Waka Ama
On Tuesday 29 April 2025, our Year 7-10 Kapa Haka students and Year 10-11 students, learning Māori language, had the extraordinary opportunity to go on a fantastic trip ‘Waka Ama’ facilitated by Ocean Blue Sports Club at Okāhu Bay in Auckland.
You may be wondering what ‘Waka Ama’ means – it is a Māori term for outrigger canoeing. This sport has its roots in the Pacific and is thousands of years old.
On this ‘Waka Ama’ trip, the goal for the students was to learn how to work as a team, learn about Māori cultural identity, and of course to have fun.
We all gathered in BG4 at 8:15am, to join in a Karakia, to pray that we may stay safe, to thank God, and to pray for good weather before heading to our bus.
Soon we arrived at the amazing sight of the wavy, bright, blue ocean, with a tall mountain view. We first got greeted by a kind lady who taught us all the rowing positions, and kupu (words) that we needed to know and then we were sorted into three large groups, for the three stations soon to come.
One group went on the waka’s first, with each waka having a mentor/professional, who was there to guide. On the waka we would count so that we could stay in time while rowing, and when we would get the hang of it, we would have a race with the other waka!
The second group would go to a park nearby the beach, and play a fun game of Ki O Rahi, a traditional Māori game.
The third group would go along the beach and learn the kupu to our school haka.
Then we would all rotate when the different groups. At the end of the day, we helped to pull the waka back up onto shore, showing teamwork. This got us all wet, so we had to change into our extra clothes before we could hop back onto the bus.
On this trip we connected with each other better, with our Māori culture, and learnt so many amazing new skills. Thank you to our South East Auckland Kāhui Ako for funding this event for us. We would also like to thank Miss Hiddleston, Mrs. Croxford and Mr. Rimamate for all their support and effort, and for the staff of Ocean Blue Sports Club who helped us on the day.
