Excited children, parents and caregivers gathered at Hoyts, Sylvia Park last month to celebrate the premiere of the highly anticipated Māori cartoon “Te Pakiwaituhi” which stemmed from the much beloved Māori children’s brand Pipi Mā, the first ever 100% Māori speaking dolls.
Created by partner duo Kristin Ross and Hōhepa Tuahine, Te Pakiwaituhi explores the adventures of Kōhanga Reo and teaches children about tikanga, values and behaviour. It also includes segments which focus on numeracy and literacy skills.
“This is the first time our preschoolers are going to have an opportunity to see a cartoon made by Māori for Māori, so they see a true representation of themselves,” says Ms Ross.
Poutama is proud to have supported Punarau Media Ltd and their journey towards the normalisation of Te Reo Māori in, around and beyond Aotearoa.
Punarau Media is a production company that is passionate about the Māori language. Kristin and Hōhepa produce high quality Māori language content for web series, digital TV, apps and other platforms. Punarau Media is paving the way and strives to be the leading production company in Māori digital media.
Punarau Media is the pioneer of innovation and creativity in the fast developing and forever growing ICT and digital sector. The company is committed and dedicated to producing and creating peerless resources for the Māori language and its customs that contribute towards an affluent digital literacy for the Māori language and its culture.
The initial idea for Punarau Media was established in 2013. The concept for the company derived from the challenges they faced as Māori speaking parents. They found there was a lack of quality resourcing that supported their decision to only speak the Māori language in their family.
Whilst they could control the normalisation of the language face to face with their daughter, they had no control on the types of media and their mediums she was being exposed to. They are advocates for digital learning and education and see it as imperative that learners of this generation are digitally literate.
Check our their website to see the Pipi Mā range and the cartoon, Te Pakiwaituhi is also now available – www.pipima.co.nz.
