Ko Kahurananki te maunga
Ko Ngaruroro te awa
Ko Ngāti Pāhauwera rāua ko Ngāti Kahungunu aku iwi
Ko Ngāti Poporo te hapū
Ko Harataki Kahungunu Manihera tōku ingoa
Ko te Kaihautū ahau
“Nāku te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi”
No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātau katoa.

My name is Harataki Kahungunu Manihera and I’ve been given the amazing opportunity as the new kaihautū.

I was born and raised in a marae settlement called Bridge Pa, a small community just outside of Hastings.

I was raised in a big whānau of 14 and though we didn’t have much financially or materially we were nurtured and loved by our mum to appreciate life regardless of what hand we had been dealt.

Having left school at the tender age of 14 because of a particular mathematics teacher having a view and expressing it to me that I was a dumb fella, I rushed home and told dad. He looked at me and said, “You’ll be out working with us then in the shearing shed.” I relished this opportunity and then funnily enough at the age of 30 I started my educational journey, eventually completing formal studies at Palmerston North Teacher Training College.

After a four-year stint in the classroom, I left and worked for the Ministry of Education for 18 years in Special Education in severe and challenging behaviour, as a specialist in behaviour and then into a manager role. I left then worked for four years at the Ministry for Primary Industries in the Customary Fisheries Team working alongside iwi and hapū with their Te Tiriti of Waitangi settlements specific to customary fisheries. And in 2022 I joined Skills Active Te Mahi Ako as their kaihautū.

I am married to my amazing wife of 43 years with five children and 10 mokopuna in tow ????

No reira rau rangatira ma, ko tēnei taku whakapapa.

Huri noa, huri noa

Tēnā koutou, tena koutou, tēnā tātau katoa.