Matiriki wintec mark o'brien by markkyobi1

H e

h u i n g a

w h e t ĹŤ

A gathering of stars,

he huinga korero

a gathering of stories He huinga whetĹŤ, he huinga korero

Private Bag 3036 Waikato Mail Centre Hamilton 3240 Phone: 0800 2 WINTEC

Table of

www.wintec.ac.nz

Acknowledgements

Mihi

Director, MÄ ori welcome

MÄ ori Achievement at Wintec

Our People

Donna-Lee Biddle

Kahu Davis

Marrin Haggie

Ben Katipa

Shannon Katipa

Justeena Leaf

Ngahina McLaren

Tomairangi Nikora

Rangitahi Pompey

Blaine Rakena

Sheldon Takao

Awhina Uruamo

Mitchell Vincent

co n ten ts 04

Ngā Tuhinga Kōrerō

Ngā mihi

Pouārahi Māori

Te Wahanga Māori ki Te Kuratini o Waikato

Ko ngā tāngata kaikōrero

Donna-Lee Biddle

Kahu Davis

Marrin Haggie

Ben Katipa

Shannon Katipa

Justeena Leaf

Ngahina McLaren

Tomairangi Nikora

Rangitahi Pompey

Blaine Rakena

Sheldon Takao

Awhina Uruamo

Mitchell Vincent

Acknowledgements A special thanks goes to the hard-working and talented Wintec journalism, photography and graphic design students of 2016 for their excellent contributions to this book. Thanks also goes to their tutors, Richard Walker, Charles Riddle, George Lusty, Stefanie Young and Luke McConnell and to Wintecâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MÄ ori achievement team for their expertise, guidance and support of this project.

T HE

team Editors: Hannah White, Richard Walker, Stefanie Young, Luke McConnell, Korikori Hawkins Graphic designer: Mark O’Brien Journalists: Norma Battiss Natesh Behl Emma Bland Ruwade Bryant Anna Clausen Erika Coronel Satrianna Erceg Dileepa Fonseka Sharnae Hope Jess Meek Joe Outram Jason Renes Tamara Thorn Photographers (profile subjects): Niketa Brown Adam Edwards Kaycie O’Connor Zhandre Oosthuysen

Students make their way to graduate on Wintec’s marae Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa. Ngā Kaiwhiwhi Tohu e hīkoi ana kit e marae mō te pōtaetanga

Published July 2016

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

w i n tec

Journalism

photography & graphic design students of 2016 who contributed to this book…

Left to right. Standing: Norma Battiss, Ruwade Bryant, Sharnae Hope, Satrianna Erceg, Natesh Behl, Joe Outram, Jason Renes Sitting: Erika Coronel, Tamara Thorn, Anna Clausen, Jess Meek, Dileepa Fonseka Absent: Emma Bland

Wintec marae celebrations 2016, Te Iti Kahurangi kapa haka. Te Kapa Haka o Te Iti Kahurangii e whakanui ana te marae i tōna tau tuawha 2016

He Kaiako e mihi ana ki te Tauira hou ki te pōwhiri 2016 A Wintec tutor welcomes students during pōwhiri for new staff and students.

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

M ihi Ka mātakitaki iho au ki te riu o Waikato Te awa koiora me ōna pikonga He kura tangihia o te mātāmuri E whakawhiti atu ai i te kōpū mānia o Kirikiriroa Me ōna māra kai, te ngāwhā whakatupu Ake o te whenua mōmona, Hei kawe ki te kākano a te kaahu, Ki te tārere o Tāwhaki Kia hiwa ake au i te tihi o te Ahurewa, hei toronga whakaruruhau mōna Ki tōku tauawhirotanga. I look down on the valley of Waikato, The river of life, each curve more beautiful than the last, Across the fertile valley of Kirikiriroa Its gardens bursting with the fullness of good things. Towards that place of learning Te Kākano a Te Kaahu And the sacred vine of Tāwhaki I climb the summit to the Ahurewa that covers and protect its beauty with my heritage. Nō reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

W E LCO M E FROM

HERA

WHITE

Nāku noa na, Hera White, Tūmuaki, Wāhanga Māori o Te Kuratini o Waikato Nau mai, haere mai Ko te whainga ō te Kuratini nei kia eke ai ā ngai Maori ki te taumata i ngā wā katoa. He 22% orau Māori e noho nei i roto i tēnei rohe, maha ake tātou i konei i te motu whānui. Ko te rahi ō ngā Tauira i te Kuratini nei he 25% orau me te piki tonu. Kei raro kē te iwi Māori i roto i ngā wāhanga mātauranga o te motu whānui me te rahi o tātou e noho kore mahi ana. Kua tīmata te piki ake o te hunga rangatahi e uru nei kī roto i te Kuratini. Ehara ko te uru mai noa iho nei, kua tīmata te whai e te hunga tauira Māori, i ngā tino taumata mātauranga katoa. He painga anō tēnei āhua mō te rohe, he oranga ngākau

ā Iwi puta noa ki te motu whānui. He huarahi kua parangia e ngai Māori i ngā tau ki muri. Hei aha? Kia eke ai tō tātou iwi ki te tino taumata. Ko ngā tāonga kōrerō hei pānuitanga māu, he koha nā ngā Tauira e whakanui nei i ēnei whakatutukitanga o rātou. I roto i au pānuitanga ka kite koe i ngā kōrerō o te ngākau o ngētehi tauira Māori mē ngā Kaiako kua wehea nei e rātou kia eke ki te tino taumata o ngā āhua mātauranga me ngā mahi katoa. Nā te kaha o ngā Kaiako me ngā Kaiawhina tae atu ki te tautoko o ngā rōpu Hāpori me ngā Ahumahi, e tika ana mē tuku mihi ki a rātou katoa. Ahakoa te whakanui o ngā whāinga Māori me āta kokiritia kia orite ōna ekenga mō ngai Māori katoa ki tēra mō

Graduands are called onto Wintec’s marae Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa. Ngā Kaiwhiwhi e hīkoi ana kit e marae mō te rā pōtaetanga ki Te Kuratini o Waikato.

Iwi kē. Kua kitea e tātou i ngā nukunukuhanga o te Iwi; me mahi kaha anō tātou kia ōrite tātou ki ēra Iwi kē i roto i nga whainga katoa. Mā te mahitahi me te whakapono ka eke tātou ki te taumata. Ki te pono te ngākau ki te whai wāhi ka tutuki pai i a tātou a ngai Māori. Ka taeā e tātou katoa ki te toro atu ki te kete e iria nei i te tarā ā whare kia tangohia atu ngā tāonga kei roto kia whakamahia ngā moemoeā me ngā wawatatanga o tēnā, o tēnā hei painga mō rātou. Kia uru atu ai ngā ākoranga ki

ngā kura mai i ngā whare wānanga, i ngā kuratini hoki a, kia riro mahi māna. Mā ngā pūkenga o ngā kaiako ka taea. Hei whakakapi atu i te mātapuna ō ēnei koha kōrerō, kei te koa te wairua, kei te toka te manawa kua eke ngā whainga o mātou o te Kuratini nei, kia puta hei painga anō mō tātou ō Waikato .

Hera White Wintec Director, Māori

H ERI’ S

w e lcomi n g

Nāku noa na, Hera White, Tūmuaki,

e te hunga tauira Māori, i ngā tino

Wāhanga Māori o Te Kuratini o Waikato Nau mai, haere mai Ko te whainga ō te Kuratini nei kia eke ai ā ngai Maori ki te taumata i ngā wā katoa. He 22% orau Māori e noho nei i roto i tēnei rohe, maha ake tātou i konei i te motu whānui. Ko te rahi ō ngā Tauira i te Kuratini nei he 25% orau me te piki tonu. Kei raro kē te iwi Māori i roto i ngā wāhanga mātauranga o te motu whānui me te rahi o tātou e noho kore mahi ana. Kua tīmata te piki ake o te hunga rangatahi e uru nei kī roto i te Kuratini. Ehara ko te uru mai noa iho nei, kua tīmata te whai

taumata mātauranga katoa. He painga anō tēnei āhua mō te rohe, he oranga ngākau ā Iwi puta noa ki te motu whānui. He huarahi kua parangia e ngai Māori i ngā tau ki muri. Hei aha? Kia eke ai tō tātou iwi ki te tino taumata. Ko ngā tāonga kōrerō hei pānuitanga māu, he koha nā ngā Tauira e whakanui nei i ēnei whakatutukitanga o rātou. I roto i au pānuitanga ka kite koe i ngā kōrerō o te ngākau o ngētehi tauira Māori mē ngā Kaiako kua wehea nei e rātou kia eke ki te tino taumata o ngā āhua mātauranga me ngā mahi katoa.

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

Wintec’s marae, Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa, at night. Te marae Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa ki te Kuratini o Waikato

Nā te kaha o ngā Kaiako me ngā Kaiawhina tae atu ki te tautoko o ngā rōpu Hāpori me ngā Ahumahi, e tika ana mē tuku mihi ki a rātou katoa. Ahakoa te whakanui o ngā whāinga Māori me āta kokiritia kia orite ōna ekenga mō ngai Māori katoa ki tēra mō Iwi kē. Kua kitea e tātou i ngā nukunukuhanga o te Iwi; me mahi kaha anō tātou kia ōrite tātou ki ēra Iwi kē i roto i nga whainga katoa. Mā te mahitahi me te whakapono ka eke tātou ki te taumata. Ki te pono te ngākau ki te whai wāhi ka tutuki pai i a tātou a ngai Māori. Ka taeā e tātou katoa ki te toro atu ki te kete e iria nei i te tarā ā whare kia tangohia atu ngā tāonga kei roto kia whakamahia ngā moemoeā me ngā

wawatatanga o tēnā, o tēnā hei painga mō rātou. Kia uru atu ai ngā ākoranga ki ngā kura mai i ngā whare wānanga, i ngā kuratini hoki a, kia riro mahi māna. Mā ngā pūkenga o ngā kaiako ka taea. Hei whakakapi atu i te mātapuna ō ēnei koha kōrerō, kei te koa te wairua, kei te toka te manawa kua eke ngā whainga o mātou o te Kuratini nei, kia puta hei painga anō mō tātou ō Waikato .

Hera White Pouārahi Māori Nāku noa na Hera White, Tumuaki Māori, Te Kuratini o Waikato Wintec

Mā o ri ac h i e v e m e n t at wintec

By D i le e pa F o n s e k a

Some of our initiatives: • Our Māori and Pasifika Trades Training programme encourages more young Māori into industries including trades, engineering, hairdressing, horticulture, arboriculture and culinary arts. Since launching in 2014, 285 students have enrolled in the programme and 150 have gone into relevant employment. • We have a Māori achievement team which leads and supports Māori educational development in conjunction with our student support teams, retention services and other areas of the organisation including schools and centres, human resources and capability development services. •Our Centre for Science and Primary Industries works closely with Waikato-Tainui on environmental management including the restoration of the Waikato river by offering marae-based horticulture and arboriculture courses across the Waikato. • In 2013 we introduced a team of kaiāwhina who look after the pastoral needs of students with particular focus on Māori, Pasifika and international students. • We run a programme for our staff focused on developing basic cultural skills to help them effectively engage with Māori. The Te Tauihu programme is a six week course (or a one week block of intensive learning) that builds understanding of cultural etiquette and protocols, local Māori history, the importance of haka and waiata and a basic understanding of key elements of the Māori language. It’s free to Wintec staff and so far around 130 staff have been through the programme. A second module, Te Taurapa, which will build on the learnings from Te Tauihu and further develop Maori pedagogy, will be offered later in 2016.

• In 2015, we worked with Waikato-Tainui to develop the He Reo Aratau Certificate in Te Reo and Tikanga Māori o Waikato. A pilot will be trialled this year in partnership with Waikato-Tainui and the focus will be on senior students from five Kura Kaupapa Māori from around the Waikato.

Pōwhiri to welcome students, families and friends at Wintec’s marae, Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa, graduation ceremony.

• Each year we celebrate Matariki by holding a range of events and activities on campus which give staff and students the opportunity to reflect and celebrate people, culture, history and language.

Te pōwhiri whakatau ki ngā Kaiwhiwhi Tohu, ki ngā whānau me ngā hoa ki te marae

• We have two high profile scholarships available to our Māori staff and students – the Dame Te Atairangikaahu Nursing Scholarship and the Hare Puke Māori Leadership Scholarship. • The Dame Te Atairangikaahu Nursing Scholarship, worth up to $15,000, was created in loving memory of Dame Te Atairangikaahu to encourage Tainui students to study nursing or midwifery. •The Hare Puke Māori Leadership Scholarship was created in honour of the late Wintec Kaumātua Dr Hare Puke and the outstanding contribution he made to Wintec, Hamilton and the wider community. It’s also worth up to $15,000 plus one week’s additional professional development leave, and is open to all Wintec Māori staff members.

Some of our initiatives • 25% of our students are Māori. This is slightly higher than the regional population of 22%. • Five years ago the percentage of Māori students studying bachelor’s degrees was 31%, this figure has grown to 39%. • Pasifika students make up 6% of our total student population which is higher than the regional population of 3.8%. • We have our own marae on our city campus, Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa, which was opened in 2012. It’s a modern marae that plays an important role in supporting students, staff and community with Māori education and learning. • Course completion rates, although still lower for Māori than non-Māori, are rising year on year. In 2015, 80% of Māori students studying bachelor’s degrees successfully completed their qualification. • As part of our annual graduation week, we hold one of our seven graduation ceremonies on our marae Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa. Students from across all Wintec’s schools and centres have the choice to graduate on the marae.

Ngā Whainga Māori ō Wa i k at o Pōwhiri to welcome new students from Mighty River Power. Pōwhiri ki ngā Tauira hou kei raro o te maru o Mighty River Power.

Anei ngētehi o nga kaupapa • He maha ngā kaupapa kua whakaritea mai e te Kuratini o Waikato mō tātou me ō tātou whanaungā o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa arā, ko te mahi ā rehi, te mahi pūkahatanga, te mahi ahuone, te mahi makawe, te mahi kokotia rakau me te whakarato kai. Mai i te tīmatanga ō ēnei kaupapa i te tau 2014, he 285 ngā tauira kua uru mai ki te whai tohu. He 150 ngā tauira kua whakawhiwhi mahi. • kei konei he Wāhanga Māori Whakatūtukitanga hei tuarā manāki i ngā tauira, hei ārahi I a rātou i roto i ngā āhua mātauranga me ōna wero katoa. • Kei roto tahi i te Kuratini nei te kaupapa Taiao me ōna rito. Ko te mahitahi ki a Waikato-Tainui ki te whakaora i te whenua, hei whakaora i te awa. Mā ngā marae o Waikato i awhi i ā mātou ki te whakatū kura ki ngā mahi ahuone, me ngā mahi rakau rānei. • I te tau 2013 i whakaritea e mātou tētehi rōpu Kaiawhina hei tiaki i te ‘wairua’ o ngā Tauira Māori, Tauira-a-‘Kiwa’ me te Iwi Taketake hoki • He kaupapa kua oti nei te whakatinanatia e mātou o te Wāhanga Māori mō te ako i ngā tikanga me ōna āhuatanga Māori katoa ko ‘Te Tauihu’. Ko tōna roa he ono wiki. Kāre kau he utu ki ēra e kura ana i konei. • He 130 te maha o nga kaimahi kua puta i tēnei kaupapa. He wāhanga tuarua ko te ‘Taurapa’ he whitinga mai i te ‘Tauihu’. Ko tōna tika kia whakapapa i te ahurea o te Māori. Ka whakatinanatia e mātou i tēnei wāhanga ā tēnei tau (2016) • I tēra tau i mahitahi mātou o te Kuratini nei ki a Waikato-Tainui ki te whakaara i te kaupapa ‘He Reo Aratau i roto i Te Reo me ngā Tikanga o Waikato Iwi. Ka whakauru atu ngētehi tauira ki raro i te mana ō te Kuratini me Waika-

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

to-Tainui ā tēnei tau (2016) kia āta tirohia e ahu atu ana ngā tauira o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori nei ki whea i roto i ō rātou whaingātanga. • Ia tau ka whakanuitia e te Kuratini o Waikato i a Matariki. Mā ngā whakahaere ka mōhio ngā tauira me ngā kaiako ki te kaupapa a Matariki. • E rua ngā tino tohu hei whakanui i nga pakaru weraweratanga o te tauira, a ko te Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu karahipi mō ngā Nēhi tae noa atu ko te Dr Hare Puke karahipi. • Ko te Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu Karahipi he $15,000 te rahi. Na te Kuratini i whakaara i tenei tohu hei maumaharatanga ara hei whakatinanatia i nga oati ō Te Arikinui kia whai whakaaro a Tainui iwi ki ēnei momo mahi manāki tūroro. • Ko te ‘Hare Puke Tohu Rangatira’ he maumahara tēnei ki tana pau kaha i te wa i tū ai hei Kaumātua mō te Kuratini o Waikato. Hei whakanui ano i āna mahi puta noa i nga whārua ō Kirikiriroa ki ngā Hāpori ā rohe. Kei te pūare tēnei kaupapa hei tono whakaarotanga mo te katoa o ngā Kaimahi Maori o te Kuratini i Waikato nei.

