FEATURE
AMELLIA KAPA COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR, REGISTERED MIDWIFE
DISCONNECTION FROM MANAWA:
MORAL DISTRESS THROUGH A MĀORI LENS The concept of moral distress is complex and can be explored through a myriad of different lenses. Te ao Māori offers another perspective, which Amellia Kapa gets to the heart(s) of with Ruatau Perez and Hannah Livingston, of Te Whare Wānanga o Te Ara Teatea. Ruatau Perez (Ngāpuhi, Tūhoe) spent 10 years immersed in the teachings of worldrenowned tōhunga (traditional Māori healer) Hohepa Delamere, or ‘Papa Hohepa/Joe’ as he was more commonly known. Since Papa Hohepa’s passing, Ruatau has continued to share the esoteric mātauranga, along with partner Hannah (Ngāpuhi), through wānanga and traditional Māori healing at their whare hauora (clinic) in Ōtautahi. Their perspective on why midwives may be experiencing such high levels of distress is unique, and cannot be separated from the historical events that drastically reshaped how women would birth in Aotearoa. “The Midwives Act of 1904 and the subsequent Tohunga Suppression Act had a huge impact. They took the mātauranga and power away from whānau, who had always birthed their babies at home, according to traditional Māori lore,” Ruatau explains. As the tapu sphere surrounding pregnancy and birth was systematically broken down by colonisation and medicalisation, Ruatau explains the natural order was disturbed.
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“Historically in te ao Māori, birth wasn’t just a physical process. Takutaku (incantations) were used to protect wāhine and pēpi; waiata and oriori were performed to bring babies through in the highest vibration possible, in connection with te taha wairua (the spiritual dimension).” “Grandfathers or koroua (male elders) were the birth attendants, who acted as pou, holding space for labour and birth to unfold. Kuia were also there and played an important role, but typically grandfathers protected the space and called babies into te ao mārama (the world of light),” he explains. This traditional division of roles may seem irrelevant, but this approach - steeped in ancient wisdom - maintained equilibrium between masculine and feminine energies. Hannah explains present day challenges are, in part, due to the fact that this delicate balance has been lost. “Birthkeeping has become women’s work, but it never used to be that way. The koroua kept the balance; there was synergy between the feminine and masculine energies and our
tūpuna understood the importance of that. Part of the solution lies in regaining that balance - empowering our tāne to step back into their traditional role of holding space,” she says. “Because our whānau have been so disempowered over time by the loss of our mātauranga, the responsibility of holding space for hapūtanga, labour, and birth has fallen almost entirely on midwives. So midwives are holding space for entire whānau and communities, but who’s holding space for midwives?” she asks. Clearly, imbalance is a significant contributing factor. Disconnection is another, but before wading into this, a foundational concept must be understood. According to the esoteric mātauranga, human beings were gifted three hearts by the atua (gods), which can be thought of as heart spaces and likened to chakras or energy centres. The three hearts each hold equal but unique significance, relating to different aspects of our being, and can be defined as follows:
