Ahika¯roa stars tell ‘OUR LANGU AGE OF LOVE’
‘IT CHANGED MY LIFE!’
For Awhimai Fraser, learning te reo Maori wasn’t just something she did for herself, but for her wha- nau too.
The former Shortland Street actress had long been inspired by her namesake aunt Awhimai Puarere – who spoke, sang and advocated for the language – and after a trip to China, she confided that she finally felt it was time for her to come home and learn her reo.
Rotorua-born Awhimai tells, “By the end of our conversation, she’d helped me sign up for a one-year full-immersion course and I was moving to Tamaki Makaurau [Auckland] in two weeks to start!”
Sadly, her aunt
