Born and raised in Christchurch, his dad moved there during the height of the trade training scheme, which is where he met Huriwai’s mother together they raised a family of eight.
“I used to be the youngest (of seven) then my parents went and got a whāngai, one younger than me and I’m adjusting to that” he laughs.
Growing up in a mono cultural city, Huriwai’s parents sought to foster kaupapa Māori in their home, his father carved pou and tāonga pūoro (musical instruments), as a christmas gift he carved Huriwai a pukaea.
“At the forefront of their minds was the “Māorify” our world as much as they cold, they did that by making the lens through which we understood the world from our home, because they knew as soon as we stepped outside the door the opposite cultural perspective was what we were being bombarded with.” he says.
Huriwai left Christchurch when he was 21 years old to attend St Johns Theological College, after three years of study he was posted to Te Tai Rāwhiti, Gisborne.
“Archbishop Brown had different plans and he called me here to come home and as soon as my feet hit the ground I felt a sense of belonging, a calling” he says.
“’We are preachers, all that means is that we are storytellers, we like to yarn, we like to have our whakapapa of faith and our Māori whakapapa informing all those kōre...the goal is to contribute positively to the discourse that’s affecting our people and we do that heavily informed by our whakapapa and our whakapono.”