I mohio koe?

• He 25 ōrau te maha o ngā tauira Māori i te Kuratini o Waikato, rahi ake i ngā ōrau o te rohe o Waikato • Rima tau ki muri he 31 ōrau o ngā tauira e whai tohu ana, kua piki ake inaianei ki te 39 ōrau • He 6 ōrau te maha o nga tauira o Te Moana nui a Kiwa kei te whai mātauranga ki konei. Ka rahi ake te ōrau 3.8 o ngā tauira ā Te Moana nui a Kiwa e noho nei ā rohe. • I tū Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa i te tau 2012. He marae hei whakaruruhau, hei piruru mō te katoa e whai ana i te mātauranga. • Ahakoa kua piki hāere te whakatutukitanga o ngā tauira Māori ia tau, kei te heke tonu ana i ngā iwi kē. I te tau 2015 i eke 80 ōrau ngā tauira Māori ki te taumata. • Hei whakanui i te wiki o te tohutanga e whitu ngā rā tohu ka whakanui tauira. Ko tētehi o nga rā tohu ka tū ki Te Kōpu Mānia o Kirikiriroa. Kei kōnā te marae hei whakanui i a rātou me koina te hiahia.

OU R

Many hundreds of inspiring MÄ ori people have passed through Wintec and connected with us over the years. A large proportion of our students and staff are MÄ ori and many have gone on to achieve something special, whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s through becoming experts in their fields, leaders within their communities or role models for our youth. The following pages, written and photographed by our talented students, highlight some of these inspiring stories. Designer note: From here until the Maori version of the book begins insert photo on left and story on right. Some stories may go over more than one page though which is fine.

people He iti puna kōrero mai i ngā Rangatira o te Hāpori: Te Ira Tangata Kua maha ngā tāngata ko puta i te Kuratini i ngā tau ki muri. Ko te nuinga he Māori kua eke ki nga taumata ki te whai i o rātou moemoea hei whakaoho i te wairua o te Hāpori, hunga rangatahi rānei. Mā ngā whārangi kei te whai atu nei me ōna whakaahua hei whakaatu ake i te wairua ō ngā tauira me ā rātou kōrero. Designer note: From here on down are the 13 profiles. In most cases there were two versions of the photos taken. It would be great if you could use different versions of the photos for the English and Maori profiles to keep it interesting.

Tho u gh ts f rom

i n d u s t ry Leaders

“Ko te ara ki mua, ko te mātauranga. Education is the pathway forward. It is also the key out of poverty. Once you have achieved success in education you can never go back because it is the doorway to the future.” Tureiti Moxon, Managing Director, Te Kohao Health Ltd

“At Livingstone we are passionately involved in the Māori and Pasifika trades training programme in the Waikato and it is initiatives like these that help build successful career paths and opportunities for Māori and Pasifika. When it’s all said and done, it’s about having the right platforms and attitudes as a society that will help prepare the next generation for a successful future.” Mike Livingstone, Livingstone Building NZ Director

“Ko te whaanau te puu o te maatauranga! Family is at the heart of life-long learning. Waikato-Tainui is committed to supporting all whānau to become life-long learners and leaders that determine their futures. We see educational success as the key to uplifting our people and to empowering them to pursue meaningful pathways.” Parekawhia McClean, Chief Executive Officer, Waikato-Tainui

“Eke taapuhipuhi ake, kore hinga atu. Let our passion for learning create possibilities for a better future. As we grasp new learning experiences and open doorways to education, we build on the dreams and vision of not only ourselves but those of our tipuna, our whānau and communities now and into the future.” Jolene Proffit, Chief Executive, Hauora Waikato Group

“Any educational achievement by a Māori student whether big or small is an achievement for all Māoridom, and if the knowledge or skill they attained is then able to assist or uplift others, then that is true Māori success and purpose. Wintec has contributed greatly to building Māori success through education.” Darrin Haimona, Chief Executive, Te Hauora o Ngati Haua

THE

“Journalism doesn’t discriminate, the news is where the news is.”

By Dileepa Fonseka Ordering synthetic cannabis over the internet is not how most people go about making their family proud.

shoulders. But then she too became pregnant, and felt the hopes

As she sits in the pristine offices of the Waikato Times, Donna-Lee Biddle almost gleefully confesses to it having been her idea. Her life started out more respectably than her online shopping habits might suggest. The child of a teenage mother, Donna was born in Murupara, a close community she loved growing up in where she was used to seeing those around her spending their teenage years pregnant and with few employment prospects. But Donna was always a bit different, the member of her whānau who was going to go out and do something. She was the kid who loved creative writing and current events, regularly writing short stories and entering them in contests when she attended high school in Rotorua. Moving to Hamilton at 17 she soon started studying at university, carrying the dreams of her family on her

and dreams of her family fade away. “When they first found out I was pregnant they were really disappointed because they were like ‘oh we thought you may have been a bit different. We thought you were going to go out and do something with your life, but now you’re going to be stuck with a child’.” Donna saw herself on a path to becoming the person she never wanted to be, and credits the experience with eventually giving her the drive and ambition to prove something to both her whānau and society. “You’re racially profiled as well,” she says, describing the feeling of being a young Māori mum with children and wanting to prove society wrong. Pregnant with her second child, she enrolled in a Bachelor of Media Arts at Wintec, drawing on a family adage that the women on the Te Arawa side of her family had “big waha’s”.

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

STORYTELLER “It was always a joke in the family: you have to put that mouth to use!” Even with her newfound drive and ambition, that journey was difficult. She was a mother of one, with another on the way, studying beside a generation of students who thought Miley Cyrus was cool. “I was like ‘are you kidding, who even listens to that?’” The need to “not be another statistic” helped keep Donna motivated through each successive challenge and intergenerational social gaffe. And then, there were the more practical challenges. Like what you should do when your third child decides it wants to be born while you’re sitting in an exam room with over an hour still to go. “My waters broke in one of my last exams but I was like ‘there’s no way [I’m going to leave early], I’ve studied all year!’” She completed the exam and a few hours later had her third child. It’s an accomplishment she dismisses with a typically humble “it was fine”. “I got good grades, so that’s what matters in the end!” It was while studying at Wintec that Donna found herself sitting around a table with some of the most respected journalists in the country - during her student internship at the Sunday-Star Times - suggesting they allow her to order synthetic cannabis off the internet. It was a story that saw her scouring the internet for Facebook sites selling synthetic cannabis and eventually having them delivered straight to her door. It delivered her a byline on the front page of New Zealand’s largest Sunday newspaper. And it wasn’t the first time her name had appeared on a front page, either. A few weeks into her final year of study at Wintec a story

came to light out of Murupara about a child being viciously mauled by a pack of dogs. With her connections in the area she was able to go down and cover the story for the Waikato Times. The dog attack brought her closer to home but also closer to a lot of perceptions of Murupara that she wanted to steer people away from. “Journalism doesn’t discriminate, the news is where the news is.” That didn’t affect her love for Murupara, a place she says has problems but is also full of many positive stories that are never covered by the mainstream media. It’s a situation she’d like to help correct one day as she pursues a career as a Māori journalist in a mainstream news organisation, a path she thinks is the best way for Māori journalists to change perceptions amongst the community at large. Now a graduate and working full-time for the Waikato Times, she will probably find herself far from her extended whānau in Murupara, instead spending Matariki in Hamilton with her partner and three children as she covers the health beat for the paper. It’s a round in a huge geographical area that is host to the biggest single-site hospital in the Southern Hemisphere. On the off-chance Donna-Lee Biddle is lucky enough to make it back to Murupara for Matariki – for celebrations with those same family members whose hopes for Donna faded all those years ago – she says they’ll all put down a hāngī and enjoy a huge feast. “A new beginning, a fresh beginning, a new year for us.”

Lileepa Fonsea

Te Ka ip ū

r a kau Nā Dileepa Fonseka Pai noa iho te hoko tarutaru kino mai i te ipurangi, he aha tēnei mahi ki te mana o te whānau? I tōna nohoanga i tōna tari mā i te Waikato Times, e āhua whakahihi ana nōna kē, a Donna Lee Biddle te whakaaro. Kia hoki whakamuri ki te wā o tōna taitamarikitanga. I whānau mai a Donna i Murupara, tupu ake ia i reira i te wāhi i ū ki tōna ngākau. Kua taunga kē ia ki te taitamawāhine ā tōna reinga e hapu ana me te kore mahi o te nuinga o reira. He rerekē anō te wairua o Donna. I ngākau nui kē ia ki te kimi kaupapa hei whainga māna, ko ngā mahi tuhituhi, kōrerō pūrakau rānei. I whakauru atu i āna mahi tuhinga kōrerō poto o roto i ngā kaupapa hei tautohenga i te wā i te kura tuarua i Rotorua. Ka nuku a Donna ki Kirikiriroa ka tīmata ia ki te whai mātauranga i te Whare Wānanga o Waikato hei whakatūtuki i ngā wawata o te whānau. Ka hapu ia, ka heke haere i ngā tūmanako ā te whānau. “I te rongotanga ā te whānau kua hapū au, ka pōuri rawa nei rātou i runga i tō rātou whakapono ko ahau ka eke ki nga reinga katoa. E kore

au e whai hua kē, ka noho tonu ki te tiaki tamariki. Ki a Donna, kua timata te uru mai o te wairua whakahē i ana moemoea heoi, nā te tutukitanga ki te hē, koinei pea te aukaha i whakapā ki tōna manawa hei whakaara anō i te mauri o tōna whānau me te katoa o te iwi whānui. “Kua tohua e tauiwi, he Māori e puta ana”, he kōrerō taua whakapai i patu i te hinengaro o Donna me āna tamariki. Ka tau te whakaaro māna anō hei whiu i ngā whakapai ā te tangata a tōna wā. Ka hapū ano a Donna ka uru atu e ia ki roto i te Puna Waihanga Whakairo a Te Kura Pāpāho i te Kuratini o Waikato me te maumahara kī te whakatauki ā ōna Kuia ō Te Arawa ‘He wahanui’ ngā wāhine te whānau. He kōrerō tinihanga o te whānau taua kōrero. Ko te tikanga ‘me whakamahia tō waha’. Ahakoa i oho anō te wairua, uaua ana te haere. Kōtahi kē te tamaiti, a, e hapū ana anō ia, a, he rangatahi katoa ngā tauira hoa e whakaaro nei ki a Miley Cyrus, ki a rātou he wahine rawerawe ia. “Ko wai o koutou kei te whakarongo ki tērā, te hōha hoki”! Nā te kaingākau me te hiahia kia

Dileepa Fonseka

“Kāre mā te Kaituhi hei whakahāwea i te kōrerō, kei te kōrerō anō tōna ake mauri” tūtuki ngā tūmanakotanga kore ia e tuku kia taka ki raro, pērā hoki ki ngā reinga ki muri. Anō nei he wero, “Ka aha koe me ka te hiahia tōku pēpē tuatoru ki te taka mai ki tēnei ao i te wā kōtahi hāora te toenga o te whakamātautau? Kao! E kore au e tuku mā te whakawhānau ka haukoti. Kotahi tau au e pakaru wera ana kia tūtuki rāno tēnei whakamātautau”. Mutu ana te whakamātautau, i muri mai ka whānau mai a pēpē tuatoru. He mea whakaiti i a ia me te kī atu, “kei te pai noa”. “I eke au ki runga koirā te mea nui”. I te wā a Donna i te Kuratini ka tūtaki ki ētehi Kaituhi rongonui o te Motu i a ia hei tauira mō te Sunday Star Times. I puta te whakaaro i a rātou māna hei hoko tarutaru i runga i te ipurangi. He kaupapa i pā ki tana ngākau. Ka eke ia ki runga i te pukamata i reira ka kitea ia ngā hononga whakawhiti mō te hoko tarutaru ā tae tika tonu mai ki tana kuwaha! Nāna ka rere atu te kōrerō i roto i te pepa ā Motu o te Ratapu. Ehara tēnei i te wā tuatahi kua eke tōna ingoa ki runga i ngā tuhinga o ngā nūpepa. Tata tonu te mutu o te kura mō te whai tohu, ka puta te kōrerō ā pepa kua ngaungia e te kuri i tētehi mokopuna o Murupara. Nā tōna whakapapa ka tukua e

te Waikato Times māna e kawe i nga kōrerō. Mā te mahi nei ka kite ia i te pohēhētanga o ngā whakaaro o tauiwi mā ka whai tonu ia kia tika. “Kare mā te kaituhi hei whakahāwea te whakaaro engari mā te tika ā te kōrero, hei kawe i te tika”. Ko te ngākau e ū tonu ana ki te wā kainga, ki a Murupara. Ahakoa ōna piki, me ōna heke, he tāonga kōrerō anō kei reira kāre anō i puta ki te ao. Māna pea hei whakatūtuki i roto i ana whainga Kaituhi Māori kia puta ai nga kōrerō tika ki te Motu. He huarahi ano tenei hei whakatika i nga whakapae me nga tirohanga a Iwi, tangata kē. Kua whiwhi tohu a Donna inaianei, kei te mahi ia mo te Waikato Times. Nā te mahi e kore e taea e ia ki te whakapā atu ki te whānau whānui i Murupara, a, te whakanui i a Matariki. He pō roa, tūmoke mai nei heoi mā Matariki ia me tōna whānau hei awhi i roto i āna mahi kapo kōrerō ōranga i te whare Tūroro whai ōranga motuhake i te Tuakoi i te Tonga. Mehe mea ka tūpono a Donna Lee Biddle te hoki ki Murupara ki te whakamahana i tōna wairua ka tao he hāngi, ka kai hakari ai. “He tīmatanga hou, he anga whakamua, he tau hou mō tātou katoa” Kapai!

A T IM E F O R

growin g, A T IM E FO R

heali n g

“I wanted to make a difference in the lives of others. But I knew that the journey had to start with me first.”

By Jason Renes Māori have the ancient story of Hinetītama, the dawn maiden. She was the eldest daughter of Hineahuone and Tānemahuta, the forest god who separated sky and earth and brought light into the world. Hinetītama’s beauty was astounding, and Tāne was so struck by her that he made her his wife. The children they had together would go on to become the ancestors of humanity. One day Hinetītama asked Tāne if he knew who her father was, since she herself did not. Eventually Tāne revealed the truth, that it was him. Overwhelmed with shame she chose to leave him and descend into the underworld where she could heal herself. Hinetītama discarded the mantle of the dawn she had been born with, and decided to wait in the eternal night for all her children to join her. She became Hinenuitepō, guardian and protector of the dead. For Kahu Davis this story does more than offer an explanation of what happens to us in the afterlife. By focusing on a young woman who has suffered betrayal and shame

it illuminates the possibility of tapping into unknown reserves of strength in order to heal. This is what Kahu draws upon when she uses the story in her work as a counsellor. It is also the theme that has recurred throughout her own life journey. Kahu hails from Ngāti Māhanga, Ngati Tahinga, Ngāti Mahuta, Tūhourangi and Ngāti Whakaue. She graduated from Wintec’s Te Whiuwhiu o te Hau Māori Counselling programme in 2011, and since then has served on the frontline supporting whānau in need. She currently divides her time working with the Hamilton Abuse Intervention Project (HAIP) - where she facilitates programmes for men who have abused their partners and family - and running group counselling sessions at Wiri Prison. Kahu also has her own practice where she works with those who have suffered sexual abuse. When Kahu speaks of her life before she was a counsellor it comes as no surprise she would want to work in this

Jason Renes

field. She grew up in Ngāruawāhia, one of 13 children. Her father was a shearer. Her mother was a staunch follower of Te Kīngitanga who held such a firm belief in education that she set up a blackboard in the family home so her children could hone their spelling and times tables after school. They never wanted for anything. When she was 7, Kahu’s mother died. Her father was lost in grief and the children were taken in by relatives. “So it became a journey through the valley of darkness,” she said. “For myself anyway.” By the time she was 15 Kahu had left school and entered into a relationship with a man six years her senior. Without the emotional support of her mother Kahu was looking for someone to love, and someone to love her back. It was a violent relationship and Kahu knew she would be killed if she didn’t get out. After 12 years of abuse she found the strength to leave. Her next husband was a different kind of man. An oldschool hard worker. A good provider for her and the children they had together. He also loved to drink, and Kahu hit the bottle hard with him. Over the next 23 years they had their ups and downs, nothing to the extent of her first relationship. But the drinking meant that while she was physically there for her children, she was never truly present. Cancer took him nine years ago. After suffering this loss Kahu turned away from the booze. Like Hinetītama she chose to step out of that world and change her self so she could be the kind of person who could truly care for her children. She wanted to be a role model for them. She wanted to heal. “There was a lot of soul searching and having to forgive myself. [I wanted] to give back to others because I saw a lot of suffering out there too. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of others. But I knew that the journey had to start with me first.” Kahu looked deep into herself and addressed what had been sitting there all these years. Free of the violence and reconciled to the loss, she has the empathy that allows her to share parts of her own story and connect with her clients. It can be intimidating though, especially while working with men in prison. Kahu does not let that stop her. She

respects them, listens to them, and if necessary, is honest enough to challenge them. Only ever to draw their attention to their own attitudes or behaviours, to take responsibility for them. Only then can the possibility of change take root. Kahu has seen the impact a challenge like hers can have on the men she works with. Take the client she had when she started a session with a new group at HAIP. “He came in, he sat down, he told us what he’d done to his partner. He says, straight off: ‘I’m a skinhead. I’m a racist. And I don’t like Māoris.’” It was a 26 week course, but within the first six weeks he had softened. By the end he was greeting everyone in Māori, and addressing Kahu as ‘whaea’. He even invited Kahu to his home for dinner with his family as a way to thank her. Kahu was touched. It was another affirmation of the ability for people to change and heal the hatred they may have for others, or themselves. The rise of Matariki approaches. In the old days it marked the time Māori would harvest what they had laid the previous season and plant new crops for the season to come. Kahu believes it may also be as good a time as any for people to begin a process of self-reflection and self healing. “I guess it’s [about] planting new seeds,” she says. “Be it new seeds of thought.” “I just think of the four seasons of [the] self. There’s a time for growing and a time for stripping away. And a time for new growth, whatever that looks like. And then there’s a time just for being. To rejuvenate or replenish your wairua.” For Kahu, self-healing is not only reserved for a particular time of the year. It can be a daily process. To cleanse herself, especially after helping others come to grips with their intense ordeals, she goes to the river just down the road from her home in Ngāruawāhia. She may sprinkle the top of her head with the water of the Waikato, and sit with the ducks, the herons and the squeaking fantails. “Just drawing energy from the awa. Enjoying the surroundings of the Hakarimata. A few of my old friends and kaumātua used to say ‘If you ever get where it feels dark, or heavy, go down to the awa. And just be.’”

