I heard this kōrero today from Trevor Moeke – the regional manager for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa here in the East. It was at the wānanga graduation that he spoke about kina… and he went on and on and on about kina…

But the gist of his kōrero was about how kina is such a delicacy and when we eat kina or even before we eat the kina, we salivate and work up to eating it and then when we do eventually eat it, we savour the taste in our mouths, waiting for the next bit to go in, all the time looking after this kai from Tangaroa…
And so he likened the kina to our dreams our aspirations, something special to be nurtured and cared for. When we look after our kina we are taking responsibility for our own destiny…
And his last words were, that reaching our destiny is not without its challenges and those spikes of the kina represent those heke, those times where we have to really dig deep to achieve our dreams but if we can endure and work through those challenging times, then therein lies the hua, the delicacy, the dream, there for the taking, for eating, to enjoy and take in… hei oranga mo te tinana, te hinengaro me te wairua… as health and wellbeing, it nurtures, our body, mind and spirit.
You had to be there to fully appreciate the kōrero but it was a wonderful way to end the LONG graduation ceremony.
And why kina? Because apparently they don’t get oysters in Waipiro Bay where he’s from so kina is it!
Arohanui,
Jo x