Rauawaawa in Frankton, and at the beautiful marae Hui Te Rangiora in Clarence St. The translators loved their workshops, learning about what the Maaori signatories had agreed to, and allowed newcomers into their land.

Indeed, they became so passionate about Te Tiriti o Waitangi that they offered to translate a summary of Te Tiriti into each of their own languages.

Liaquat Changezi Ali, greeting kaumaatua at Hui Te Rangiora marae during Tikanga and the Treaty course. Liaquat & son Farij Aqil have produced videos of translators speaking about Te Tiriti in multiple languages.

So Te Tiriti in our Language project was born!

 The translators worked hard as a group, incorporating feedback from reviewers, and even making videos for their language communities in which they read their summary of Te Tiriti aloud in their language.

Translators group at Rauawaawa Kaumātua Trust holding their Tangata Tiriti translator badges - Mayssaa Sheik Al Ard (Arabic), Saw Khon Hmine (Burmese), Ingrid Huygens (project coordinator), Stephanie (Ha) Nguyen (Vietnamese), Surinder Dhulip Singh (Malay), Hamideh Karimi (Persian/Farsi), Miguel Medero (Portuguese & Spanish). All photos were taken by Saw Khon Hmine.

With funding from Joan Macdonald Trust and Lotteries Community, we now have a summary of Te Tiriti (te reo text) in these 14 languages:

  • Arabic

  • Bengali

  • Burmese

  • Chinese – traditional & simplified script

  • Hindi

  • Korean

  • Malay

  • Persian (Farsi)

  • Portuguese

  • Russian

  • Spanish

  • Tamil

  • Urdu

  • Vietnamese

These were developed from the summary of Te Tiriti in plain English, a popular resource in the Tangata Tiriti education programme. Since this is a project of national significance, our vision is to add resources in more and more languages, to reach the target of the 130 languages spoken in the Waikato.

Mayssaa Sheik Al Ard, translator of Tiriti education resources into Arabic. Her badge denotes that she is a Tangata Tiriti Translator for Te Tiriti education resources.

The translated resources are:  

 

  1. A summary of Te Tiriti o Waitangi [poster in own language script]

  2. The language of the Treaty: A comparison of te reo text and the English version

  3. Which Treaty? An explanation of legal & political implications of each text

  4. Pamphlet explaining the background & significance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi

The multiple languages will be printed on posters, and in handouts and pamphlets. Once launched, these will be distributed around the country in hardcopy and digital.

Our new project worker is Rana Arif, who also works for the Refugee Orientation Centre and the Waikato Wellbeing project for rangatahi.

She is busy organising the launch of Te Tiriti in our Languages, to be held in Hamilton in September for national and ethnic community leaders and spokespeople.

 

After the launch, ethnic communities will be able to book Treaty workshops using interpreters and resources in their own languages. With the help of national organisations like the Red Cross, we hope these workshops will roll out around the motu.

 

Ethnic and migrant communities have a significant role to play in supporting revitalisation of te reo Maaori and tikanga Maaori in Aotearoa. Because of their own multilingual abilities, and appreciation of culture as the heartbeat of their own community, they can be very sympathetic and supportive of Maaori language and culture. 

 

Tangata Tiriti – Treaty People is a citizen education programme about Te Tiriti o Waitangi that includes everyone in Aotearoa: Its key aim is to build relationships between tangata tiriti – people of the Treaty (non-Maaori), and tangata whenua – people of the land (Maaori). We focus on helping tangata tiriti from all language groups and abilities feel they belong in the Treaty relationship. To learn more about Tangata Tiriti’s work, go to  www.treatypeople.org 

From left: Whaea Raiha Gray, Miguel Medero, Whaea Rangiuia Riki at Hui Te Rangiora community interpreters’ workshop

 
 
Kim Cable