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

h e wā mo te w hakatupuranga, He wā mō te whakaora Nā Jason Renes

Te Kōrerō Purakau mo Hinetītama he pūrakau anō tā te Māori mō Hinetītama te uri mātāmua o Hineahuone me Tane Mahuta te Atua o te ngahere. Nā te tino atāhua o Hinetītama ka moengia e Tāne. Ka puta ā raua tamariki arā ko ngā tūpuna o te ira tangata o te ao. Ka patai atu a Hinetītama ki a Tāne “ E mohio ana koe ko wai taku matua?” He roa te wā, kātahi ka kī atu a Tāne ‘Ae, ko au tō matua’. Ohorere ana a Hinetītama me te whakamā, kātahi ka haere ki te huna i a ia ki te wāhi e kī ko te Ao o te Pō. Ka noho mai ia i reira hei kaitiaki i te wairua o te hunga kua mate. Ka unuhia e ia te pūeru o te awatea. Ka noho ki te pō roa ki te whanga i āna tamariki. Ko te ingoa i whakarite mai māna, ko Hine-nuii-te-Po, te kaitiaki mō te mate. Ki a Kahu Davis he kōrero whakamārama aua kōrero ki te whakamā o te wahine kua noho hei utu i te hara o te tangata. Koinei te ara e whaia nei e Kahu i roto i āna mahi kōrero awhi, he āhua tēnei i tarewa nei i ngā wā o mua. Ko Kahu, he uri nō Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Mahuta, Tūhourangi me Ngāti Whakaue. I te tau 2011 ka whiwhi ia i te tohu

Te Whiuwhiu o Te Hau. Mai i aua wā ka mahi ia hei kanohi, hei reo mō ngā whānau e pākia nei i ēnei āhuatanga kino. Kei te Hamilton Abuse Intervention Project (HAIP) ia e whakahaere kaupapa ana mō ngā Tāne i mahi raweke i o rātou whānau. He tūranga Kaitohutohu tōna i te whare herehere o Wiri. Kua tū he kaupapa hei awhi i ngā tane i pā ki te mahi rawekē. Ehara i te āhua hou ki a Kahu mō te mahi Kaitohutohu. I tupu ake ia i Ngāruawāhia, he toru tekau te maha o ngā tamariki i roto i ōna whānau. Ko tōna matua he tangata kuti hipi, ko tōna whāea he wahine pūmau ki te kaupapa o te Kiingitanga. Ko te whakapono o tōna whaea mā te mātauranga ka ora mātou. Ka mutu te kura nāna anō te kaha ki te whakahaere i o mātou mahi kainga kia tutuki pai. Kāre rātou i mate i te hemokai, mo te aha ranei. He whitu ōna tau ka mate te whaea o Kahu. Ka heke kino te wairua o tōna matua i te matenga o tōna wahine ka nuku katoa rātou ki te noho waenganui i te whānau whānui. I kī ai a Kahu, “Koinei te wā i hikoi au i roto i te pouri”. Tekau mā rima ōna tau, ka mutu a Kahu i te kura, ka moe tane ia.

“Ahakoa ko te whakaaro ki te awhi i te iwi, ko te mōhio me tika anō te ara tomokanga mōku i te tuatahi”. Kaumātua ake tōna hoa tane i a ia. Mā te moe tane ka kī pea ngā whārua o tōna wairua, mō te ngaronga o te wairua aroha i te wā ā tōna whakatupuranga. Ko te tane tuatahi he tangata kino, he tangata patu. Ka pau tekaumārua tau e patungia ana e ia ka mohio ka mate ia, ka whakarērengia e Kahu i tana tane. Ka moe tāne anō a Kahu. He tangata kaha ki te mahi, kaha ki te tiaki i te whānau, ēngari he tangata kaha ki te inu waipiro, ka whai tahi atu a Kahu ki tēnei āhua. I roto i ngā tau rua tekau ma toru ka piki, ka heke ā rāua nohotahi ko te kai waipiro kē te mate. Ka noho ko ā rāua tamariki āhua ngoikore ana. Ka mate te tāne o Kahu i te mate pukupuku. Nā te matenga o tōna hoa ka mutu te kai waipiro. Pērā i a Hinetitama, ka nuku te whakaaro ki te kimi huarahi hou kia pai ake māna me āna tamariki hoki. Kia noho mai ko ia hei tauira tika mo āna tamariki me te whakaora i a ia anō. “Tihaehae i tōku wairua kia āta kimi huarahi tika, me kawhakatika ake au anō kia taea ki te awhi i te nuinga o rātou kua pā ki te mamae o te rawekētanga me te mahi patu ēngari kia tika anō ko au i te tuatahi” I āta titiro a Kahu ki ngā toimahatanga i pēhi i tōna wairua i ngā tau ki muri. Kua kore te mahi patu, kua tau tōna wairua inaianei. Kua mārama a Kahu, kua whai whakaaro kē ia ki te toro atu ki ngētehi ki te āwhi i a rātou. “Ko wai e kore e wēhi mo te mahi tahi ki ngā

tane kua mau i te herehere”? Kare e kore a Kahu e aukati te haee ki reira. Mā te ū ki ngā tikanga hei whakangāwari ake i te wairua o te tangata ka noho marie.” Kua kite i a Kahu i te papātanga o tana mahi ki ngā tāngata. He pērā hoki ki tētehi tangata i tīmata mai i roto i te rōpu hou o HAIP. Te urutanga mai o te tangata nei ki tō mātou rōpu ka kōrerō nanakia ki āna mahi kino ki tōna hoa. Ka puta ēnei kōrero; “he pane pākira, he tangata kaikiri au, kāre au e pai ki te Māori!” He ono wiki noa iho te noho o taua tangata nei ka tīmata te ngāwari ake o tōna wairua. I te mutunga ka karanga a Kahu, ko whāea, na i tono ki a ia kiatahi me tōna whānau hei mihi atu ki a ia. I nga wā o mua ka eke mai ā Matariki ka kitea te hua o te tau me ngā kai katoa. He wā anō ki te whakatō kai, he wā anō mō te whakaora wairua. E whakapono ana te ngākau o Kahu he wā mō anō te whakatō whakaaro hou, mahere hoki kia tupu kia ora ai i te wairua. Mō Kahu, ko te tikanga me whakaora wairua i nga wā katoa. Ka hoki a Kahu ki te awa koiora o Waikato e tata mai ki tōna whare kia iriiri ki te mauri o te wai. ki te nohotahi, ā titiro ki ngā rakiraki, ā kotuku me te whakarongo ki ngā tirairaka e kōrero ana. “ Ka noho harikoa ki te awa ka kite te ia o Hakarimata, ko te awa me te whenua tērā hei whakakaha ake i a au i nga wā ka pōuri ai te ngakau” Me haere ki reira.

Nā Jason Renes

Ei t h e r Le a v i ng

“Don’t forget where you come from and don’t forget your mates and your family.”

By Jess Meek “I think you’re the first Māori to gain a Masters of Sport Science from Wintec.” Marrin Haggie, 35, heard these words from Dr Peter Maulder, and thought “there needs to be more”. Peter was Marrin’s supervisor on his Wintec master’s degree, which he received with distinction in 2013. “It was quite an honour,” Marrin says. “[But] it’s quite lonely. It is still quite lonely.” Marrin now works as a full time staff member at Wintec’s Centre for Sport Science and Human Performance. This ground-breaking achievement is a motivator for Marrin as he hopes other Māori students will graduate from Wintec in the same field as he did. “I’m looking forward to them graduating and hopefully some of them go on to do masters, so I’m not rowing this waka by myself! Because when you’re rowing a waka by yourself, you go round in circles,” he jokes. Marrin had a natural inclination towards sport from a young age. He enjoyed the science-based subjects but

knew ultimately they weren’t for him. Trent Oliver was a Wintec graduate, working as the sports coordinator at Ngāruawāhia High School when Marrin was a student there. Trent suggested to Marrin and a few others that they study sports science at Wintec. He brought them in to do some VO2 Max testing and the group of students were amazed. “We just went, wow, we’re here,” Marrin said. Two of the students ended up enrolling in what was then called the School of Sports Science, Marrin and his best friend, Heremaia Samson. The two young men from Ngāruawāhia didn’t need to travel far from home to complete their degrees. “Heremaia and I did it together and helped each other through it, and we also got support from the really close mates we formed through Wintec.” Marrin’s goal was to gain a degree and to “get myself off the island”.

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

the island or

“Wow, we’re here” “I always wanted to leave the island and go around the world. I realised that, jeez, a sports science degree can help me in that endeavour, but also make me a better footy player,” Marrin says. He has been involved with rugby league since the age of five, and has played in countries around the word including Japan, the US and Australia. The ideal for Marrin was to leave New Zealand to play rugby league somewhere different and use his bachelor’s degree for work, which he managed to succeed in doing. “The goal was to graduate and use the degree to seek gainful employment.” After playing rugby league for a few clubs in Australia, Marrin came home at the end of 2010 and decided a bachelor of sports exercise science wasn’t enough. “Degrees were a dime a dozen, I just needed to strengthen those letters behind my name.” He spoke with his partner, Megan, and they decided he would enrol in a Postgraduate Diploma in Sport and Exercise Science. The diploma took two years, and straight after he completed it Marrin enrolled in the master’s degree. He describes his master’s graduation as a very humbling experience. The support from his grandparents and parents was overwhelming. “Knowing you’ve got that support from family is huge, man. “I will say that being shown that admiration from my father and grandfather was something else, considering I’ve looked up to them both for a while. And I’m not ashamed to admit that my eyes started to sweat a little bit. It’s little bit emotional thinking about that now actually,” he says. Extended family turned out to the marae graduation in support of Marrin, and the Māori King, Tuheitia Paki, was present at the event.

“Coming from a family in Ngāruawāhia who are very staunch supporters of the Kīngitanga, being able to receive my masters in front of him was quite awesome.” The marae graduation had further significance as Marrin was asked to be the student speaker. Marrin’s aunt is a master weaver; she weaves korowai and offered him one of her creations to wear on graduation day. Six foot four Marrin wore the long korowai made from kiwi feathers in the heated month of March. In dress pants, a shirt, tie, graduation cloak and korowai he says he was lucky to be in the shade that day. “Stubbornness is the thing that has got me to achieve what I have, I’m quite stubborn. It was different for the masters, [because] as an undergrad I was young, with no kids. Now I had my three kids, I had to do it. My drive and determination was my kids and my partner Megan. I was doing it for them.” For Marrin, having his master’s degree meant he was more employable, and this meant better earning potential. And better earnings meant a better life for his three children. Marrin currently plays fullback or centre for the Ngāruawāhia Rugby League Premiers and has been involved with the club since the age of five. He has played all over the world but “my heart’s black with a white v on it. I bleed black and white, man”. He says his strong cultural side has helped him to achieve his goals in sporting and academia. “I didn’t realise this till I was well into my late 20s that for a lot of Māori students, those that are culturally grounded and know who they are, where they come from, a lot of those people tend to do quite well,” he says. His advice: “Don’t forget where you come from and don’t forget your mates and your family, because if you forget those people that helped you along the way then you might forget yourself.”

Jess Meek

m auri Ora! kue mai ta t o u !

“Ko koe pea te Māori tuatahi kua eke ki te taumata mō te Tohu Paerua Tākaro Taiao o te Kuratini nei” I te rongotanga i nga kōrerō ā Takuta Peter Maulder e Marrin Haggie ka uru te whakaaro, kāre anō i tino tūtuki i tēnei kaupapa. Ko Takuta Maulder te kaiwhakahaere mō āna mahi whai i te Tohu Paerua, te kaupapa i eke rawa nei ā Marrin i te Tau 2013 ki te taumata. “He hōnore nui engari he huarahi mokemoke, e pēnei tonu ana”. Kua riro ia he tūranga mahi i te Centre for Sport Science and Human Performance. He huarahi hou kua parangia e Marrin. Kō te tūmanako kia whai mai te nuinga ō ngai Māori ki te rapu tohu mō tēnei mahi. “Kia eke rawa nei rātou ki te taumata ka taea ai tātou katoa ki orite te hoe i te ‘waka’ nei, kauā ko ahau anake ka huri pōrangi noa iho te tangata”! I whai ngākau a Marrin i te wā i a ia i te Kura Tuarua o Ngāruawāhia ki tēnei momo mahi i runga i ngā kōrerō akiaki o Trent Oliver, te tangata whakarite Tākaro Taiao i taua Kura. Ka uru atu he rōpu ki roto i tēnei kaupapa, te whakamātautau VO2 Max, nā te pai i ā rātou mahi ka ohorere te ngākau. “Mauri Ora! Kua ea tātou”.

