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Nau Mai, Haere Mai

Te Rōpū Āwhina Whakawāhine is honoured to hold the tono of Māpuna and Hui Takatāpui 2026.

From 16–18 October 2026, we warmly welcome whakawāhine, Takatāpui whānau, community leaders, artists, health practitioners, advocates, and supporters from across Aotearoa to gather at Makaurau Marae in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Hui Takatāpui is an opportunity for us to come together kanohi ki te kanohi — to reconnect, share knowledge, strengthen relationships, celebrate our communities, and imagine the futures we want to create together.

Across three days, we will gather through wānanga, kōrero, performance, whakawhanaungatanga, kai, and collective reflection. Together we will honour the journeys of those who came before us while creating space for the next generations of whakawāhine leadership to flourish.

As hosts, Te Rōpū Āwhina Whakawāhine looks forward to welcoming you onto the marae, sharing in this kaupapa, and ensuring everyone who attends feels held, supported, and connected.

To become a volunteer, read our mātāpono and scroll to the bottom to register today

Ko Wai Mātou | About Us

Āwhina

Āwhina derives from the Māori concept of aroha as practical action. In mātauranga Māori, awhina is a binding embrace between people who share whakapapa or hāpori. For our Takatāpui, Whakawāhine and irawhiti whānau, this means the collective holds every member; supporting each other across generations with care, knowledge and resources. Āwhina demonstrates the practice of reciprocity through practical tikanga such as koha, kai and manaaki. At Hui Takatāpui, Ngā Uri Ē! Hui Whakawāhine, āwhina grounds every decision of our hui. The hauora of our whānau becomes the responsibility of us all.

Maumahara

Ka Maumahara tonu. Maumahara is the active exercise of memory and remembering as a spiritual and intellectual practice. Mātauranga Māori reminds us that remembering our Tīpuna strengthens our present. Maumaharatanga requires us to recall our whakapapa, Kōrerō tuku iho, pūrakau and the names of those who upheld Takatāpui and Whakawāhine existence before and after colonisation. This principle rejects the colonial narrative that queer Māori lives are new or imported. At Hui Takatāpui, maumahara is practiced through recitation, waiata, and the retelling of stories and histories. Here, the past greets us as we remember.

Kanohi ki te kanohi

Face to face. Eye to eye. Kanohi ki te kanohi is a tikanga of engagement rooted in the Māori understanding that information transmitted through the taha tīnana carries and informs our truth and lived experience more than it would through the digital realm. Kanohi ki te kanohi allows us to come face to face with our hāpori o Takatāpui and irawhiti Māori, to listen and share in kōrero, mātauranga Māori and whakapapa. Hui Takatāpui, Ngā Uri Ē! Hui Whakawāhine builds every important conversation around this face to face wānanga style to ensure connection, whakawhanaungatanga and lasting relationships.

Tuakiritanga

Ka Tihei au, Ka mauri ora! I sneezed, therefore I am life. Tangata whai ora is our journey toward full or balanced wellbeing. In mātauranga Māori, ora includes te taha tinana, te taha wairua, te taha whānau, and te taha whenua. At Hui Takatāpui, Ngā Uri Ē!, Hui Whakawāhine, the pathway to ora runs through kōrero. The sharing of stories and knowledge within a safe space opens channels of healing, while sharing space with our hāpori restores what isolation may have diminished. This hui exists to create the conditions for the exchange of truth, understanding and reciprocal healing to occur; to allow balance to return back to ourselves.

Kia Hiwa Rā

Āwhina

Āwhina derives from the Māori concept of aroha as practical action.

In mātauranga Māori, awhina is a binding embrace between people who share whakapapa or hāpori.

For our Takatāpui, Whakawāhine and irawhiti whānau, this means the collective holds every member; supporting each other across generations with care, knowledge and resources.

Āwhina demonstrates the practice of reciprocity through practical tikanga such as koha, kai and manaaki.

At Hui Takatāpui, Ngā Uri Ē! Hui Whakawāhine, āwhina grounds every decision of our hui. The hauora of our whānau becomes the responsibility of us all.

Maumahara

Ka Maumahara tonu. Maumahara is the active exercise of memory and remembering as a spiritual and intellectual practice.

Mātauranga Māori reminds us that remembering our Tīpuna strengthens our present.

Maumaharatanga requires us to recall our whakapapa, Kōrerō tuku iho, pūrakau and the names of those who upheld Takatāpui and Whakawāhine existence before and after colonisation.

This principle rejects the colonial narrative that queer Māori lives are new or imported.

At Hui Takatāpui, maumahara is practiced through recitation, waiata, and the retelling of stories and histories. Here, the past greets us as we remember.

Kanohi
ki te
kanohi

Face to face. Eye to eye.

Kanohi ki te kanohi is a tikanga of engagement rooted in the Māori understanding that information transmitted through the taha tīnana carries and informs our truth and lived experience more than it would through the digital realm.

Kanohi ki te kanohi allows us to come face to face with our hāpori o Takatāpui and irawhiti Māori, to listen and share in kōrero, mātauranga Māori and whakapapa.

Hui Takatāpui, Ngā Uri Ē! Hui Whakawāhine builds every important conversation around this face to face wānanga style to ensure connection, whakawhanaungatanga and lasting relationships.

Tuakiritanga

Kaitūao | Volunteer

Nau mai, kake mai
Register today

Kaitūao | Volunteer

Nau mai, kake mai
Register today

About Te Rōpū Āwhina Whakawāhine

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