Kapakapa tonu ai te manawaora a ngā tūpuna - PKW Trust, a kaupapa for Taranaki Māori that became a 40 year-old legacy

Nō te reme te tau - Final season milk collection for miraka hipi

After 40 years, Te Rau Manawaora o Parininihi ki Waitōtara Trust remains the beating heart of the entire PKW organisation, according to one former chair, Hinerangi Edwards.

“The Trust is there for the benefit of Taranaki uri. The Trust seeks feedback from uri and provides support where it can. It helps people to learn and grow, and it can strengthen the connection between us and our whakapapa,” she says. “It is something that people can really relate to and are grateful for.”

“Everyday the uri who have benefited from it stand as a living legacy of what our tūpuna wished for us, putting it at the heart, in my opinion, of everything PKW works for and aspires to.”

Over the years, hundreds of young and not-so-young ākonga have been supported with educational grants and scholarships, adding up to millions of dollars invested in the future of Taranaki Māori.

Hinerangi, who served for 13 years on the Trust, including ten as chair and on Te Rau Rengarenga Committee of Management, and received the Charles Bailey Scholarship in 1994, is a much-respected example of how that support can be paid back ten-fold when people bring their knowledge and learning back to Taranaki and use it for the benefit of all uri.

**Above image (left to right): Bev Gibson, Rere-No-āRangi Pope and Hinerangi Edwards during the 2019 half year AGM at Kairau Marae.**

“It is amazing when you consider how many people are out in the world making their mark. What would it take for us as Taranaki Māori to access the capability of more of this connected group? What could it inspire? I thank the current trustees and kaimahi for going beyond what has been done in the past. Ka pērā, ka tika.” says Hinerangi.

And it’s a kaupapa current Te Rau Toi Tauira Chair Liana Poutu is keen to maintain, citing the rapid changes the Trust has experienced in the last 10 years as it continues to adapt and grow.

“The focus has broadened to include all Taranaki Māori, not just PKW shareholders, as we look to meet the ever-growing need for our support,” she says. “We now have partnerships with every Taranaki iwi offering scholarships and have established many more with our supplier network throughout the region and nationally. It means the amount of pūtea we can distribute has grown considerably, enabling us to help more people.”

“We are also identifying sectors where there is a need for Māori participation, such as environmental planning and working with potential employers to create pathways for people to gain the knowledge they need to fill those spaces.”

One example of a recent partnership is with the Toi Foundation which has created Te Reo Rangatira scholarships which contribute significantly to enabling uri to learn te reo full time —without the pressure of having to support themselves and their whānau financially.

“We are very proud to be able to offer these scholarships because there are no full-time immersion courses currently available in Taranaki and we know that there are those who have given up jobs and mortgaged their homes to be able to follow their te reo journey,” says Liana. “It’s just one example of how the Trust is changing to respond to the needs of people, without losing sight of our purpose and kaupapa.”

It’s a kaupapa that has endured across the years, and one that perhaps the Trust’s staunchest ally would be pleased to see is still driving the Trust’s activities.

Gloria Hinehou Kerehoma’s name isn’t recorded in the first minuted meeting for the establishment of the PKW Trust, held on 18 December 1982, but it’s a good bet that she was there because her husband John Kerehoma was as one of the first Board members.

Above: Gloria Hinehou Kerehoma, staunch advocate and loyal supporter of the Incorporation, has a scholarship named after her in recognition of her commitment and contribution to Te Rau Manawaroa, the PKW Trust.

Above: The inaugural PKW Board (1976) were instrumental in the establishment of the PKW Trust. Standing (left to right) are Edward Tamati, Brian Edwards and Jim Ahie. Seated (left to right) are Emerson Rangi, Reimana Bailey, Charles Bailey (Chair), Peter Charlton (Secretary) and John Kerehoma.

“Mum very much supported Dad in everything he did to do with PKW because she was a very loyal supporter of the Incorporation too,” says Marylinda (Mere) Ngāti Kerehoma Brooks, the oldest child of the couple’s five children and only daughter. “Dad was an inaugural member because he felt very strongly that something had to be done to look after and protect the whenua, to retain what they had before it could be eaten away anymore.”

Mere remembers the gatherings and talk around the kitchen table in the family home, the discussions of how things should be done, the best way to keep to the land safe and how to ensure shareholders were looked after.

“Mum wanted to change the way the education pūtea was being distributed and felt that it could be done in a much fairer and more equitable way,” says Mere. “And so she took the job on. We lived in Rotorua at the time, and I remember her arriving home after meetings in Taranaki with a car full of boxes of application forms to process. She did that for many years voluntarily.”

“She had a very strong sense of what was right and was a staunch advocate for those who found it hard to make their voice heard. She would always speak up for those who didn’t have the confidence to speak up for themselves.”

“They were well-matched, Mum and Dad, because they stood up for what they believed in, even in the face of criticism from others. They’ve passed that down to us kids too because we all have firm beliefs and the confidence to stand up for them.”

Gloria continued to serve PKW after John passed in 1988, finding succor in what they had helped create together.

“She missed him every day and never lost the passion they shared for doing the right thing for their hapū and whānau,” says Mere. “She carried on protecting that Māori space in the world until she grew too frail to attend meetings anymore.”

“We are so proud that one of the Trust’s scholarships bears her name and is helping Taranaki Māori to go and get their education, learn and grow their capabilities before coming home once more to give back and support others in their turn.”

One of those to benefit is Gloria’s great-granddaughter Kuramaiki Lacey Brooks, who received the Te Rau Matatoi Charles Bailey scholarship in 2022 to help her in her goals to be a dentist and then work in the public health oral space to support whānau with dental needs.

“Strong wahine Māori advocates making their mark on the world by working for the good of their whānau and iwi,” says Mere. “That all those discussions around the kitchen table eventuated into exactly what our parents envisioned for their mokopuna and the generations to come is a wonderful thing - a true legacy that we can all learn from and hope to emulate.”

That 40 years on, the newly elected Te Māngai Rau Titikura Shareholder Representative is Gloria’s granddaughter, Angela Kerehoma, is testimony of the legacy that endures through generations.

**Above (left to right): Will Edwards, Angela Kerehoma and Anne-Marie Broughton cut the celebratory cake at the 2023 half year AGM at Waiokura Marae.**

**Above: Rau Putiputi designed and made by Angela Kerehoma, Te Māngai Rau Titikura, lay by the cake celebrating the 40 year anniversary.**

1982

The first minuted meeting of the PKW Trust was held on 18 December 1982.

Present were C Bailey, E Tamati, J Kerehoma, J Ahie, E Rangi, R Bailey, B Edwards and P Charleton (Secretary). Charles Bailey was confirmed as Chairperson.