Wairewa Rūnanga

Ara Wairewa e!

We’ve had a busy start to the year at Wairewa Marae and for our Rūnanga, with more to come and hopefully in a sustainable way.

We had the official signing of our agreement with Orion Group to recloak hundreds of hectares of our pāmu in native forest; we’ve had heaps of rōpū come through for noho from the likes of TRONT, the University of Canterbury, Fulton Hogan. We’ve had a few tangihanga to acknowledge, not just from our own whenua but all over the takiwā.

Education grants have been ticking over – if you haven’t accessed this yet, please do contact the tari for a link to our online form! And also, please encourage your whānau to register with Wairewa, so we can reach more of our own through pānui, FB and kanohi kitea.

Looking ahead from Kahuru to Takurua and Matariki, we have the māra kai still going although we’ll be resting some of the soil; we’ve got Irakehu Pae ki Tua, a partnership with Whai Rawa brewing for our members and plans to expand our tīma so we can have more support on the ground to pull off our projects.

Thank you for allowing me, the executive team and the rest of us in the tari to serve.

Mauri ora! Nā, Kelly Barry Manahautū, Wairewa Rūnanga general manager

Mana Tangata Pou – Education Grants

Here’s a kōrero sent in from Michael Taylor from Kirikiriroa, in thanks for his Wairewa Education Grant.

Tēnā koe e te mokopuna!

“Lush native ngahere, crystal clear moana, immaculate beaches. All of these I experienced in my time on Great Barrier Island; I was given the incredible chance to go to Aotea for five days. We were able to do so many adrenaline packed activities, some of which were out on the deep blue moana for countless hours kayaking. I was one of a few students who were picked to go to Aotea/Great barrier island. While there, I made some precious friendships and was privileged to learn about the rich history of Aotea. Aotea is such an isolated part of Aotearoa, and the culture of the local iwi is quite unique to this island. I sincerely thank Wairewa Rūnanga for providing financial assistance.”

And here we have Te Paea Lee, in her brand-new high school uniform for the start of the school year.

PADi divers training for Wairewa

Kairuku gathered for weekend classes.

Pōwhiri mo te kaupapa, Irakehu Pae ki Tua

More than 50 Irakehu hapū members gathered at Wairewa Marae in March, united in their collective interest in the continuation of our ancestral practices as kaikaranga and kaikōrero. This included members from the kaupapa guiding elders, Te Kāhui Tāwharau, those who are seasoned in their roles on the marae atea and many who are just beginning their haerenga learning about the preservation of marae tikanga.

Together, the rōpū brought the mauri of the kaupapa on to the marae with a pōwhiri, before mihimihi and a kōrero about Irakehu Pae ki Tua from Kelly Barry and Jymal Morgan. Everyone shared a kapu tī before hearing from kaumātua about their own reasons for being present, their own memories about the marae, karanga and whaikōrero. It was such a beautiful moment in time; we ran an hour over and definitely think an over-night wānanga is in order next time!

Irakehu Pae ki Tua is a kaupapa being held between Ōnuku and Wairewa Rūnanga together as Ngāti Irakehu

Mana Whenua Mana Moana have been working on a kaupapa behind the scenes for a while now, with the hopes of upskilling more of our own whānau to harvest from our moana.

This kaupapa got underway last year, led by Robin Wybrow on the Mana Whenua Mana Moana Pou. After lots of planning and organising, we put two rōpū of eight kairuku (divers) through their PADi Open Water Diver Certification in March and April.

(the united hapū of Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū/Banks Peninsula). At the start of the year, the Rūnanga secured funding to start supporting more whānau to learn about karanga and whaikōrero practices, the tikanga of pōwhiri and a development of hapū reo Māori. In recent weeks, we sent out pānui to ask whānau to register interest in this kaupapa. The first of three wānanga happened on 19 March and Te Kāhui Tāwharau identified those who could sign up for a more intensive learning process. Over the year, these tāngata from Ōnuku and Wairewa will meet up regularly with the Kaiara Tautoko, Kenny Brown, to go over kaupapa, reo and develop what they have learnt. They’ll also attend regular reo lessons together here in Ōtautahi/Christchurch.

This is the first time we’ve run any kaupapa like this and we’re learning as we go; with support, this could be something we keep up for years to come, supporting more whānau Irakehu to stand on their marae and uphold our traditional practices.

Nau mai, kōrero mai –office contact details

Whether you’d like to register your tamariki, or enquire about grants available, we’re here and want to hear from you whānau.

Please contact us on wairewa.admin@ngaitahu.iwi.nz or call 0800 WAIREWA.

Whānau Day in the Māra

A bunch of whānau came together for our fifth or sixth working bee in the marae māra kai in the middle of March, just on time for the Autumnal Equinox. Tamanuiterā was beaming down on us and it felt so good to be together, digging weeds, harvesting kai, kōrero and of course, a mean kai. We had something like 14 tamariki and pēpi there keeping each other busy with harvesting, eating rōpere and kēmu; we'll share their photos from the day in our next pānui. We were also lucky to here from Miriama Buchanan about Para Kore and how we can bring the kaupapa of reducing waste on to our marae.

Everyone who came out took whatever huawhenua/veges they wanted, and our Whānau Ora Navigator Cassie took the rest out to whānau on her Monday visits.

Tino pai whānau, our first seasonal harvest is done!