Nā Jess Meek

Ka uru atu a Marrin me tōna tino hoa, a Heremaia Samson ki roto i te kaupapa nei. Tata noa iho te kura ki o rāua kainga i Ngāruawāhia anō.” Nā māua te kaha ki te mahitahi me te mihi anō ki ō māua hoa o te kuratini mō tō rātou tino awhi. E tino hiahia ana a Marrin ki te haere ki te takahi i te nuku o te Ao Whānui. Ko te whakapono ka taea e ia inaianei nā te whiwhingatahitanga o te Tohu Paerua mō te Tākaro Taiao. Nā tēnei āhua anō ka pai ake pea tana kori whana pōro. He rima ōna tau ka tīmata ia ki te kori whana pōro, kua tae ia ki Hapanihi, ki Amerika me Ahitereiria hoki. Ko te whakaaro a Marrin, he haere ki tāwahi me tana Tohu Paetahi hei whiwhi mahi māna nā wai ka tūtuki me te whana pōro mō ngā rōpu riiki ki Ahiteriria. I te mutunga atu ka hoki mai ia ki te kainga 2010 me te whakaaro atu kare anō kia tau. ka tau te whakaaro kia whaia e ia he tohu piki ake i te Tohu Paetahi. Ā, ka wānanga rāuatahi ko tōna hoa rangatira, a Megan, ka whakauru atu ki te Tohu Taura Pokairua Tākaro Taiao. He rua tau e whai mātauranga ana a Marrin, katahi ia ka whai i te Tohu Paerua. I tu whakaiti a Marrin i tana pōtae-

“Ka tāea rānei e au ki te hikoi ano? Te ohonga i tōku moemoeaā ko te puāwaitanga o te whakaaro. Kei te ora tonu au, kororia ki te Rungarawa”.

tanga ki te Tohu Paerua. “He hōnore nui i reira ōku tūpuna me ōku mātua ki te whakanui te rā whakapōtaetanga. Ko te mohio i reira rātou hei tuarā mōku…………ka nui te aroha e pupū ana mō rātou”. Mā te aha, e mīharo atu ana ki tōku matua me te tupuna, kare au e whakamā rehurehu ana te wai ki ōku kamo me te hotu o te whatumanawa i tōku whakarangatiratanga i a rātou katoa. I tae atu te nui o te whānau o Marrin ki te tautoko i a ia. I reira tahi te Kiingi Māori ā Kiingi Tuheitia, he tino hōnore mōna. Ko tōna whānau he tuarā tautoko o te Kiingitanga mai rāno. I tohua a Marrin hei reo mō ngā Tauira o te Kuratini anei anō te hōnoretanga ki te tū i runga i tōna ake marae hei reo mō te kaupapa whakahirahira o te rā. I kākāhungia e tōna whāea ki te kahukiwi, anō rā he hōnore nui tēnei. Ko tōna whāea, he wahine rongonui ki te whatu korowai. He tangata roa a Marrin, ahakoa pai ana te noho mai o te kākāhu raka i runga i ōna pokohiwi, engari te wera hoki o taua rā…aue. “Nā te kaha ūpoko au e taea. He rerekē te akoako o te tohu paetahi ki tā te tohu paerua. I te wā o te

tohu paetahi he rangatahi ahau, kare he tamariki. Engari i te wā whai tohu paerua kua whiwhi wahine me ngā tamariki tokotoru. Ka tika nā rātou au e akiaki”. Tūturu ana na te tohu paerua ka whakapai ake te haere ki te kimi mahi, te utu hoki kia pai ai te ora o te whānau. E rima tau a Marrin ka tīmata ia ki te kori whana pōro riiki i raro i te mana o te karapu o Ngāruawāhia, kei reira tonu ia hei waengapū, hei poumuri rānei mo te riiki tuatahi o Ngāruawāhia. Mā tēnei huarahi i āhei ia ki te whana pōro mai ki te ao whānui. Engari, “ko tōku ngākau he pango engari e mau ana he V ki te tae mā. Maringi te toto pango me te mā, e hoa”. Kī atu a Marrin, mā te wairua Māori anō ka eke ia ki te taumata mō te tākaro me te whiwhi tohu. “I te wā o te tamarikitanga kāre ia i te mōhio te taha Māori. Rātou ngā tauira e mōhio ana nō whea, nō wai rānei rātou, ka māmā te haere ki te eke ki te tihi mātauranga”. “Kaua e wareware i ahu mai koe i whea, me mau hoki koe ki ō hoa me tō whānau. Me ka wareware koe, ka noho kuare, kore wairua, kore whānau, kare kau ana he mana”..

Nā Jess Meek

THE

“My iwi is my identity. It is who I am. It is everything l know,”

By Norma Battiss

From boyhood, Ben Katipa was fascinated by adventure stories. The first novel he ever read was Treasure Island, an adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Ben was 23. He was not able to read very well after he left secondary school in 1984. “The education system failed me,” he says. He found an old, hardcover, copy of the book at his local library. “It took me to another place and on a journey, an experience of wonderment.” He was elated that he could finally read it. Ben was born in Huntly and grew up at Tūrangawaewae Marae. He points to the building where he and his family lived and where he grew up. The river was his front yard and the marae was the back. Ben is from Ngāti Amaru and Ngāti Pou which are Waikato river iwi affiliated to

Ngāruawāhia and the Waikato region. His parents are both related to the royal family. He is the fifth child in his family, with two brothers and two sisters. He lives at Tūrangawaewae with his father, his older brother and older sister. The rest of his family live in the Waikato. He describes his childhood at Tūrangawaewae as “wonderful and quite enchanting,” saying it was an amazing place to have grown up. He reflects that back then, Māori customary practices were still very much intact. He grew up in a family where his father was not educated in a Pākehā way and was illiterate. “All he really knew had to do with the Kīngitanga movement and what it meant and means to be Māori growing up in Ngāruawāhia and in this region.”

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

LIFELONG ADVENTURE

Ben left high school in 1984 aged 16. He describes his schooling years as difficult. “In primary and high school l always felt quite dumb and did not achieve very much.” Ben says the reason for that was the cultural clash between the Māori and Pākehā style of teaching. If pupils did not understand what the lesson was about they fell behind the rest of the class. He was part of the group of Māori children who “fell through the cracks” and suffered academically as a result of that. “The education system that l grew up with just did not suit my style of learning, but it was what it was. I feel it failed me.” Ben worked for a few years after he left high school and then went to Australia for the next five years where he did various jobs in cleaning and the hospitality sector. He returned to New Zealand in 1990. After working in market gardening with his family in Tūākau he realised that he had an affinity with nature and trees and this got him interested in horticulture. In 1993 an opportunity presented for him to study social work. In 1994 he studied business and in 1997, Māori tourism. He studied te reo in 2000, but found it difficult to learn despite having grown up speaking Māori. He

then worked in Te Kohanga Reo. It was a relaxed environment where he felt safe to explore language. In 2002 he continued to learn Māori language structure and became more fluent. He started the horticulture course at Wintec in 2012. He also acted as an ambassador of the Tūrangawaewae marae, through Wintec, helping guide Māori students through the programme. “It was really awesome that l could get a good grasp on the scientific elements of horticulture,” he says. He went on to study arboriculture in 2014 at the age of 46. “As an arborist it brought me to the great realisation of who l am.” When asked about his recipe for success he says, “You need a clear idea and vision about what you want in life.” Ben is proud to come from Tūrangawaewae Marae, which is an emblem of the Waikato people. He knows who he is and where he is from. He has a strong connection to his iwi and Māori heritage. “My iwi is my identity. It is who I am. It is everything l know,” he says. “My iwi affects everything l do in my life and in my work.”

Norma Battis

pūmau Haerenga Nā Norma Battiss

aitamariki ana a Ben Katipa ka ohorere ki ngā kōrero mahinga mōrearea. The first novel he ever read was Treasure Island, an adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Ben was 23. E rua tekau mā toru ōna tau ka pānuitia e Ben Katipa i ngā tuhinga o Robert Louis Stevenson e kīa nei ko Treasure Island. I te mutunga o te kura tuarua 1984, kāre ia i te tino matatau ki te pānui pukapuka, “I hē te tari mātauranga”. Heoi rā i kite ai ia i tētehi pukapuka uwhi māro i te wharepukapuka, “aue mīharo rawa ana ki te kōrero o roto”. I whānau mai a Ben i Rahui Pokeka, a i tupu ake i te marae o Tūrangāwaewae i Ngāruawāhia. Ko ia te tuarima o ngā tamariki ā ōna mātua, ko te nuinga o te whānau whānui kei roto i a Waikato e noho ana. E hangai atu ana tōna whakapapa ki a Waikato, ki te Tūpuna Awa e rere atu nei ki ngā hapū o Te Puaha, puta atu i te wahapū. He whanaunga ngā mātua o Ben ki te Kāhui Ariki. Ka nono ia ki taha o tōna matua me tōna tuakana me tōna

tuahine.

I te wā tupu ake au i Turangawaewae, ka kitea e ia i te tino wairua, te atāhua hoki o te marae, “he tāonga whakarere iho tōna ngākau”. Ka hoki ngā whakaaro ki muri, kei te ū tonu ngā tikanga me ngā mōhiotanga”. Ahakoa kāre te matua o Ben i haere ki te kura ako ai. “Ko ngā mōhiotanga i kaha mau tonu ia me ngā tikanga o te Kiingitanga me te āhua o te tupu ake ki Ngāruawāhia tae atu ki te rohe nei o Waikato”. Tekau mā ono ngā tau a Ben, i te tau 1984, kī atu ia he uaua rawa te kura, ka mutu kura a Ben. “I te Kura tuatahi me te kura tuarua, i āhua noho kuare au, kare au i eke”. Ki a Ben, nā te Tukituki i ngā ahurea Māori kit ā te Pākeha ahurea. Me ka kore te tauira Māori e mōhio ki ngā kōrero ka taka iho rātou. Ko ia anō tētehi i rongo i te “mamae me te patu hoki”, i te wairua i runga i te kore mōhio. “I hē tonu te Tari Mātauranga na i

Nā Norma Battiss

“Ko te tuakiri o tōku ira tangata nō tōku iwi, koinei ahau me ōku mohiotanga”

hē au ki te akoako engari koianā te āhua o aua wā. Ko au anō te utunga. Ka kimi mahi a Ben i te whakamutunga o te kura a, ka haere ki Poihākena mō ngā tau e rima, mahi ai ki te whakapai whare me te mahi manaaki tangata. Tōna hokinga mai, ka haere ia ki Tuakau mahi ahuone. I reira ka mahana tōna ngākau ki te mahi, ki te tiaki whenua hoki a, ki te mahi ahumāra me te ahuone. I te tau 1993 ka whai wāhi a Ben ki te ako ki ngā mahi Tauwhiro Hāpori. I te tau 1994 ka ako ia i te kura pākihi a, i te tau 1997 ka whai ia i ki te kura Tūrūhi Māori, kātahi ka huri ki te whai i Te Reo. Ahakoa, i tupu ake ia i roto i te reo he kaupapa tino uaua māna. Ka mahi i roto i te kōhanga reo ka pūare te huarahi māna ki te ako anō i te reo. Ka tau, ka oho te mauri o te wairua o Ben. Kā tīmata ia ki te ako mahi Ahuone i te Kuratini o Waikato ki te tau 2012. Inā hoki i whiwhi ai i tētehi mahi kaiāwhina hei tautoko i ngā tauira i roto taua kura nei.

“Harikoa ana ki te akoako i ngā āhua pūtaiao o te ahuone”. Ka whai tonu ia te ako me te mahi tiaki i ngā rākau (arboriculture) i tōna tau 46 i te tau 2014. “Mā tēnei mahi ka tino mōhio ko wai au”. Ka pātai atu, he aha te huarahi kia eke ai koe, ka whakautu mai, “Kia tino mārama tō whakaaro me ōu whakakitenga kia tūtuki te taumata e whaia nei e koe hei painga anō mōu”. Ko te oranga ngākau ko ōku marae me ōku iwi. Kei te mōhio ko wai ia, no whea ia. He kaha ana ia ki te mau i ngā tāonga tuku iho mai i ōna tūpuna, “Ko te tuākiri o tōku ira tangata nō tōku iwi kē koinei ahau no reira, nō rātou ōku mōhiotanga, kua tau tōku wairua”.

COOKNG Up a

STORM “The thought of never walking again hit me hard, but then I woke one day to appreciate the

fact that at least I was living and breathing and that I was gifted a second chance at life.” By Satrianna Erceg Shannon Katipa’s career as a chef has taken him around the world. He has travelled to Australia, Rarotonga, Switzerland, France and done a culinary tour in the United States. Next year he plans to take his family on a trip through Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece and Turkey, with lots of different foods to be sampled. He has worked with numerous top chefs. From them, he says, he has gained “life lessons” and learned to graft out the long hours while being ruthless about keeping standards high. He has also been named Waikato Chef of the Year three times, along with being a runner up twice for New Zealand Chef of the Year. He is a three-times national finalist in the Monteiths Wild Food Challenge and also featured on the televised series. That was a highlight, he says. Between regional, national and international competitions, he has won more than 90 medals and coached

students and apprentices to well over 100 medals. “It gives me more pleasure now to coach than to compete, yet who knows, one day I might have one more crack at the top honours,” he says. The Wintec cooking tutor, 38, has worked in top restaurants, been an executive chef at a five star resort and managed 88 chefs in the Gold Coast, while also being in control of a monthly $1.2 million food budget. Projects under way for Shannon this year involve being head coach of the Wintec culinary team, head coach of Waikato WorldSkills team, chef judge for the Waikato Culinary Fare, which is the second largest cooking competition outside of nationals, guest chef in the Great New Zealand Food Show, all while continuing with his teaching role at Wintec. After being in the hospitality business for 24 years and a full-time cookery tutor for four years, teaching level 4 and 5 students at Wintec’s Rotokauri campus, Shannon

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

has a full day that looks like this: 5.30am, wake up and help get family sorted for their day, work by 6.30am in the kitchen, class by 7am till 12pm, lectures 12.30pm till 2pm, 3pm coaching his son Trey’s first XI football team, dinner by 6pm, winding down at 8pm, 11pm bed, 1am sleep. “The life of a chef!” he says. But five years ago, his career as a chef was nearly cut short. “A freak fishing accident saw me break two vertebrae fishing off rocks in Coromandel where I fell five metres. The breaks were 1mm from severing my spinal cord which would have made me a quadriplegic. “The resulting operation which was supposed to be a four hour operation ended up a nine hour fight. “The thought of never walking again hit me hard. Learning to go to the toilet by myself again and the thought of not being able to run around with my babies was hard to take, but then I woke one day to appreciate the fact that at least I was living and breathing and that I was gifted a

Shannon was born and bred in Gisborne: “Ko Hikurangi tōku maunga, ko Waiapu tōku awa, ko Hiruharama rāua ko Tuatini ōku marae, ko Ngati Porou tōku iwi.” He wanted to “prove to his family that we can do it” and “show nieces and nephews that we can come out of the ‘hood’ and still do something positive in life”. He knew he wanted to be a chef from the age of seven, with childhood memories of “waking up and smelling frying potatoes with lots of onions and butter”. He says his biggest career inspiration was his late mother and in turn he is most proud of his three children, Trey 17, Sheyla 15, and Jessica, 7. Nobody else from Shannon’s whānau has studied at Wintec but Trey is enrolled in tourism next year. At one stage he was looking at pursuing a career as a chef, “against dad’s wishes” but chose not to. “I want my children to follow their dreams and not to follow in my shadow,” Shannon says. “They are smart and very intelligent and will succeed in any career they

second chance at life.” He reminded himself there were many others in a worse situation. “So I literally woke myself up and pushed myself to start again. The very next year I became runner up to New Zealand Chef of the Year.“ Shannon’s cooking style is always evolving and changing with the seasons. “What I teach is not so much the food but the ownership of the food - treating the food with respect and teaching the students not to waste it,” he says. “There’s no Gordon Ramsay style or any other style, it’s just about good solid cooking.” Shannon also has a role as kaiāwhina for Māori and Pasifika cooking students. When he was a Wintec student, his goals were to prove his old home economic teachers wrong. “I failed home economics and was kicked out, probably for my cheeky attitude,” he laughs.

choose and I will be here to support them no matter what.” Shannon will be attending Matariki this year with a special menu. For him, Matariki means a new beginning. “Start planting or harvesting depending on where you come from. Pay homage to our ancestors that work from the stars and recognise the work our ancestors did for us”. His words for anybody who wants to follow in the same path is: “Stay true to yourself, set realistic goals, don’t make five-year plans because plans change. “Always be open to learning. But most important of all, enjoy what you do and have fun learning, strive and keep striving for excellence, and always learn from the mistakes. Be ruthless on your own standards, gracious to those around you, be humble and always thank those that taught you along your journey.”

