Deaf learn Maori culture

A Maori house of learning for deaf children was opened at the Kelston Deaf Education Centre in Auckland yesterday after many hours of voluntary work by deaf adults and pupils.

Children from the centre performed a challenge and were part of the powhiri for the opening of the small marae and meeting house constructed in a classroom.

A Maori culture tutor, Mr Carl Ross, said deaf adults had worked until 3 am to complete the project because they did not have such a venue when they were at deaf school.

He said the children had decided to call the place Ruamoko, the unborn child, because of their feelings of being unborn children into the world of the Maori people.

“I believe there is a definite barrier between hearing Maori and deaf Maori and what we are building here is something to bridge the gap,” said Mr Ross.

The chairwoman of the centre’s board of trustees, Lynette Pivac, said the centre “has seen the needs of Maori deaf children and help them to know their Maori roots.

“It is good to learn how to accept to be a deaf person but also it is good for them to know where they come from because many Maori children miss out on this Maori and we are here to provide that knowledge,” she said through a sign language interpreter.

Also yesterday, at the adjacent Kelston Girls’ High School, a multicultural week was officially opened in a school hall with performances of school cultural groups.

The school has Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Island, Niuean, Tokelauan and Indian culture groups and was presenting traditional costumes and dances which were painted for the centre by an Auckland artist, Sally Griffin.