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Nā ngā taumahatanga o te māuiui korona kua whakakikia ngā hononga whakapapa o te hāpori o te takiwā Waiariki.
He whakamihi hoki tēnei ki te ohu Māori nānā i kawe iho ngā rongoā me ngā kame awhina ki te māuiui me te hunga e nonoke ana kia puta ai rātau i te parata o Te Arawa waka ki matahauora nui.
E ai ki a Taparoto Nicolson te māngai mō te ohu Pou Whakawhirinaki o TALT. Nō te Aperira, nō te tau e rua mano, e rua tekau mā tahi ka hui a TALT me Te Arawhiti rātou ko Te Puni Kokiri, ko BSRC Building Sustainable me te Resilient Communities Project he whakatakoto rautaki whakaora i te māuri o te hāpori te take. Ko te whakapiki i ngā wewero me te tākai ngā pakeke ki ngā tākai o te ora otīā te hāpori o Ngai Te Arawa ki te korowai o te māramatanga te whāinga matua.
He mana nui kai ngā pokohiwi o te pahi Māori Communities Covid-19 Project, ko te whakahaere i ngā whakamōreareatanga o te wā engari anō ko te whakapakari i te wairua ora o te hāpori mā ngā marae.
Nā te whakapono kaha nei o tēnei ohu ki te kaupapa i eke ai rātau ki tētehi taumata ngangahū, ā, nō te marama nei ka whakawhiwhia e Waiteti, ara te rahi o Ngāti Ngāraranui, e Tarukenga, te nui o Ngāti Te Ngākau, e Tarimano, ngā unaunahi o Ngāti Rangiwewehi e Parawai, te wehi o Ngāti Tura me Ngāti Te Ngākau ki tētehi mākī whakaharahara hoki. I tū te hui ki Waiteti, kātahi nā ka tukuna ngā mākī pakari nei ki ngā marae.
He awhina i ngā marae ka pā anō tētehi āwhā nui ki runga ki a rātau. Nō te Tūrei te kotahi tekau mā waru kua hori ka tukuna anōtia ētehi mākī ki te pūkai nui o Tūhourangi i te hui nui i Mātaikōtare, ā, nā wai rā ka tākohangia ētehi anō mākī i Hurungaterangi ki Te Pakira, Hinemihi, Apumoana, me Hurungaterangi.
Kāpuia katoatia he kotahi rau mā wha ngā mākī ka tākohangia ki ngā marae e rima tekau mā rua o Ngai Te Arawa.
He timatatanga noa iho tēnei. E ai ki te māngai e tūmanakongia ka mana te tuku i ngā mākī ki ngā pā taunaha katoa i mua o te Noema āhua Tīhema tata nei.
Kātahi ka ea ngā mahi whakahirahira a TALT me te ohu MCCF. He ahakoa kai te pūhia tātau e te hau tāhengihengi ināianei, he nui rawa ngā akoranga i makere iho i te wā o te māuiui korona.
Kua ea katoa ngā whāinga i whakaritea e te ohu nei; ara ko te tūtakitaki ki ngā hapū katoa, te noho tahi me te iwi me te hāpori whānui tonu otīā ngā māngai pakeke o te hāpori e māmā ai te kōkiri i ngā hiahia e ora ai te tangata, tērā ko te whāngai atu ki a rātau ngā kame, ngā rauemi me te mātauranga e māia ai te kōkiri whakamua.
Engari a Taparoto nei me tana whakamihi ki tana ohu. Ko Kim Richards rātau ko Toni Waaka ko Mere Vercoe. Nā te kaha o ēnei wāhine ki te kukume me te whakakotahi i ngā kawekawe matotoru o te takere waka i ngāwari iho ai te whakahoe i tō rātau waka.
"Nō te Aperira nō te tau e rua mano, e rua tekau mā tahi i tāti ai ēnei wāhine he whakaū i ngā poupou ki a toitū ai te whare kātahi nā ko te manaaki i te hunga kawe, tuku awhina atu ki ngā koko o te waiariki, he wāhanga anō ki a rātau ko te whakapiki i ngā wewero rongoā me te whakatakoto rautaki e mana ai ēnei hiahia katoa.
"Nā te mea he kanohi kitea ēnei wāhine, he ngāwari nō rātau ki te whakatutuki i ngā kaupapa nui e ora ai te hāpori nā reira i whakaarohia tēne pahi ki te kawe i tēnei kaupapa ara ko te Māori Communities Covid-19 Fund Omicron ( MCCF) Project mō te wā o te māuiuitanga, ā, ki tūā rānō hoki'.
Ko te rohe whenua ki a rātau he pakari hoki mai i Maketu ki Te Waiheke o Huka, takiwā tata ki Ōhāki. Ki te hauāuru mai i Waitaha e titiro atu ai ki te rāwhiti ki Waitahanui tae ki te pito whenua ki Maketu (Tapiti), kātahi ka rere ki Paengaroa atu ki Te Ikaroa o Ruangutu tae ki moana Rotoiti me ngā roto moana katoa, ā, ka whakawhiti atu ki Kaingaroa. Anei te rahi o te whenua.
Tāpiringia ki te nui o te whenua ko te tūtakitaki ki ngā rangatira katoa o ēnei tōpito o ēnei whaitua ki te mahi tahi ki a aro mai ki te whakaaro aroha.
Nā reira ka puta te pahi ki te huihui ki ngā rangatira, ki te tuku mātauranga e whakakaha ai i taua hāpori ake.