Satrianna Erceg

hiko Hiko te uira K i t e t u n a K ai Nā Satrianna Erceg I rere tawhiti mai a Shannon i te Tai Rawhiti, whānau mai ia i Tūranga-nui-ā- Kiwa Kua tae a Shannon ki ngā tōpito whā katoa o te Ao i runga i tāna mahi tunu kai. Nāna i tunu kai ki Ahitereiria, ki Rarotonga, ki Witerana, ki Wiwi me te haerere ki Amerika. Hei te tau whai ake e hiahia ana ia ki te hari tōna ake whānau ki te haerere tāwāhi, ki Pāniora, ki Itari, ki Koroātia, ki Kirihi, ki Tāke ki te kai i ngā kai o reira Nā te mahitahi ki te taha o ngā rangatira tunu kai o te Ao kua kitea e ia i ngā tikanga me ngā tino mahi o te tunu kai ahakoa te roa o ngā rā, me ngā pō. Kua eke ia ki te tino taumata o te Tohu Motuhake Kai Rangatira o Waikato me te Tohu Turua o Te Motu. I eke anō ia i runga i te poutama whakaingoatia Te Monteiths Wild Food Challenge me te tunu kai hei whakaatūranga i runga i te pouaka whakaata o te Motu. I tino ū tērā kaupapa ki tōna wairua. He tino maha ngā wā kua whakanuitia e ia mō āna mahi tunu kai. He tahi rau te maha o ngā tohu mātau eke atu, kua whakawhiwhia e ia. Tapiri atu ki āna mahi tunu kai, he mahi ako tauira anō tērā. Ko te korero a Shannon; “He mahi pai tēnei ki te ako tauira ki te tunu kai, heoi he wā anō pea ka hoki ki te whai tino tohu o tēnei mahi”. He kaiako a Shannon ki te kuratini, ōna tau he toru tekau mā waru kua mahia e ia ki te tunu kai ki ngā

rēinga hōtera nunui o te Ao. Nāna i whakahaere ngā pūtea nunui rawa mō tēnei mahi o te tunu kai, a, he $1.2 miriona te pūtea mō ia marama. I te wā i a ia i te Gold Coast he waru tekau mā waru te rahi ā āna ringawera mahi tunu kai. Ko ngā kaupapa kei mua o Shannon i tēnei tau he ūpoko mō te rōpu Waikato Culinary Fare, me te Waikato World Skills tīma, tae noa atu ko ia te kaiwhakawā mō te Waikato Culinary Fare, he mea whakamātautau nui muri mai i te nui o te whakamātautau tunu kai ā motu. Tāpiri atu, ko tāna mahi whakaako tauira ki te tunu kai ki te kuratini. E rua tekau mā whā ngā tau e mahi ana a Shannon i aua mahi, me te Kuratini i ngā tau e wha ki te kura ki Rotokauri, toimaha ana āna nei rā, na he tauira tēnei e whai ake nei; he moata te maranga ia ra, he 5:30 ki te whakatika i te whānau, haere ai ia ki te mahi ki 6:30 akoako ai. A te toru hāora a te ahiahi ka whakahaere te tīma o Trey ki te whana pōro. Ka kai a te ono hāora, a, ka whakatā a te waru hāora. Kua tata te huringa o te matawā ki te ata pō, kua hoki ia ki te moe. “Koinei te āhua māku i nga wā katoa”. Engari he rima tau ki muri ake ka haere ia ki te hī ika ki Moehau, “Nā te kino o te whatinga o ngā ngaru ka taka ki runga i ngā kōwhatu ka whara ahau. Whati ana ngā whēua o tōku kakī ka pararaihatia ahau”. E tika ana e whā te hāora pokaina e ngā tākuta engari ka huri ki te iwa

“Ka tāea rānei e au ki te hikoi ano? Te ohonga i tōku moemoeaā ko te puāwaitanga o te whakaaro. Kei te ora tonu au, kororia ki te Rungarawa”.

hāora pea te roa e mahi ana ki te whakaora i a ia. Ka uru te whakaaro ki au, “ E kore au e taea te hikoi a waewae” I aroha au ki āku tamariki e kore au e taea te Korikori. I te ohonga o tōku wairua ka puta te whakaaro waimarie tonu ana ahau he tāonga te ora”. E mōhio ana te kino ake te mate o ngētehi atu. “ka oho ake au ka hoki ki te mahi. A tērā tau tonu ka whiwhi i te tūranga tuarua mo Kai Tunu ā Motu.” “Ka tino oho te wairua kātahi au ka haere ki te kimi ōranga hei tauira mōku, mō te katoa na, ko he tunu kai te mahi. Ka eke ai au ki te tūranga tuarua o te Motu!” Ko ngā kaupapa ā Shannon mo te tunu kai e orite ana ki ngā wāhanga o te Tau. “He tikanga anō mō te whāwhā i te kai. Ka ako au i ngā tauira kia mohio ai rātou ki ēnei ture kia kore rātou e takahi i te mauri me te moumou i te kai”. “Waiho mā te kai anō hei kōrero ki tōna reka”. He Kaiawhina ā Shannon mō ngā tauira Māori me ērā o a tātou whanaunga o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. I te wā ia i te Kuratini hei tauira ka kite te whakahē ā ōna māhita tawhito i te wā e kuraina ia.“Kāre au i eke ka panaia a Shannon e te māhita me tōna āhua whakatoi”. E hiahia ana, “kia whakatika tōna whānau kia eke atu, a, ki te whakaatu atu ki āna iramutu kia kore ai e taka ki te hē”. I tōna tau e whitu ka mōhio tonu te hiahia kia whai ia hei Kaitunu me tōna Mahara, “te haunga ō te tunu rīwai me te aniana e kīnaki ana ki te pata”. Nā te whakapono o tōna whaea kua mene ki te pō me Nā Satrianna Erceg

te aroha o āna tamariki tokotoru, a Trey tekau mā whitu ōna tau, a Sheyla tekau mā rima ōna tau, me Jessica tokowhitu ōna tau, te take i whai ā Shannon i te mahi kaitunu. Kāre anō tētēhi o ōna whānau i uru atu ki te Kuratini nei engari ko tana koa, kua whai wāhi tana tamaiti, a Trey ki te uru atu ki roto i te wāhanga Mahi Tāpoi, Tūruhi. Muri mai i whakaaro ia ki te whai mahi tunu kai hoki, “kī atu te matua kao” i whakaae te tamaiti. Ko te kī a Shannon “He koi aku tamariki, me taku akiaki atu me whai koutou tōu ake moemoeā ahakoa te aha, māku koutou e tautoko”. I tēnei tau ka tautoko a Shannon ki te whakanui i a Matariki ki tētehi rārangi kai motuhake. Ko tāna, “ Ko Matariki te timatanga hou o te ara hei whai mā te katoa. Whakatō he puna kai i roto i o koutou rohe ake, whakanuitia e te tangata inā Tūpuna nā rātou i waihotia mai i ngā kōrerō o ngā whetu o te Rangi hei maramataka puna kai mō tātou”. Nāna ngā kupu e awhi ai i te tangata e whai ana te huarahi pērā ki a ia “me mau ki tōu ake whakapono, whakarite te huarahi kia taea ai e koe kaua e whai mahere kia rima ngā tau, kei tūpono kei tahuri koe” “Me pūmau te whao hei whakairo i te mana o toū ake mahi. Kia mārama tō titiro, kia ngāwari to āhua, kia oro to ngākau ki ngā hua o te mōhiotanga me ōna piki, heke. Kia manawanui, whaia te taumata engari me tū whakaiti. Kia mihi anō koe ki ērā i ārahi me te tautoko i a koe”.

“A lot of people look to nurses and seek guidance from them, trusting them with their lives; and that’s a privileged responsibility to have.”

By Tamara Thorn When Justeena Leaf graduated this year at the Wintec marae, Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa, she carried close to her a photograph of her grandfather. She had been concerned for her grandfather, the man she called dad, even before she started the nursing degree. She had told him: “Dad I’m going to start my degree in nursing, and you just wait for me because I am going to look after you.” But he passed away four months into her study. Now Justeena feels she has done her degree in his name. “There’s an empty feeling that he’s passed away, knowing that I wasn’t able to know or do more about his sickness at the time,” she says. Justeena, 35, has always helped others. Maybe it’s because of her caring grandparents who raised her and set such examples; maybe it’s because she saw the struggle in others and decided she needed to do something. When she was 16 she helped established a programme that engaged and informed young people in schools

and youth settings towards making safer choices in their teenage years. Young parents were quite prevalent in high school, inspiring a group of her peers and other community young parents and key people to act: setting up programmes that enabled young people to make informed decisions about their health and choices in life. Eighteen years later the programme, Te Ahurei a Rangatahi, is still running, helping young people in Hamilton and the Waikato with counselling, youth groups, wananga and education/promotional services. Justeena went to Te Kōhao Health on Kirikiriroa Marae in Hamilton, working as a smoke-free practitioner helping smokers to reach their smoke-free lifestyles. “The rewards are huge, you service your community who are like your whanau, all on the marae,” she says. When working for Te Kōhao Health, Justeena saw the scope and practice of the clinic’s nurses. She says: “that’s when it triggered a light bulb”. “A lot of people look to nurses and seek guidance from them, trusting them with their lives; and that’s a privi-

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

THE

lIGHTBULB

Momement leged responsibility to have.” She learned to trust nurses herself when her third child was delivered two months’ premature. Because of the early birth, her baby had to stay in hospital for two months until she grew bigger, and strong enough to go home. Feeling isolated and alone in hospital when her family went home, Justeena became depressed. “The whole time I was there I saw one Māori nurse. Don’t

She now has a postgraduate placement at the Waikato District Health Board’s acute renal ward. After experiencing a new career pathway, everything about nursing has pushed Justeena into a new comfort zone. She accepts challenges and steps out willingly, knowing she is going to extend her knowledge and experience for the betterment of her people and the community. By doing so she has become the first person in her family to graduate at a degree level.

get me wrong the other nurses were amazing, but I really needed a nurse to connect with in terms of being Māori,” she says. It was at this point that she decided to try to help make a change for all Māori women who may need someone to connect with when times get tough. “My drive came from having been in a needy position, seeing other people’s influence as a nurse, wanting to make change like them,” she says.

“I wish I had started my degree earlier in life, knowing what I know now – there’s so much more I could have done to help our people,” she says. “I never thought I would be a registered nurse and get this RN badge because I didn’t think I had enough time, ability or confidence in myself.” Today she loves the idea of the challenges and new learning she faces at work. Before graduating at Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa, her grandfather’s sister came forward to present a gift to her, a gold nurse’s watch with her name on it. The gift had been given in her grandfather’s name who Justeena says must have known she was going to make it through the journey of her degree. “He was and continues to be there with me in spirit.”

She started studying the nursing degree at Wintec. In the second year of her degree, Justeena was awarded Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu Scholarship, along with her nursing hoa (partner in positive crime) Awhina Uruamo. “It was Awh and I who got picked for this in the Māori Queens name, it was such an honour to have accepted and received this – but me though? I couldn’t believe it.”

Tamara Thorn

te rama oa t i

I tōna whiwhitanga i te tohu Paetahi ki te marae Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa o te kuratini i mau i a Justeena Leaf te whakaahua o tōna tupuna. Muri mai o te whai mahi tiaki tūroro, raru ana ia ki tōna tupuna, e karanga nei, ko pāpā. Kī atu ki a ia, “Pāpā e tīmata mai ana ahau ki te whai i te tohu Paetahi Tūroro, me tatari koe, māku koe e tiaki”. He whā marama e kura ana a Justeena ka mate tana pāpā, inaianei kua tau tōna whakaaro kua oti te tohu hei whakanui i a ia. “Engari kare anō kia mutu te pouri, kare au e taea ki te tiaki i a ia i te wā e mauiui ana”. E toru mā rima te tau o Justeena, he wahine awhi te tangata ahakoa ko wai mai rātou. Ka whakaaro nōna ngā tūpuna i whāngai ia i whakawhakaatu te aroha ki te tangata. Nā te kitenga i te pakanga ā wairua o te tangata kē, koirā i whai ngākau nui ia ki te nēhi tūroro. I te wā tekau mā ono ōna tau i tauwhiro i ēnei āhua e pā nei ki a rātou, ki te rangatahi ki te hāpori whānui ranei, te whakatū hōtaka hei whakawhiriwhiri te tika me te hē e pā ana ki te rangatahi anō. Tokomaha ngā mātua rangatahi kei

Nā Tamara Thorn

ngā kura tuarua ka whiriwhiri he rōpu mō tō rātou oranga. Ā, e tekau mā waru ngā tau haere ake nei, kei te tū tonu te roopu Te Ahurei a Rangatahi. He rōpu awhi i te rangatahi ki Kirikiriroa me Waikato ki te ārahi, ki te wānanga hoki. Ka whiti atu a Justeena ki Te Kōhao Hauora ki Kirikiriroa Marae ki te kōkiri atu ngā kaupapa auahi kore, me te mutu kai hikareti, “he nui ōna painga o ēnei mahi, ko te tino hua ko te ōranga o te whānau, a, he whānau katoa tātou mahitahi ana ki te marae”. Na tana mahi ki Te Kōhao Health, ka kite a Justeena te rahi o te mahi tūroro, kī atu ia, “he mea whakakā te hinengaro. He hōnore te tiaki tangata he tāonga kē i whakapono ana te tangata ki a koe anō me te tika o te tiaki”. I kite ia i te marietanga i roto i a ia mō te mahi nēhi, tiaki wahine whakawhānau tamariki, tūroro hoki i te wā whānau tōmuri mai tona pēpi i ngā marama e rua. I noho ia i roto i te hōhipera i te whānautanga mai o tana pōtiki mō ngā marama e rua, na te ōranga pai o te pēpē, ka hoki kit e kainga. I kitea pai ana mata ki te pai o te awhi o ngā nēhi i a rāua engari ko tana wairua Māori i

He puna aroha e kore e mimiti, he tāonga anō mō te manāki tūroro hei whakaahuru i o rātou wairua”.

mokemoke i hōpua. Ko te pātai o te ngākau kei whea te wairua Māori i roto i ēnei whare? “I te wā au e hōhipera ana kōtahi ana kē te nēhi Māori. Kare he hē o ngā nēhi tauiwi engari kāre he kanohi Māori hei hono ki te wairua Māori”. Nā tēnei āhuatanga, ka whai whakaaro ki te tahuri aua tū āhuatanga. “Nā tōkū mamaetanga ka kite au te mana a te nēhi ka puta te hiahia kia whai atu taua mahi”. Ka tīmata mai ia te ako i te tohu paetahi mō ngā nēhi ki Te Kuratini o Waikato. I te tau tuarua ka whiwhi rāua ko Āwhina Uruamo (tōna hoa hara koa), te tino taumata o te Tohu o Te Arikinui, te Karahipi Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu mō ngā Nēhi. “I hiamo te ngākau a, kua whiwhi māua ko Awhi te tino hōnore - kare au i whakapono atu” Inaianei hoki kua whiwhi anō ia he tāura mahi ki te Pōari Hauora o Waikato wāhi mate tākihi. Kua eke ki ngā taumata katoa ā ēnei mahi,

Nā Tamara Thorn

he whainga huarahi hou.Kua kitea e ia he taki māna me te mōhio nāna anake o te whānau katoa kua eke nei ki ngā taumata ki te whai tohu. Kī atu ia “Ko te aroha o te ngakau, me i tere tana tīmata ki te whai i ēnei mōhiotanga ka taea pea ia ki te whakaora i tōna pāpā a, tōna iwi hoki. Kore rawa ahau e whakapono atu ka taea e au te whiwhi Tohu Nēhi i tōku nei kore whakapono”. I tēnei wā tonu e kaingākau ana ia ki ngā wero hou me ngā akona hou. Hei whakamutu ake, i te pōtaetanga ki te tohu ki te marae ki Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa hei whakatau i te wairua ki runga ki a Justeena i tuku iho e te tuahine a tōna pāpā, he tāonga maumahara hei whakanui ī a ia, i tētehi wati koura. “kei kōnei tonu ia i roto tōku ngākau”.

NOTHING

By Ruwade Bryant “Fifteen years” he says. “Fifteen years I worked at the meatworks.” Civil engineer Ngahina McLaren, 36, never really cared for school; he was more interested in rugby and girls. After finishing fifth form, he got a job at the Te Aroha Silver Fern Farms meatworks where he met his partner, Denise Taukiri, and became an A-grade butcher. After 15 years of service with the company, Ngahina lost his job. The meatworks was destroyed in a fire on December 4, 2010, leaving 160 staff jobless. Unemployed and with no school qualifications, Ngahina was in a tough situation. He chose to pursue a tertiary education. With the meatworks under a two-year reconstruction programme, the ex-butcher felt as if he needed to re-educate, re-establish, and re-define himself. He figured that he “had nothing to lose” by engaging

in tertiary education – if all else failed, he would more than likely have a job to go back to once the works were rebuilt. He took a 12-month pre-trade course – six months of mixed trades and six months of a chosen trade – and found himself working at a small engineering firm in Te Aroha completing small machining and welding jobs. It wasn’t enough. He felt as if he was no better off than working at the meatworks, so decided to re-enrol at Wintec, this time in civil engineering. “I’ll admit – I wasn’t very smart and I chucked myself right in the deep end.” The course was challenging, and he has also faced other, less predictable challenges in his life. “I delivered both my kids. By myself.” Ten years ago, his partner unexpectedly went in to labour at the couple’s home in Te Aroha. With their

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

to lose “We had to try and live off one wage that wasn’t even a third of what we used to make – pay the bills, bring up the kids, get to school.”

midwife in Hamilton and contraction intervals shortening, Ngahina knew he had to deliver baby Clio himself. Twenty minutes, 15 minutes, three minutes, the intervals continued to shorten. “When you’re in a situation like that, the whole world just stops. It just goes boof, boof, boof, boof. Everything just goes real slow motion. “I thought my baby was coming out dead. Her cord was wrapped around her neck.” The birth process took 45 minutes, from start to finish. It is an everlasting memory for the engineer. Four years later the same thing happened, except baby Karlee came out a lot quicker, racing in to the world in 15 minutes with help only from her loving parents. The children were older once he started studying civil engineering, and the one-year course was tough financially. “We had to try and live off one wage that wasn’t even a third of what we used to make – pay the bills, bring up the kids, get to school. “It worked. It worked, and I don’t know how.”

