Our Story
The journey began six years ago with a simple question: "What is one thing we do every day that can help us learn Te Reo Māori?" The answer was clear: text messaging. It's something we all do every day to connect with each other, making it the perfect tool to weave Te Reo Māori into our daily lives.
Initially, this app was created as a personal tool for a little family to learn Te Reo Māori together. However, realising its potential to help others on their language journey, the vision expanded. This decision marked the beginning of a challenging yet rewarding path, as the creator (of Ngātihine, Ngāpuhi, and Ngātiporou descent) was also on his own journey to learn Te Reo Māori, with guidance and support from his whānau.
At the beginning of this journey, he reached out to numerous organisations for support in creating this app. However, many could not see the same vision for Ako Tahi. Undeterred, he pushed forward, relying on his whānau for translations and dedicating countless hours to teaching himself how to code. It wasn't an easy path, but his belief in the potential of Ako Tahi to help others kept him going.
Today, Ako Tahi stands as a grassroots project born from aroha, curiosity, and a commitment to supporting the learning and revitalisation of Te Reo Māori.
Acknowledgements
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Te Huinga for their generous support of our kaupapa for Ako Tahi. Their contribution has enabled us to access essential resources, allowing us to improve the app and create a better learning experience for everyone.
We also want to acknowledge and thank our iwi, Ngātihine, for their unwavering support. This collective effort has been instrumental in advancing our kaupapa, and we are deeply grateful for the shared commitment to preserving and promoting Te Reo Māori.
We are equally grateful to all those who contributed to our Givealittle page. It has been over two and a half years since we first launched the page, and while we were genuinely touched by the contributions, the amount raised at the time was unfortunately not sufficient to move this initiative forward. We made every effort to return contributions to those we could identify.
Now, with the generous support from Te Huinga, we are excited to finally move forward and bring this vision to life. This initiative supports the kaupapa of a new, free mobile app, Ako Tahi Tamariki, a Te Reo Māori app designed specifically for parents.
We also wish to acknowledge Kaihanui Creative and The Dreaming Robin for their incredible support in creating the artwork for Ako Tahi.