ABSTRACT
The title states the rope is plaiting whanaungatanga (relationship), manaakitanga (hospitality), and (unity) to embrace a tamaiti (child).
Maui Tikitiki a Taranga was stillborn according to his mother, so she wrapped him in a topknot using her hair and tossed him into Tangaroa (guardian of the sea). Maui survived the ordeal, where Tangaroa rocked him, the jellyfish and seaweed covered him, and the birds folded their wings around him. Tama-nui-ke-ti-Rangi a koroua (old man), could see the commotion and ran to see what was happening. The koroua rescued Maui Tikitiki a Taranga and saved him.
This chapter will look at Maui and his ordeals and how they can resonate with troubled tamariki (children) attending Kura Kaupapa Māori (a school with Māori language and where Māori principles are taught). Māori principles such as whanaungatanga, manaakitanga, and kotahitanga will be braided telling the stories of Maui, his dispositions, and how his dispositions reverberate with tamariki in Kura Kaupapa Māori.