Ka mana hoki tēnei rautaki. Nā te mea he kaupapa nui ka tono pūtea, kātahi ka whakawhiwhia ēnei marae katoa ki te pūtea awhina nā te MCCF e tere anō ai te waka o te hauora. Engari anō, ko te tini mātauranga i tukuna ki ngā marae pēnei me te whakapakari i ngā tangata o ngā pā taunaha ki a māmā ai te whakahaere me te whakatū wāhi rāhui. He whakaaraara rautaki mātua ko te manaaki i te hāpori.
O ngā marae e rima tekau mā rua, e rua tekau mā rima paihēneti i whakawhiwhia ki ngā rākau 390K RATSs ( ko ngā rākau torotoro pōngiangia o te ihu) ka tukuna hoki e rātau ngā ārai kanohi 455k, whaihoki he iwa tekau mā iwa paihēneti i whakawhiwhia ki te pūtea awhina.
Ae rā hoki, ka rewa mai ētehi wāhanga pokotiwha o tēnei kaupapa engari e kore e tāea te pēwhea ko te akoranga nui he whakawhitiwhiti mātauranga, he whakawhitiwhiti kōrero e āta pēhi nei i te māuiui korona e whakapōrearea nei ngā tini tangata katoa o te rohe otīā te Ika a Māui.
"I whakamanuwhiringia mātau e ngā pā taunaha huhua. Tērā anō ētehi kāore i arohaina i te wā o te rāhui nā reira ka kaha ai te tukinga manawa i tā mātau putanga ki a rātau – wheoi anō. Mā te mahi tahi e māmā ai ngā taumahatanga'. — Na Raimona Inia i whakamaori.
Ties among many of our Te Arawa marae, land trusts and community entities are stronger thanks to Covid 19.
And hats off to the Māori Communities Covid -19 Project who diligently beavered along, mostly under the radar, to bring our communities together and give them the tools to build resilience and a healthy future.
Taparoto Nicholson, Team lead (manager relationships) for the Te Arawa Lakes Trust (TALT) said the team, known as Pou Whakawhirinaki, was first engaged by Te Arawa Lakes Trust in April 2021 through Te Arawhiti, Te Puni Kokiri, funded BSRC Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities Project.
This project focussed on Te Arawa Covid -19 responsiveness, increasing vaccination uptake among the Iwi.
The Māori Communities Covid -19 Project focus is the management of current and future risks but building capacity among Māori communities via their respective Marae.
The project reached a milestone early this month when, at a gathering hosted by Ngāti Ngāraranui at Waiteti, the first four participating marae received two branded marquees each to support their management of present or future risks.
Those marae were Waiteti (Ngāti Ngāraranui), Tarukenga (Ngāti Te Ngākau), Tarimano (Ngāti Rangiwewehi), and Parawai (Ngāti Tura, Ngāti Te Ngākau).
Marquees were presented to the first cluster of Tuhourangi marae hosted at Owhata Marae (Mataikotaare, Pikirangi, Ruamatā) on Tuesday just gone. The next presentation was at Hurunga Te Rangi on Wednesday where Te Pakira, Hinemihi, Apumoana, Hurunga Te Rangi Marae accepted their marquees.
These are some of the 104 marquee tagged for 52 marae across Te Arawa and that is just the start of the rollout. The team expects the rollout to be completed in November or December.
And that wraps up the Covid project for TALT and MCCF.
But TALT and the team have learned a lot over that time.
The project accomplished pretty much what it set out to do: Engaged with hapu, iwi, community and hapori entities in response to Covid 19 and equip them with knowledge and resources to go confidently into the future.
Tapa attributed the success of the project to the quality of his team — Kim Richards, Toni Waaka and Mere Vercoe — who called on their strong well established hapū-iwi-hapori networks ."
Since their appointments in April 2021, this team formed the human resource capacity for Te Arawa Lakes Trust, to support high level coordination across agencies and ministries, to boaster vaccination uptake and to develop and deliver vaccination strategies for Te Arawa hapū/iwi me ngā hapori.
"Well established hapū-iwi links and community, agency networks made this team a natural choice to lead out the Māori Communities Covid -19 Fund Omicron (MCCF) Project, Te Arawa Management Strategy beyond the pandemic."
The area is widespread, from Maketu to te Waiheke-o Huka near Ohaki, from Waitaha in the west, Waitahanui in the east, Maketu (Tapiti) in the centre, shifting to Paengaroa, through Te Ikaroa o Ruangutu, to Lake Rotoiti and all the lakes of Te Arawa, and then to Kaingaroa.
The project involved meeting all marae or at least members of a marae committee or trust and working with marae on site.
The team enabled marae to deal with Covid and to minimise its effects. To do this effectively a putea was needed and MCCF resourced marae to increase capacity to isolate and test whanau before entry onto the marae.
They also provided Covid management training and assisted marae, on request, to prepare an appropriate crisis response plan.
Memoranda of Understanding allowed for clear expectations from both parties and the resourcing was a significant hook for marae.
Of 52 marae, 25 per cent received support resourcing 390K RATs (rapid antigen test kits), 455K masks and 99 per cent received pūtea.
The project exposed a few challenges especially for the more rural marae, but it was an opportunity to share learnings or insights particularly about managing the COVID- 19 risks among communities at marae gatherings.
"All marae approached were willing to engage. Some had not been supported through lockdown so were grateful that the invite to participate was extended."
'Representing the history of this area. This ridgeline was a kauri forest.' - Barry Potter