After a year of hard work, Ngahina sat his final exam and should have been able to feel a sense of achievement. But the happiness he felt after his final exam didn’t last. Ngahina realised he was still unemployed, no longer a student, and had a swag of bills piling up. The quest to find a job began. He knew what he wanted, a job at a small firm with an older boss. This was so he could continue developing his knowledge, after previous experience of a job in which older colleagues had passed on expertise. Finding a job in Te Aroha that fitted the description should have been difficult. Except things have a tendency to fall in to place in Ngahina’s life. Three days after his final exam, he was offered a job. It was a small company in Te Aroha, and the boss was the right age. He is still working for the firm, and even eyeing up a business partnership. For Ngahina, the fire that destroyed the meatworks gave him a fresh start in life.

By Ruwade Bryant

kare he ng a r o h a n g a a Nā Ruwade Bryant “Tekau mā rima tau, a, he tekau mā rima au e mahi ana i te whare patu kau” Ko Ngāhina Mc Laren au tangata hanga metarahi ōna tau e toru tekau mā ono. Kāre ia e ngākaunui ana ki te kura, pai kē te kori whana pōro me te whaiaipo. Mutu ana te kura tuarua i te tau toru ka whiwhi mahi au i Te Aroha Silver Fern Farms wharemīti. I reira, ka tūtaki atu ki tōna hoa wahine a Denise Taukiri. I reira anō ka eke ia ki te taumata A tapatapahi mīti. E mahi ana ia mō ngā tau tekau mā rima ka whakakorengia e te kamupene i ngā mahi, he mea turakina e te whare mīti i te mura o te ahi 4 Hakihea 2010, ka noho kore mahi ngā tāngata e kōtahi rau e ono tekau. E taumaha ana a Ngāhina ki te kore mahi me te kore tohu mātauranga. Ka tahuri ia te whiriwhiri he huarahi hou a, ki te hoki atu ki te whakaako anō ki te whare wānanga me te mōhio e rua tau ka whakahoungia e te whare mīti. I whakaaro, “kare he raru” me ka haere ki te whare wānanga. Tūpono ana me ngā hē ia, ka hoki anō ki tana mahi i te wā ka tū anō ngā whare mīti. Kotahi tau e kura ana te mahi ā rēhi – e ono marama e whakamātau ana ētehi mahi ā

rēhi, a, e ono marama kōtahi ana kē te whiriwhiri mahi ā rēhi. ka hohou te ia o te whakaaro ka whai atu ia te mahi pukahatanga ki Te Aroha. Kāre i ora tana ngākau ki tēnei mahi he iti noa iho ngā rawa pērā i te whare mīti ka hoki anō a Ngāhina ki te Kuratini o Waikato ki te whai i tētehi tohu teitei, te hanga metarahi. “Ehara au i te tangata mōhio, engari mā te tino hiahia o te ngākau, ka tūtuki ngā wero katoa”. Taumaha ana ngā whakaakoranga me ētehi atu wero. “ka tika ko au anake e whakawhānau aku tamariki”. Tekau tau ki muri rā, kātahi tōna hoa e wawe ana ki te whānau tō māua pēpi ki te kainga. Kei Kirikiriroa tō māua kaiwhakawhānau ka whakaaro māku anō pea e awhi te whānautanga mai a te pēpi. “ki te pēnei te ohorere katahi ka tū mai te ao, aue aue aue. Ka mataku au kua mau te iho o te pēpi whakapae rawa nei kua mate kē”. E wha tekau mā rima te roa o te whānau mai, e kore au e warewaretia te kōrero a te kaihanga metaraka. Ai aue! Uaua ana tērā āhua, mai i tōna tīmatanga o te whakawhānau ki te putatanga mai o taku pēpē ki te ao nei. He roa te tāringa, i mataku au. I mau te whenua ki te kaki o taku pēpē whakapae rawa nei au kua mate kē. Na te aha i ora

“I ora ai mātou i runga i te iti me te kore, a, he tuatoru te toenga o te utu me te weraweratanga ki te utu nama, ki te whāngai i ngā tamariki me te utu ki te haere ki te kura”.

ai. Ka māharahara tonu au ki tērā wā, e kore e warewaretia. E wha tau i hipa ake ka hapū anō tōku hoa, ka pēnā anō, hāunga ia ka tere te whānau a te pēpi, a Karla, he tekau mā ono miniti noa iho ka puta me te tino arohanui o ngā mātua. Te wā ka hoki ia ki te ako pūkaha metera he pakeke haere āna tamariki, engari te tau muri mai ake he tino uaua. “I ora ai mātou i runga i te iti me te kore ko ngā hua o te weraweratanga i haere ki te utu nama, ki te whāngai i ngā tamariki me te haere ki te kura. Engari i ea, i ea mīharo ana”. Oti ana i te kōtahi tau ki te kaha werawera a, mutu ana te whakamātautau whakamutunga a Ngāhina pōhēhē ana kua mākona. E hē ana, me pēwhea te utu i ngā nama maha me te kore

Nā Ruwade Bryant

mahi. Ka whakaaro ake ia ki te whiwhi mahi māna ki tētehi ūmanga iti a, ki te taha o tētehi rangatira e mau ana ngā pūkenga hei awhi i a ia. I kite ai ia i tēnei tū āhua i mua rā. Whakaaro ana hoki ia he māmā noa iho te kimi mahi māna ki Te Aroha. Te mutunga ake, oti ana te whakamātautau whakamutunga, i ngā rā e toru hipa ake ka whiwhi mahi. Kua tau kē ngā hiahia, kei reira ia e mahi ana me te wawata taihoa ake nei ka whiwhi he umanga whakahoa. Ka hoki ngā mahara a Ngāhina, nā te ahi ia e whakawātea kia kimi huarahi hou.

INSPIRATION

By Joe Outram Tomairangi Nikora proudly displays the design on her

will be motivated to bigger and more creative things in

right forearm. The tattoos run over half of her forearm right up to the elbow. The lines are defined and the curves are intricate as they weave across her skin. At first glance, they appear to be plain black. The symbols represent both sides of her family, and Tomairangi describes them and how they serve as embodiments of her grandparents. They display the fact that she has a foot in two worlds of heritage – those of Māori and of Samoa. Tomairangi displays the centre piece of her inner arm representing her father’s parents with two bands that extend from each other. “They’re descendants of Tūhoe, that’s his father,” Tomairangi says. His mother, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, is also represented. The second part of the tattoo represents Tomairangi’s maternal grandfather, who is of Samoan descent and her grandmother who is Māori. With this inspiration from the past, Tomairangi hopes she

the future. When she gained her bachelor’s degree from Wintec in 2014, she chose to graduate at the campus marae. And her Māori side is already displaying itself on both a national and international stage. Three of the pieces she created during her final year as a graphic design student made it to the Christchurch Art Show via a gallery on Auckland’s famous K Road and then onwards to Wellington. “That was awesome,” says Tomairangi of the Christchurch event. “It’s a completely different view of the world, that’s how they see art down there, considering what’s happened to them over recent years.” With that in mind, the Garden City was her favourite exhibition of her work. At least in New Zealand, as one of her pieces will be travelling overseas to an art show in Milan, Italy. The piece in question is only the size of a postcard and

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

FROM THE

PAS T “It’ll be sad to be away from my family, but I’m going to do what I love.”

portrays a cultural take on spirit animals. It is one of 70

home, family and Wintec have provided, but she feels a

Māori pieces out of 210 pieces of work there from New Zealand. “It was cool to make the cut for that,” says Tomairangi. She was honoured by the choice, even if she can’t attend the show in person. Tomairangi has spent the last two years working for Torpedo7, a Waikato-based sporting goods company where she is a graphic designer in the marketing department. The role stretches her out of her comfort zone, doing photography, helping with the website and generally working outside of her domain. She seems happy. The smile on her face as she reflects on her past and present is palpable and, while the current job isn’t the direction she was expecting, it’s certainly a direction she’s enjoying. She hopes to one day to leave the suburbs of Hamilton and travel to Auckland, where the opportunities stretch on and on. She appreciates the opportunities that her

need to spread her wings and that involves taking on the big city. Her heart will remain in Hamilton, with her family. Some of them were her inspirations to study as she has family members working at both the university and at Wintec. But then, family has always been important to Tomairangi. They’ve supported her throughout and have proven to be a valuable advisory board for problems large and small. She wouldn’t be where she is today without them. “It’ll be sad to be away from my family, but I’m going to do what I love,” says Tomairangi about her future and its possibilities outside the Waikato.

Joe Outram

ko te ranga te ranga o w ai r ua Te Kow hat a

Nā Joe Outram Tomairangi Nikora proudly displays the design on her right forearm. The tattoos run over half of her forearm right up to the elbow. The lines are defined and the curves are intricate as they weave across her skin. At first glance, they appear to be plain black. Ko te uhi o Mataora kei te whakakaha ake nei i te wairua o Tomairangi Nikora. Nōna kē te kurawaka ki te tuke. He mārama a, he mangamanga te kiri ki te titiro atu. Ki te mawhiti atu he āhua pango. Ko ngā tohu, e whakaatu ana ko te whakapapa o ōna tūpuna, ko tētehi ko te taha Māori, tētehi anō ko te taha Hāmoa. Ka whakaatu a Tomairangi i ōna ringa, me te whakamārama atu, kei waenganui he peka, “nō Tuhoe rātou ki te taha ki te matua”. E whakaatu ana hoki Te Aitanga a Hauiti, te taha ki tōna whāea. Mā ēnei hiringa pea ka taea e ia te whakaeke i a ia ki runga i ngā

Nā Joe Outram

taumata nunui o te puna waihanga. I te Tau 2014 ka whiwhia e ia i te tohu paetahi ki te Kuratini o Waikato i te marae, Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa. Anō hoki kua taea e ia te whakaatu auaha ki te motu me te Ao. Ko ngā mahi waihanga e toru i oti i a ia i te tau whakamutu mahi waihanga hei akonga, nāna i tuku kia iri ki te Whare Whakaaturanga Waihanga i Otautahi, ka rere atu taua mahi nei ki te Karanga ā Hape i Tāmaki, ka whakawhiti atu ki Pōneke tau ai. “Mīharo atu ana”, te waihanga ki Otautahi, “ka kite au i te rerekētanga o te ao ki reira me ka whakaaro ake ki ngā raru i ngā tau mahue ake”. E kore e warewaretia e ia taua Tāone Kāri me te mea anō kā rere atu tētehi o āna waihanga ki Milan, i Itaria hei whakaatu. Ko te tohu o tēnei mahi he whakaatu ahurea i te wairua o te kararehe, he iti rawa he pērā te rahi o te kāri. Waimarie ia, e whitu tekau ngā

“Ka aroha atu ki tōku whānau mai ki i te tōnga o te rā. Ahakoa, ka whaia e au te ia o tōku ngakau”.

waihanga Māori ka whiriwhiri i ngā waihanga e rua rau tekau te rahi mai i Aotearoa, “tino koa ana te ngākau”. He nui te hōnore ahakoa kare ia e taea ki taua whakaaturanga. E rua tau ia e mahi ana hei waihanga ipurangi ki Torpedo 7, he ūmanga hākinakina ki Waikato. Ahakoa te uaua o ngā mahi ipurangi hei hoko taputapu hākinakina, he pai ki a ia te tango whakaahua, te waihanga whārangi ipurangi me te aha, hei whakakoi i te hinengaro. Kei te noho pai tonu ia. Ka menemene mai me te hoki whakaaro ki muri, ki mua rānei. Ko tāna nei mahi kare ia i tono atu i te tuatahi engari kei te koa tonu. Akuni pea e hiahia ana kia whai mahi ki Tamaki, kei reira te orokohanga e kimi nei e ia. Ahakoa ngā wa-

wata kia nuku atu ki te tāone nui e ngākaunui ana ki te whānau i awhi nei ia. Ko tōna manawa ka ū noa atu ki Kirikiriroa kei reira kē tōna whānau na rātou i poipoitia e ia. Kei a rātou te manawanui hei kawe i a ia, ko ētehi ki te Whare Wānanga o Waikato me Kuratini o Waikato. Kare e kore e kore ia e eke ki ngā taumata katoa. “I te tōnga o te rā anei ko te aroha rere u ana, ka whāia e au te pononga o tōku ngakau”.

GIVING

By Emma Bland Rangitahi Pompey’s passion for helping people is

When she realised she wanted to turn her life around,

evident in everything she does. As a recovering alcoholic - who is 20 years’ clean and sober- she was inspired to help others by the people who helped her when she needed it most.

she began voluntarily running woman’s groups and recovery groups, as well as volunteering at the marae and running school holiday programmes. Her family and friends supported her and helped her change and kick the alcohol for good. She is now nearly 50, and says that 20 years’ clean allows her to bring hope, and show others what is possible.

Anyone who meets Rangitahi will be instantly greeted with a warm smile. “I’ve always been someone that people gravitate to. I swear I have ‘tell me all your problems’ tattooed on my forehead.” A recent example of this was when a young relative died in Australia, and Rangitahi found she became a sounding board and a support person for her family. She likes this leadership role in her family, and she loves being able to help. Rangitahi was brought up in Papakura in South Auckland, but she later moved to Kaiaua.

Rangitahi originally started at Wintec studying te reo Māori, but she later came back to complete her Bachelor in Social Services. She studied from 1996-2000, when she was in her 30s. “I chose to come back to Wintec because it felt like I was coming home. It was familiar for me.” She says starting with te reo Māori was a good way go. This helped her to know who she was by the time she started in the Māori counselling programme.

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

back

“I think of it like the cogs in a watch, every cog is reliant on another cog. You’re not the be-all and end-all.”

She was inspired to study counselling by the people who helped her turn her life around, and she wants to do the same for other people.

those people achieve major milestones, like one who recently celebrated 100 days’ clean and sober.

“I had a desire to give back, having been a recipient of support in my time of need,” Rangitahi says.

Even small milestones are highlights for her. “It tells them they can do it, that hope is there and that support is here, and to me that’s huge.”

When she returned to Wintec to study full time, she was also working at Te Rununga o Kirikiriroa. When she qual-

She says her main focus in life is her family, and she needs to make sure she continues to balance her family

ified with her degree, Rangitahi returned to Te Runanga to manage its alcohol and drug rehab for youth programme. She has recently changed and is now managing the adult mental health residential services and the activity-based day programme.

life and career equally.

She has been working at Te Runanga o Kirikiriroa for four years, and enjoys the sense of family that she has created with her colleagues and the surrounding community.

“I can get a new job, but I can’t get a new family.” Her ultimate goal is to become a counselling tutor at Wintec, so she can help the people who want to help others. “I want to give to the community what was given to me.”

“I think of it like the cogs in a watch, every cog is reliant on another cog. You’re not the be-all and end-all.”

Te Runanga o Kirikiriroa celebrate Matariki as an organisation and are involved in the running of the Wintec cel-

Rangitahi is humble about the work she has done.

ebrations. They also usually celebrate with a dinner, and last year had a karakia by the cloak sculpture at Hamilton Gardens.

Sometimes people she helps relapse, or fall back into old habits. This is a major struggle that many people with addictions go through, but the highlights for her are when

“We do Matariki every year,” Rangitahi says. “There is always something happening here.”

Emma Bland

Whakahoki koha ki te Iwi Nā Emma Bland

I patua e te wairua o Rangitahi i tana mahi kai waipiro. Kua mutu noa atu tēnei āhua ōna, e rua tekau tau, kua huri kē ki te awhi whānau kua taka ki te hē, ērā i awhi nei ia i te wā i taka tahi ia ki taua āhua mate.

me ōna whānau ki te tautoko i a ia kia whakamutu te kai waipiro. Inaianei kua rima tekau ōna tau, a, kare rānei kia inu waipiro mo ngā tau rua tekau me te whakaaro me awhi atu ētehi atu kē.

Ka tūtaki koe ki a Rangatahi ka koa

I te tau 1996 – 2000 he toru tekau

te ngākau ki te mahana hoki o te āhua. “Kaati ko ahau tonu te tangata e kawe ngētehi atu. E tūpono ana, “kōrerotia tau raruraru te tohu whakaatu kei tōku nei rae”. He pēnei ana, i te matenga o tētehi rangatahi o te whānau ka tīmata a Rangatahi ki te ārahi me te tautoko i te whānau i roto i te whakawainga. He pai ki a ia ki te manaaki tangata.

ōna tau, i haere ia ki te ako i te reo i te Kuratini o Waikato, ka hoki atu anō ia ki te whakatūtuki i te tohu paetahi mō te Tauwhiro Hāpori ara Social Services. “I hoki mai au ki kōnei ki te Kuratini nā runga i te karanga o te ‘kainga’ kua taunga au ki tēnei Kura”.

