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Kia ora, 
ko Evelyn tōku ingoa.

Ko Ngati-Pōneke toku iwi. 
Nō Wainuiomata ahau.

So I'm born 
and bred in Wainui,

it's my whenua, 
and I love this place.

The reason I feel 
so passionate about

Aotearoa New Zealand 
histories is because

for me having grandparents 
that were adopted

and not knowing my iwi 
and my actual whakapapa,

I've taken on my 
land here and so

growing up my sense 
of my own tūrangawaewae

wasn't very strong.

Local Māori histories 
matters so much, I think,

because it connects 
people to places

and areas that we live in.

A lot of us may have 
roots in different whenua

around New Zealand 
or even over, you know,

around the world, 
but that doesn't mean

we can't have 
wings elsewhere.

And I think for 
a lot of us there is

a disconnect from 
maybe our past whenua.

So it's actually trying to
acknowledge what is here now,

and where we are, and 
really appreciating that.

Kia ora koutou, 
ko Himalaya tōku maunga,

ko Yamuna tōku awa, 
ko India tōku iwi,

ko Rakesh tōku hoa Tane, 
ko Richard tōku tamāhine,

ko Robin tōku tama, 
ko Sharda tōku ingoa.

No Wainuiomata ahau, 
no reira tēnā koutou,

tēnā koutou, 
tēnā koutou katoa.

We need to know our roots, 
where we belong.

And it helps in further 
learning and knowing

where we are and 
moving forward.

History is really 
significant because

it helps us learn 
from the past

and know our achievements 
and also our downfalls.

My beginning point 
with connecting with kuia

and kaumātua is through 
like family and relationships

and I mean being brought 
up in Wainuiomata.

We're all connected, like 
the principal of the school

was one of my old teachers. 
I went to school with her sons

and we're all 
connected you know,

in our little whāriki 
of networking.

And I think it's important
that in order to build

those relationships, you 
have to start from something.

Ko wai au, 
ko Mate Taitua tāku ingoa,

nō hea nō whakatau hea 
Ngai Tūhoe, tāku mahi roto

i te hāpori, is to 
bring back Te Reo Māori,

nga tikanga e pai 
ana ki ō mātou tīpuna.

I do a lot i roto 
i te hāpori

so I'm a kaumātua 
for Wainuiomata marae.

The local story would 
be te pepeha o Wainuiomata.

The one that wrote it
was Linda Olson,

she's the manager 
of Wainuiomata marae,

and she wrote te 
pepeha o Wainuiomata

which is you know, 
to do with Wainui,

and the maunga is Pukeatua, 
Wainuiomata the marae,

te Āti Awa te iwi, 
Tokomaru te waka.

That's an awesome
way to bring

part of the history
of Wainuiomata.

It used to be called 
Glendale School and Glendale

kindergarten in the sixties 
when it was built.

And they changed to Pukeatua 
maybe eight years ago.

There was a naming ceremony, 
because we wanted to name it

according to the area 
where it belongs.

Pukeatua hill, 
Pukeatua bridge,

Pukeatua kindergarten, 
Pukeatua school,

so it signifies to
the land, the whenua.

As Te Whāriki says, 
children learn from people,

places, and things 
by making connections.

That's how children learn, 
like starting from the whānau.

So wherever you live, 
a neighbourhood or anywhere,

you need to feel 
connected to people,

you need to know 
my local area.

People can be whakamā 
about even reaching out

like, you know, it's just 
going to a marae

just to talk to people 
can be very, very intimidating

if you don't know, you know?

My one piece of advice 
for kaiako that might be

starting out in their 
place-based and localised

curriculum journey 
would be to look at

where they stand,
where they are right now.