Mr Hakiaha, an elder (kaumatua) on Laidlaw College’s Māori Advisory Council said, “Tāku Paipera is done in a language that belongs to us, it’s a language that reveals our identity and it’s a language that is the heartbeat of our culture.
“For Māori children, it’s their language put to print, the stories of the Bible from thousands of years are now conveyed in their sacred language. It will help build their self-esteem and pride.
“This Bible will lead to the preservation of te Reo [the Māori language] and the continuity of te Reo and also the use and continuance of a traditional language to a modern language.”
He added: “I’ve personally wanted this for 30 years, because growing up as a child in a Christian home, there was only an adult Bible.”
The arrival of the new children’s Bible was marked with a pōwhiri – a Māori welcoming ceremony – by students at Middle School West Auckland’s Bilingual Unit. After the unveiling, 25 students were given copies of the new Bibles as a gift.
As part of the formal Māori welcome, Mr Hakiaha read one of his favourite Bible stories, the feeding of the 5,000, with smoked fish and bread specially brought in for the students.
“No matter what race or nationality you are, food is important to every culture,” he said. “To Jesus food is important, there are no barriers with food. It was important to Jesus to see people were fed.”
Mr Hakiaha said he was particularly impressed with the use of colour in the Bible, the clear layout, short sentences, paraphrasing and macrons. “The first thing I thought when I saw the Bible was how vibrant and colourful the pictures were and how this made it easy to read and contemporary.”
Tāku Paipera, the new Māori language children’s Bible, is available from Bible Society New Zealand, priced at $16.99 NZD (approximately £9.56).