I tupu ake a Rangitahi i Papakura, ka nuku ki Kaiaua i reira noho ai. Me te

E tika ana kia mau i āhau te reo i te tuatahi kia mōhio ai ko wai au mua mai ki te whai te kaupapa ārahi tāngata Māori. Kei te pirangi ia kia utu rātou i tuku te awhi me te aroha

mōhio me huri ia ki te oranga mōna, kātahi ka tīmata ki te whai i ngā kaupapa wāhine, a, i ngā mahi ki te marae me te whakahaere hōtaka mō ngā tamariki. Kātahi ka huri ōna hoa

mōna, nōnake i tuku atu ki ētehi kē. Ko te whakapae a Rangatahi “Kua tū mai hei tauiratanga kia kitea mai te iwi kua whakahokia atu e ia te aroha i whai koha e rātou ki i a ia i te wā o tōna

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

“Kia orite me te kōtahi o te mahitahi pēnā i te puku o te matawā. Kaua kōtahi noa iho nei au.”

mate i te kainga waipiro”.

pai ka taea rātou me te mōhio he maha ngā tautoko. Me mea nui ki ahau”.

I te wā e kuraina ki te Kuratini ka mahi ki Te Rūnanga o Kirikiriroa i te whiwhingatanga i te tohu Paetahi ka whakahaere ngā hōtaka kai waipiro me te kaiotaota tae noa atu ki te kaupapa o te mate wairangi mō ngā rangatahi. O mua tata ake nei kua huri tana mahi ki te whakahaere te nohoanga me ngā mahi ia rā mā ngā pakeke wairangi. E whā tau ia e mahi nei mō Te Rūnanga, kare e kore, he whānau kōtahi mātou me te hāpori hoki. “Ka hoki anō ki aua kōrero mā te mahitahi me te kōtahi o te whakaaro ka ea. Ehake ko koe anō te otinga”. Tū whakaiti ana a Rangatahi ki āna nei mahi kua oti kē. I ētehi wā ka tītaha te haere o te wairua e te tangata koinei te āhua o ēnei mate engari ētehi wā ka kite kua puta. Na reira ka koa ana te ngākau ki a rātou i taea ki te kore inu pīa mō ngā rā kōtahi rau. Ki a Rangitahi, ahakoa he iti te whainga, he pounamu, “ka kite rātou he tohu

Te mea nui ki a ia ko tōna whānau, kia ōrite te whānau ki te mahi. “He pai kē te whiwhi mahi hou, engari kore rawa e whiwhi anō he whānau hou kē”. Ko tōna ake tūmanako kia whiwhi mahi hei kaiako ki te kuratini o Waikato hei whakaakongia e au i ngā tauira ārahi tangata. Hei whakamutunga kōrero ia tau ka whakanuia e Te Rūnanga o Kirikiriroa i ngā kaupapa o Matariki ki te taha o te Kuratini o Waikato. Ka whakarite he kai nui, a, i tērā tau ka tū he karakia ki te pakoko korowai ko te karakia i ngā kāri ki Kirikiriroa. Ki tā Rangatahi, “ka whakanui i a Matariki, anō nei, he maha noa atu ngā mahi ki te Rūnanga”.

Nā Emma Bland

WALK

By Erika Coronel

It’s not often you get invited to take a walk in someone else’s shoes. This is what Blaine Rakena invites Wintec students to do. And there’s a good reason behind it. Blaine, who is business information technology programme coordinator at Wintec, is from Tainui and Ngāpuhi. He is 56 years old, yet looks younger. He is tall. He smiles a lot, and when he does, his eyes crinkle in the corners. He had a normal childhood, but he shares in a paper he wrote for his PhD in Science and Mathematics Education that certain events in his schooling “only heightened my dislike for education and my teachers”. At school, he was bullied for being overweight, called a distractor by his teachers, and to punish him, he was caned. Before he continues his story, he picks up a black plastic bag that contains four pairs of shoes. Each symbolises different phases in his journey to education.

The Labourer He reveals worn white gumboots with a faded logo. The boots represent the time when he was a freezing worker at Affco in Moerewa, a town in Northland. He says a lot of Māori in the 70s went to work there. “Education wasn’t fostered. [The freezing works] was just... a place where you were going to get good, big money.” He started there at age 15. He first worked in the casings department (processing animal intestines), then the fellmongery department (processing cowhide) and finally the engine room. The job supported his wife, Mylene, and seven children, Raniera, Blaine, Tai, Terina, Jordan, Shana-Marie and Celeste. But the company closed 12 years later. This, compounded by scarce jobs and career opportunities in the north pushed Blaine to go on the benefit.

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

THE EXTRA

MILE

“Education opens doors to opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise.”

The Unemployed Blaine next removes black jandals from the black plastic bag. These symbolise his three years of unemployment. He received a jolt when he went to his then five-year-old son’s class one day. There, the teacher asked each child where their parents work. One dad was a lawyer, another a doctor. “That became very uncomfortable for me, [I was] with all these educated people. And I was thinking, ‘what is my son going to answer?’ I was really scared.” Blaine’s son said all his dad did was stay home and watch TV. The incident became a catalyst for Blaine, who decided to pursue education at Auckland University. His application was declined. Discouraged, he made no further attempts at education, despite his wife Mylene suggesting he try Waikato University. Mylene filled out an application form under her husband’s name, unknown to him. Then Waikato University invited him to an interview. He went, and that was the beginning of his path to education.

The Student He pulls out white, slightly-worn running shoes. “These shoes… took me through the corridors of knowledge at Waikato University.” There he trained to be a school teacher. Rakena describes the six years as challenging times. His labouring background made him accustomed to using his hands. That had to change once he was thrust into education. Thanks to other Māori adult students he met, he was able to have the support system he needed to get through life as mature student. Another challenge was financially supporting his wife and seven children. He had to work while studying. So he delivered bread at 9pm, finishing his shift at 7am, then

went to university by 9am. He did this for six years. In retrospect, he says that despite the challenges he considers those as great times when he learned a lot about the academic side of things.

The Inspiration He takes the last pair out of the bag: black formal shoes with laces. He wore them during his graduation for his bachelors, masters and PhD, and still uses them to this day. “[Education] opens doors to opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise.” Education allowed Rakena to get a job at Wintec. It is a job he considers the highlight of his career, a job that boosted his self-esteem and has let him and his family travel and get a home. He is grateful for the type of work he does: guiding students through life at Wintec. And because of his genuine desire to help people, he takes a similar role in the community. He connects those who are struggling with drug abuse, or physical abuse, or debt, to the appropriate services. He says that seeing how they feel once they understand that someone is there to help means a lot to him. Rakena says that he undertook his PhD to lead by example. He uses his journey as proof that if he was able to complete his education while supporting a wife and seven kids, then so can others. When the four pairs symbolising stages in his life are laid out on the table, his face breaks out into a contagious smile as he looks out. A photo is about to be taken of him. “Can I hold these,” he asks, “because they’re my shoes.”

Erica Coronel

te hikoi w h a k a m ua Nā Erika Connel Kare he rite te tono kia hīkoi ki ngā hū o ētehi tangata. He reo powhiri, he reo wero atu i te hinengaro a Blaine ki ngā tauira o te kuratini. He take anō nōna. Ko Blaine he kaiwhakahaere mō te Kāhui Pakihi Hangarau Mōhiohio ki te kuratini o Waikato. He uri nō Ngāpuhi me Tainui a Blaine Rakena. He rima te kau ma ono ōna tau, he tangata rangatahi te āhua ki te titiro atu me te ngāwari te wairua. He tangata teitei ia, he tangata menemene me ka menemene ka hākorukoru ngā karu. I te wā i a ia e tamariki ana he pai tonu tōna tupu ake engari i roto i tāna nei tuhinga roa mō te tohu kairanga putaiao me te pāngarau ka whāki atu ngā raru i te wā kuaraina e ia, “Ka piki haere kua kore au e pai ki te whai mātauranga me ngā kaiako”. I te kura āhua taumaha ana tōku tinana ka whakawetingia e rātou a, ko te whakapai o ngā māhita ko ia kē te raru, ka wepungia. I mua i te i timatanga ki te kōrero, kei roto i tōna pēke kirihou e mau ana ngā hū tokorua e whā. Koinei ngā tohu hei puta atu āna nei kōrero. He Kaimahi Ko te kamupūtu mā e mau ana te tohu Affco, he tohu tēnei mō te wā i haere ia ki te mahi i te Whare Patu

Kararehe i Moerewa, Ko te rongo kōrero i pā ki ana taringa he nui te utu mo te mahi ki reira. Ki tā Blaine he maha ngā Māori kaimahi ki reira i te wā ngā tau whitu tekau “kare e kore e kōrero mō te mātauranga … he wāhi tēnei e whiwhi moni maha, koina”. Te kau mā rima ōna tau ka tīmata te mahi ki te tari pukupuku, a, ki te mahi kiri kararehe ka mutu ki te wāhi mihīni o taua whare, nā tēnei mahi ka ora tōna whānau. I te katinga o taua wāhi mahi ko kore kē he mahi māna i Moerewa, ka whai pēnihana a Blaine hei oranga mō rātou ko tōna hoa rangatira me ā rāua tamariki tokowhitu. Kore Mahi Te tohu tuarua ka puta i te peke kirihou, ko ōna jandals pango. Koinei te tohu o te pōharatanga kore mahi e toru tau e haere ana. I haere a Blaine ki te kura mō tana tama e rima ōna tau. I mau ohorere me te whakamā o Blaine i te pātaitanga o te kaiako ki ia tamaiti, he aha tem ahi o tō matua? “Ka manawarautia e au me te whakaaro, “he aha tana whakahoki”, ka wēhi au. Anā ko te whakautu a tana tamaiti, “Ko te noho i te kainga mataki pouaka whakaata anake”. Tino mamae rawa nei te wairua o

Nā Erika Connel

“Ma te mātauranga anō ka tūwhera ngā kūwaha e kore au e taea i mua rā” . Blaine i te kino o te whakamā. Nā tēnei āhua ka whai a Blaine i te mātauranga i te Whare Wananga o Tamaki, kore ia i uru atu. Ka pōuri te ngakau, ka tautohe atu tōna hoa wahine kia tuku tono ki te Whare Wananga o Waikato, kāre ia i aro ki tērā whakaaro. Nā tōna wahine a Mylene i tuku te tono me tōna kore mōhio, ka hoki powhiri mai e Waikato kia haere atu a Blaine ki te kōrero a kanohi. Koirā te tīmatanga o te ara hou mōna. Te Tauira Ka totoro atu a Blaine ki ana hū hikoi e ahua tawhito ana, “Koinei nga hū i mau i a au i te wā i te Whare Wānanga o Waikato”. Kei reira e whakaako ana hei kaiwhakaako. E kī atu a Blaine he toimaha rawa ēnei tau e ono. Kua taunga kē ia ki te mahi ā mōkai nei, he rerekē hoki ki tō te whakaakoranga. Engari he nui rawa te mihi atu ki ngā hoa tauira me te puna tautoko e awhi nei i a ia e noho mai hei tauira whai i te mātauranga. Ngētehi atu raru ko te utu i ngā rawa hei tautoko i tōna hoa wahine me ngā tamariki tokowhitu. Me pewhea atu, ka tīmata ia ki te mahi tuku paraoa mai i te pō iwa hāora ki te whitu o te ata, a, ka haere tonu ki te kura. He pēnei rawa mō ngā tau e ono. Ahakoa, nga wero i mua i a ia, koinei te wā o tōna huarahi hou i kitea ai e ia te hua o te mātauranga.

Te whakahiwa tāonga mō te hinengaro Kā totoro ki ngā hū kei te toenga, konei ngā hū pai rawa me te here. Ka mau ia ēnei hūi i te wā whakapōtaetanga te tohu paetahi, te tohu paerua me te tohu tākutatanga, a, e mau tonu ana. “kare e kore, ko te mātauranga e tūwhera ngā kuaha katoa”. Nā te mātauranga ka whiwhi a Blaine i te mahi i te Kuratini o Waikato. Nā te tohu kua taea e ia ki te whakatinanatia i ngā āhua mō te manaaki me te whakaū oranga wairua ā tinana o tōna whānau. Ka whakamoemiti ia ki tāna nei mahi: te ārahi i ngā tauira ki te kuratini. A, kua oho te wairua, kua mauru tana manawa ka whai ia ki te awhi hāpori pēnei te awhi i te tauira. Nāna ka tūhono rātou e toimaha ana, me te raru ki te tarutaru, me te patu tangata, me te kore e utu nama, ki ngā ratonga hāpori. Mōhio ana rātou kei reira tonu ia ki te awhi, he mea nui ki a ia ki aua whakaaro. I whai a Rākena i te Kairangi hei tauira, hei tohu rānei ki ētehi atu tangata ka āhei koe ki te riro mātauranga me te whāngai hoki tōna hoa wahine me āna tamariki tokowhitu hei aha te aha. Kia tīkina atu ngā hū kia takoto, he tohu ēnei kua tūtukihia e ia i te ōmangaroa. Ka tahuri ki te tango whakaahua o Blaine ka kī mai, “Māku anō e mau ēnei, nōku anō ēnei hū e tūtuki pai ngā wawata”.

ALL ABOUT

By Natesh Behl

For Sheldon Takao, 21, building is all about being active and having a good attitude. An apprentice at Commercial Construction, Frankton, Sheldon draws inspiration from his boss, Wayne Besley, who he says is disciplined and “always on his toes”.

working in the construction industry. He is grateful for the Wintec Māori and Pasifika Trade Training Programme, and gives credit to his tutors who helped him find the job. The work is hard, but rewarding. “Structure is what my

Sheldon says for him a good attitude means “active listening, not arguing about what you are told and time keeping”. “I always love to work fast.” He also loves sport and that’s the reason, he says, that he wanted to be a personal trainer. Unfortunately an ankle injury didn’t let him go further in sports sciences and he opted for the Certificate in Building at Wintec instead. It’s a decision that’s working out. He was named top student on the course in 2015, and got a job straight after finishing studying. He considers himself fortunate to be

job is all about,” he says. There is a good amount of mathematics involved in construction work and it becomes challenging on commercial sites. A residential site may take six months to complete, while a commercial construction may take a full year. When he was at Taumarunui High School, his physical education teacher Mitchell Tupper advised him to opt for a career in sports, bearing in mind his enthusiasm for fitness. Other teachers were also supportive, and helped him find the course at Wintec.

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

AT T IT UD E I would like to think I’m positive. That’s what I’d like to feel, that you can change any situation and make sure you have the best of something.

In 2010, Sheldon got an opportunity to play basketball at the New Zealand secondary schools basketball nationals. However, his favourite sport was rugby. “I like to be active all the time and fitness is important for that.” For now, that includes going to the gym and playing rugby at weekends. He thinks he may return to sports sciences, probably after completing his apprenticeship. He also aspires one day to visit the United States to explore career opportunities. Sheldon is of Ngāti Maniapoto and Tūhoe descent. He is proud of his 17th century ancestor Maniapoto, who in the last days of his life directed the men to hold on to their Māori culture. But speaking te reo isn’t easy. “Nobody taught me Māori

in high schools… speaking Māori is a tough task,” he says. In his family only his grandparents were used to speaking te reo. Sheldon has two older brothers and his mother, who works on a farm. Unfortunately in 2012, he lost his father to liver cancer. He holds great respect for his mother who never gave up despite losing her partner unexpectedly, and who brought up three children while looking after family affairs. Spending time with family and friends is the mainstay of Sheldon’s fun and entertainment. This is also his way of celebrating Matariki. “Eat, drink and be merry.” His advice to youngsters: “Focus on your area of interest, try to be an active listener and believe in yourself. You will get good results.”

