It’s less than a week into Mahuru Māori and it’s already being hailed a success, with unprecedented demand and interest from around the world.

Rākaikahuroa kaimahi spent the last few days of August furiously packing resources to send out to the close to 3000 registered participants while the Mahuru Māori group on Facebook has grown from 1500 members in July to 2300.

The resource packs contain a phrase book of 30 technology terms, journal and cards to tell people they are taking part in the Mahuru Māori challenge. There will also be digital resources on the Mahuru Māori website.

This year Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is working with Te Taura Whiri I te Reo Māori, Te Mātāwai and Te Puni Kōkiri to promote Mahuru Māori and Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, which runs from September 10-16.

For Mahuru Māori, participants are challenged to speak only te reo Māori for either one day per week, one week or the entire month of September. It is the brainchild of Poutiaki Reo/Tikanga Paraone Gloyne, who launched the initiative as a social experiment in 2014 with just two participants.

Last year about 600 people registered to take part in Mahuru Māori while this year, 1000 people have taken up the challenge of speaking te reo Māori for the entire month.

Manager Recruitment services Jade Edwards says his team set themselves a target of doubling last year’s registered participants, with ambitions of hitting 2500.

“We’re happy to say we have surpassed those targets. Our whole team is very proud of getting this challenge out to so many people. Mahuru Māori is an initiative whose time has come and we encourage everyone to use te reo wherever they can, no matter what level of fluency you have. He aha tō mahi, kia kitea ai te reo?”

People can still register for Mahuru Māori while language resources can be downloaded from the mahurumaori.com website.

This year Te Wānanga o Aotearoa will also taking part in a te reo Māori challenge involving the online game Fortnite.

New Zealand’s top esports broadcasting organisation, Let’s Play Live, are broadcasting a Fortnite challenge with top gamers, including Twizz from MindFreak, one of the top Australasian esports pro gaming teams.

Reo experts Paraone Gloyne and Patara Berryman from Radio Tainui will be teaching the pro-gamers simple te reo terms that can be used while playing Fortnite.

The event will be streamed live on Twitch.tv/letsplaylive at 8.30pm on September 12.

Fortnite translation resources will be available at mahurumaori.com/fortnite  following the event.