Young Whanganui man and te reo Maori advocate has advisory role to Ombudsman

A 24-year-old Whanganaui man has joined a group which will advise the Ombudsman, which oversees Government agencies.

**The new Pūhara Mana Tangata group has had two meetings, and Whanganui-raised Jacob McGregor is its youngest member. **

He's excited to join a group with such mana, and said it was important for the Ombudsman to get a rangatahi (youth) perspective.

McGregor has held leadership roles from an early age, in church youth groups, in Whanganui's Faith City Church, at Whanganui High School, at Victoria University and now at Te Puni Kokiri, the Māori Development Ministry.

His parents are Patrick and Karina McGregor, and his closest iwi affiliation here is to Ngā Rauru's Kaipo Marae, at Waitotara Village. No one in his immediate family is a fluent Māori speaker, but Jacob started learning in high school and has a passion for it.

Te reo Māori is a door and window into the Māori world, and experiencing that revitalisation within himself was "really beautiful", he said.

He went to what's now Faith Academy, and started leading youth groups at Faith City Church aged about 15. At Whanganui High School he was head boy, which gave him "awesome opportunities" to meet other prefects, speak in public and organise events.

After finishing school in 2013 he did a gap year of extramural study with his church, for a Diploma in Pastoral Ministry. He managed events and outreach programmes, counselled and continued to lead youth groups - finishing up with a group of 100.

He doesn't think he'll ever be a pastor, but said all those skills had been useful in other ways.

He then studied political science, international relations and te reo Māori at Victoria University. In his first year he was helping at beginner level te reo courses, and in his second and third years he was a research assistant to two staff members, and a te reo tutor.

In his final year he also led the university's Māori Language Society and he won its Wiremu Parker Award, for academic excellence and embodying the values of the university marae.

He went from there to an internship at Te Puni Kokiri, and quickly found digital and social media to his liking. He now leads a four-member team in the field, and became first a co-ordinator, then an adviser and now a senior adviser.

He likes that the Māori language is all around him at work.

"It's really amazing. I'm really blessed," he said.

He lives in Wellington, and outside his work still teaches te reo Māori for the university's Centre for Lifelong Learning, and also works for Te Awa Māori, teaching cultural competency and treaty training.

Laurel Stowell
Whanganui Chronicle 21/12/19