Natesh Behi

t e āhua pai te mea nui Nā Natesh Behl Ko Sheldon Takao, ōna tau rua tekau mā tahi, i kōrero atu, ko te hanga whare he mahi kaha me te whakapono o te whakaaro. He tauira a Sheldon ki Commercial Construction ki Frankton, ka whai whakaaro ki tōna rangatira, a Wayne Besley, he tangata waia ki te whakahautanga a, “he puku mahi”. Te whakahautanga a Sheldon me mau ki te hua, “me āta whakarongo, kaua e whakatoi, a, me mau ki te wā haere. He tere oti taku mahi”. Anei anō tōku pai, ko te tākaro, engari na te whara ka mutu te whai tohu mo te tākaro whaiaro, ka whai te Tiwhikete Hanga Whare ki te kuratini kē. Kua kitea te pai o tēnei kaupapa. I eke ki te taumata i te tau 2015, ka tere rawa ki te whiwhi mahi māna. Kua ora te ngākau ki te mahi

te hanganga whare. E mihi kau ana ia ki te Kuratini o Waikato ki ngā Wāhanga Māori me Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, ki ngā Kaiako nā rātou te kaha ki te kimi mahi māku. He maha ngā mahi pāngarau e pā ana ki te mahi hangaanga he mea uaua ki ahau. E ono marama te hanga whare engari he tau pea ki te oti arumoni. I te wā i a ia i Taumarunui kura ana nā tōna kaiako i akiaki i a ia ki te whai tākaro hei mahi māna. Ka awhi hoki ngētehi atu o ngā kaiako a, ka kimi kura ki te kuratini. I te tau 2010 ka uru atu ia ki roto i ngā Poi Tūkoha Whakataetae o ngā kura tuarua o te motu heioi ngākau nui ana ake kit e whana pōro. “Pai au ki te whakakorikorii te tinanai ngā wā katoa hei painga anō mōku”. Kia mutu te mahi

Nā Natesh Behl

“Whakatōpūhia ō wawatātanga, kia kaha te whakarongo me te whakapono ki a koe anō”

tauira ka hoki pea ki te Tākaro Putaiao a tōna wā. Ko tētehi o ōna moemoeā kia whakawhiti atu ki Amerikai reira kimi mai ai. He uri a Shannon no Maniāpoto me Tūhoe, kua takoto te kōrero o tōna tupuna, a Maniapoto me mau koe ki tō Māoritanga. Ki tā Sheldon he uaua te kōrero Māori “Kāre te kura tuarua e whakaako te reo….he mea uaua hoki”. Kei roto i te whānau, ko ngā tūpuna kē e mau tonu ana ki te reo Māori. Ko ōna tuākana me tōna whaea kei te mahi pāmu. He tino aroha ana ki te whaea nāna te kaha i te wā ka mate tōna hoa rangatira, a, ki te tiaki i a rātou katoa. He tohu aroha ki te hau kainga ko te nohonga tahi o ngā teina me nga tūakana ki te kai tahi, ki te

kōrerō kia puta ko te wairua aroha o tētehi ki tētehi. He wāhi hoki ki te whakanui i a Matariki. “Ka kai, ka inu ka harakoa te ngākau”. He tohutohu āna kit e rangatahi, “Whakatōpuhia o wawatanga, kia kaha te whakarongo me te whakapono ki a koe anō, ka eke koe ki te tino taumata”.

A HE L PI NG

By Sharnae Hope When you’re in a hospital, attending to patients, the last thing that you expect is to be told how to best cut a pig. But Awhina Uruamo has experienced just that. Maybe it’s because she has a bright smile, bubbly laugh and a non-confronting attitude that makes patients feel com-

Originally she studied law for one year at Waikato University and decided that it wasn’t for her, so instead took a job in health promotion for Sport Waikato under Ngā Miro Health in Ngāruawāhia. When the renewal of her contract was coming up, she

fortable straight away. One day she may be attending to her patients, and the next will be chatting to a patient, who is a butcher, about his techniques of cutting the most precise piece of meat. “Learning about butchering was really cool and I was thinking to myself ‘oh I never knew that’. He told me you have to hang the beast for a week and stuff like that, and then I took it [the information] back to the marae.” She says patients in her ward of Waikato Hospital often tell her stories about their lives, families and careers, and through these conversations she learns so much in return. “There is so much paperwork in nursing, I’d much rather stand there and talk to patients.” Her full name, Siobhan Awhina Piki Te Ora Uruamo, also speaks volumes. Awhina means help and Piki Te Ora means to encourage health. So her career pathway was literally in her name, although working in health wasn’t a career that came to her straight away.

started thinking about where she would go from there. A friend was in her second year at Wintec doing a bachelor in nursing. “She goes to me ‘hey pal you should be a nurse’. I thought, oh yeah I’ll give it a go!” She enjoyed the course, and had a moment when she realised maybe this was what she was supposed to be doing all along. She remembers one community event that she took part in with a classmate, Justeena Leaf. They set up a health check tent for an iwi sports day called Tainui Games. Tihei Mauri Ora nursing students gave free checkups to Māori to help raise awareness about health. She was able to educate others as well as interact with the community. It was a rewarding experience. Events like this have always been important to her, as she believes community is the foundation of health. In terms of kaupapa, working at her marae Tūrangawaewae for the Kīngitanga has also allowed her to connect with the community. “Māori [health] statistics aren’t very good,

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

HAN D

“It’s the value of looking at a person holistically, so that you can combat the stress factors.”

so I think that if we put ourselves in a position where we can support and improve the statistics then it’s better for everyone.” Last year she was awarded the Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu scholarship along with Justeena Leaf. The scholarship helped with the financial side of her study

When Awhina’s not busy taking care of others, she releases the daily grind through music. Her dad is in a band and owns a jazz club, and when she was seven years old she was encouraged by her dad to start playing the piano. At her Rātana church she was also gently pushed by family to take part in the church brass band. At first she

and allowed her to focus on more important things. Awhina finished her Wintec degree last year, and started at Waikato Hospital. She deals with patients who have asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer. “You have to kind of detach yourself emotionally from the situation and not get caught up in the emotion of it all, because yeah okay it’s sad, but you still have to do your job and you still have to be strong for this patient.” There is also the opposite where you can become too detached and everything becomes cold. So it’s all about the balance. In the back of Awhina’s mind she is constantly reminding herself to always be present and not to be too focused on tasks. “Maybe their lives get so busy that they can’t do their inhalers or they get so stressed out that they start smoking again. It’s the value of looking at a person holistically, so that you can combat the stress factors or whatever that is making them go back to it.”

just went along with it, but then grew to enjoy it, and has been doing it ever since. Her instrument of choice is the flugelhorn, which is a valved brass instrument that resembles a trumpet. The flugelhorn produces more melodic sounds or fuller tones that are traditionally heard in brass bands. Awhina doesn’t believe healing happens just through the body. There are so many other factors that have to be considered as well. So maybe this is why talking to patients as people is so important her. “At the core of it all is people.”

Sharnae Hope

He ringa

aw h i n a Nā Sharnae Hope Kei whea te tikanga o te kōrero mō te patu pōaka i te wā mahi tūroro kē koe i te hōhipera. Ki a Awhina Uruamo he tika aua kōrero. Kei a ia te menemene ataahua me te mahana hoki ki nga tūhoro. I tētehi wā he mahi tiaki tūroro, i ētehi wā anō e kōrerotahi ana me te painga anō ki te whakarongo atu ki te tohunga tapatapahi mīti. “e koa ana me te mōhio ai au te hanga mīti me te whakahoki mōhio ki te marae”. Koinei te āhua ā te mahi tūroro i te hōhipera, he whakarongo kōrerō me ngā mōhiotanga o ngā tūroro, he māramatanga, he painga anō kei roto. “Pai au te kōrerō ki nga tūroro i te mahi pepa. kei a rātou ngā mōhiotanga katoa”. Ko Siobhan Awhina Piki Te Ora tōna ingoa whānau. He painga kei tōna ingoa, ko “Piki Te Ora” koira te huarahi i whai ngākau ia ki te whakaora wairua, tinana hoki. I tīmata ia ki te whai tohu mō te roia, kihai i ū tērā kaupapa. Ka uru atu kē ia ki raro i a Ngā Miro Whai Ora

i Ngāruāwāhia hei whakapakari te ora o te tinana me te kori tinana. Kua tata te mutu o tana kirimana i Ngā Miro, ka whakaaro ia, “Ka aha au ā muri ake nei? Ka kī atu tētehi o ōna hoa me mahi nēhi kē ia. Ka whakae te ngākau o Awhina”. A taua wā ka mōhio mai ia tēnei te mahi tika māna. I mahi tahi rāua ko Justeena Leaf ki te whakahaere kaupapa Oranga i te Hui Tākaro o Tainui. Ko taua rōpū mahitahi ana ko Tihei Mauriora te ingoa. He tino koa ana te ngākau te kaupapa nei, te awhi i te ora o te hāpori. Nā ōna herenga ki Tūrangawaewae kua taea e ia te toro atu ki te hapori. “He iwi mate tātou, me ka taea i a tātou te whakarerekētia i o tātou āhuatanga, ka pai ake ngā tatai hau ora o te Māori, he painga ano mō tātou katoa”. Kā tukua te tohu o Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu ki runga ki a ia me Justeena Leaf. Na te kōpae tahua o te Tohu nei ka taea e Awhina te whai kia oti āna mahi

“Tirohia te hua pai o te tangata, mā tērā ka taea i a koe te whakaeke koe ki runga ake i ngā toimahatanga”

kura. Ka mutu i te kura, a, ka oti te tohu paetahi, ka mahi ia i te hōhipera o Waikato. Ko te rahi o ōna tūroro he mate ngēngē, he mate uma, a, he mate pukupuku. “He maha nga whanaunga kua pā ki ēnei momo mate. Me kaha ano te nēhi ki te aukati i te aroha e patu nei i te hinengaro, ka taea e ia ki te mahi i tana mahi. Ko te tino tūmanako kia ora ai te tūroro”. He rerekē ngā tikanga whakaritenga ā Pakeha o te hōhipera ki tā te Māori. E hara i te take ngāwari engari ka tika te tiaki i au anō. Kaua ko ngā mahi anake ko te tangata kē te mea nui. “Ko to oranga, kei a koe anō. Me e kore koe e aro tonu ki te whai oranga mōu, ka hoki whakamuri koe, ka puea mai anō ko ēnā mate pēhi katoa kei roto i a koe”. Ko nga wā o te whakatā, he waiata, he whakatangitangi pēne te

mahi. Kei roto tahi a Awhina i Te Piriwiritua, Te Reo o Te Tūmuaki o te Haahi Ratana. I muri mai i panaia e te whānau kia korikori ai ia i roto i te pēne engari kua tino koakoa haere ia inaianei. He ataahua te tangi o te pūkaea e mahi nei ia. Kare a Awhina e whakapono ana mā te tinana anake ka whakaora te tangata, he maha anō ngā āhuatanga e ora ai te tangata. Koirā pea ka mau ai ia, ko te kōrero, te rangatira. “ko te mea nui, he tangata, he tangata”.

Nā Sharnae Hope

FA S H I O N ING A

FUTURE “I would like to think I’m positive. That’s what I’d like to feel, that you can change any situation

and make sure you have the best of something. By Anna Clausen

Mitchell Vincent, immaculately dressed in beautifully tailored black clothing, sits in the Wintec fashion design rooms, surrounded by headless mannequins, large

collection at New Zealand Fashion Week under the Miromoda showcase. Fashion Week has brought its own mixture of challenges and pinch-yourself moments

spools of thread and intimidating industrial sewing machines as he discusses fashion, influences and the future. His rise to success with the Mitchell Vincent Collection has been at almost alarming speed. “Five years ago, if I were to look back I don’t know if I’d have thought I’d be here, I didn’t think it would happen so fast,” he says. Mitchell graduated in early 2013 with a Diploma in Fashion Design and Practice, and went on to win Best Emerging Designer the same year at the Miromoda Māori Fashion Awards. He won with The Vapour Project collection, inspired by Lake Taupō where his iwi Ngāti Tūwharetoa originates from. The collection was styled on the geothermal plants of Taupō; the idea of having all white and capturing the steam hitting the cold air is shown through organza and white knit materials.

while time moves as fast as a New York minute. “It’s fast. Everything’s fast. One collection will normally take about six months to produce and that’s through creating and then doing your edit afterwards.” He feels most proud of being able to stand alongside the same designers he has admired for years and being featured in the same pictorials and articles. I ask Mitchell who he considers to be the fashion influencers that have touched him the most. He hesitates. “That’s hard, there’s the big names, like Chanel and Karl Largerfield and I’ve loved Zambesi ever since I was little, my Nanny used to wear Zambesi. I remember meeting Liz Findlay from Zambesi at the NZFW model casting and couldn’t find my words. I also love that idea of rebel on the street from Stolen Girlfriend’s Club, that cool kid vibe.” He credits Wintec for teaching vital skills that have helped his journey in the fashion world, particularly the

For the past three years, Mitchell has presented his

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

manufacturing skills, construction specs and knowledge regarding onshore and offshore manufacturing. It was the creative side that propelled him into fashion and the whole process of having an idea, pattern making,

not quite comfortable with in New Zealand. But he also senses change in the air, as he grows alongside his brand. “I think with garments it’s just interesting to have it on anyone and just seeing what they can do

sourcing the fabrics and seeing where to take it. “That’s what I most love, that’s what drives me, that inspiration from start to finish.” For future creative fashion minds, he has simple advice: work hard, network and have a clear direction. A support network helped Mitchell to be successful so quickly. “Definitely family. Family get it bad, they see the best and worst. My friends are awesome too, if it’s a late night, they’re more than happy to make me go to dinner or else no one will eat.” As for the future, Mitchell is focused on further growth, releasing his brand more frequently, in two half seasons the way large-scale designers tend to do. His clothes are often described as minimal and simplistic, with a monochrome colour palette, but also bold and slightly rebellious. They’re perfect for the Kiwi lifestyle, that four seasons in one day feel, an easy and comfortable silhouette and not too bright and flamboyant, something we’re

with it, especially with styling and just making it their own. Creating a story with my clothing will be quite fun to witness.” As the interview draws to a close I ask Mitchell what he thinks has made him successful. “I would like to think I’m positive. That’s what I’d like to feel, that you can change any situation and make sure you have the best of something. Hard working, but I’m also not afraid to take breaks now, you have to know your worth. Most of all, I want to see my collections grow with me. I want to be able to look into the archives 20 years from now and see growth, in business and design.”

Anna clausen

k ia w h a ka i r o n g a

te w h a ka a t a o te W h a ka a r o “Kua tū tau ake tōku wairua me ka whakarerekēngia e koe me ū tika tonu anō ki tou ake hiahia”.

Nā Anna Clausen

He tino tau me te atāhua o te tangata nei a Mitchell Vincent ki ōna kākāhu

kākāhu mā, te āhua o ngā wai ariki o Taupo-nui-a-Tia.

pango me te atāhua hoki o te tuitui i a ia e noho ana a, e kōrero ana ki te taiwhanga ki te kuratini me ngā taputapu mō te tuitui kākāhu mo te mahi kākāhu. He tere rawa ia te angitu ki te mahi kākāhu. “Kia hoki whakamuri e rima tau, kare au e taea te kite au i ēnei rā tonu, te tere hoki o te eke ake”. I eke a Mitchell i te tau 2013 ka whiwhi i te Tohu Pokairua Fashion Design and Practice, ka whāia ano ia i te tohu Best Emerging Designer ki Miromoda Māori Fashion. Ka toa ia anō, ka whiwhi i te Vapour Project kohinga, he kaupapa i whakaarongia e tōna iwi i a Tūwharetoa. He tino kaupapa nui kia pupū ake i roto i ōna mahi tuitui

Mai i ngā e toru tau pāhemo ake nei ka whakaatu ōna kohinga kākāhu ki te wiki whakaaturanga kākāhu a Motu e kīa nei Miromōda. He wiki pāngia e Mitchell i ngā wero me ngā painga, anō nei he tere rawa ngā nekenekehanga rite tonu ki New York te wā. “Tino tere te wā kia oti ngā mahi. E ono marama pea te waihanga me te tuitui kākāhu me te arotake i mura mai”. E whakahīhī ana ia ki te tūtakitahi ki ngā tāngata rongonui ki te waihanga kākāhu. I mīharo atu ki a rātou me te kite i a rātou ki ngā nūpepa mai rāno. I pātaitia te pātai, ko wai te tohunga o ēnei mahi kua whakapā kit ō ngākau. Ka whakaroa ia, “he maha rawa rātou.

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories

Ko Chanel me Karl Largerfield mā, a, ko Zambesi te toa mai i te wā tupu ake

Mitchell ka pātai atu nā te aha koe i eke ki te taumata, “ki tōku nei whakaaro he

ko tōku nana e mau kākāhu Zambesi. Ka mahara te tūtaki ki a Liz Findlay ki te NZFW e whakaatu ana, kare taea te kōrero. He pai hoki te rebel ki te tiriti no Stolen Girlfriends rōpu, he mea rawe ki au”.

tangata mātau, he tangata kaha me ka whakahoungia e au te huarahi, kia tika tonu. Engari kare au i te wēhi kia whai whakatā mōku, anō hoki kia maumahara koe, he mana anō tōu”. Ko tōku tino hiahia kia kitea e au i ōku Kohinga Whatu Kākāhu ā nga tau ā mua ake nei. Kia tupu, kia whai hua, kia mana āku mahi i roto te puna waihanga kākahu me ngū ūmanga katoa o te Ao.

Kia hoki mai anō ki te Kuratini o Waikato nei, he maha nga kokonga o tōna whare me āna mahi katoa kua oti i a ia te kimi me te whakatutuki. He maha ngā hononga i awhi au mai ki te tīmatanga o te mahere ki te whakaotinga. E tata ana te mutu te uiuitanga ki a

Nā Anna Clausen

A gathering of stars, a gathering of stories