Carey O'Hagan
Mihimihi
Ko Takitimu te waka
Ko Aoraki te maunga
Ko Waitaki te awa
Ko Wiataha, nea Kati Mamoe, nea Tumatakokiri, Kai Tahu te iwi
Ko Tuahuriri nea Otakou te Hapu
Ko Carey O'Hagan taku ingoa.
I am a trained teacher completing a Master of Education at Victoria University of Wellington. I am interested in exploring curriculum design and professional practices that aim to cater for diversity amongst students, in particular Māori students.
I'm working with rangatahi in Kaiapoi.
Email: Carey.Ohagan@vuw.ac.nz
Why have I chosen to do the fieldwork in Kaiapoi?
I am able to fly over the whenua of Te Wai Pounamu in my mind's eye, so deeply are the contours and folds of the maunga, the indents and flow of the awa which have given life to me, and those before me, on their journey to the sea, etched in my memory.
Although I left Kaiapoi twenty-seven years ago it is the place where I come from physically, spiritually and emotionally. It is where I visit the urupa of my whanau. Not far away Otautahi (Christchurch), the birthplace of my Mother, sits against the Port Hills.
The Kaiapoi River
The Kaiapoi River entertained my Dad and I for hours, as it did Granddad. It is celebrated as a port for ships that brought civilisation to the place. I know it for much more than this. So special is it that Granddad died whilst fishing on it, many years after it had taken his first son, my Dad's treasured older brother. The River fed my grandfather and his family.
To the north of the River the bitumen on Highway 1, leading from Kaiapoi to Woodend, covers the pa my ancestors inhabited. Not far from this spot my great-grandparents lived and my grandfather was born. I have known this to be a significant landmark all my life. When I look at the empty paddock that stands there today I see the old photographs I've seen from the time when a home stood there.
On the south side of the Kaiapoi River is Kaiapoi High School, almost on the outskirts of town. Had my family not left Kaiapoi I would have attended Kaiapoi High School. My journey through life can be defined in this manner, a labyrinth in which the beginnings and endings are merged. My participation in the Through Our Eyes project has lead me back to my place of birth and to Kaiapoi High.
