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Kai te kaha te whētukinga manawa o Te Rahurahu i te huatanga mai o ngā kaupapa rau ki tōna ātea nui o Waimahana.
E whā tekau mēneti te tawhiti whakatetonga i Rotorua i tua atu o Reporoa a Waimahana kai wē parae e tū ana. Kimokimo kau ana ngā kanohi kua ngaro noa tēnei wāhi i a koe.
E tūmeke tonu nei te tiamana o te kōmiti a Erueti Rakena nā te mea kua noa atu i te rua tekau o ngā tau a ia e kimokimo ana e mea ana nōna hoki te whenua nei he pānga tōnā ki tēnei whenua rangatira. He Barow-Matenga hoki tōna whakapapa.
"E rua tekau o ngā tau taku tūranga mahi hai pou hoko mā Steel and Tube i Rotorua. Ka heke ahau ki Taupō mahi ai i tētehi rangi o te wiki."
Nō te wā hoki i whakatūria ai e ahau taku ake mahi ka takahia tēnei rori". Kapi kau ana te ara ki te tātaramoa koina te huarahi o te ora e mā ai ōku kanohi. Nā ngā arero kōwhetewhete a Waimahana i māhue ai i ngā whānau. Ka wha tekau tau a Waimahana e noho mokomokorea ana.
Ko ngā pioi anahe ōna hoa. Kua kaha tikonga te whare e ngā manu me ngā kararehe maha ā waho, ā roto hoki o te whare. Ko te rāpihi tarutaru ngā tīni me ngā pātara waipiro a ngā pīoi te otinga atu.
Tāhia rawatia te whare e Erueti me te kōmiti i tō rātou hokitanga mai ki tō rātou papa whenua. Ka whakarauorangia a Waimahana i te tau e rua mano kotahi tekau mā ono, he ahakoa nui te aroha, he ahakoa nui te kaha o te kōmiti he itiiiti noa a rātou moni. Kāre o rātou titiro ki te pōkenekene ka whiua ngā kō.
Kai Te Wānanga o Aotearoa a Erueti e mahita ana kāre e wehi ana ki te nanao atu ki ngā kāmura me ngā tino mātanga o te ao hangahanga. Ka karangahia hoki te tohunga o te Heritage Trust a Jim Schuster hai arahi i a rātou mahi, tahuri hoki mai a Kaiako matua toi a John Turi-Takitai ki te awhina engari ko te tino ohu awhina ko te whānau ake.
Ka whakaritea e rātou te hunga tapatapahi pātītī, ka horoia ngā wharepaku ka peitangia ngā whare.
Ka kohaina mai ngā periki e tetehi, ngā pōwhatu, ngā wharepaku, ka puta mai te hunga kāmura hoki ki te awhina, nā wai rā ka puta hoki mai ngā ringa wera ki te whāngai i ngā puku. I whānau mai a Erueti i Ihumatao ka pakekengia i te marae o Makaurau. Nā tōna kuia a Toto Galvin ia i whakapoipoi.
I whānau mai a Ngatoto Nganehu Galvin (Barlow) i te tau kotahi mano e iwa rau mā whā i Waimahana. Ka riro a Erueti i a ia hai māngai kōrero māna. He whakaahua tā Erueti o Waimahana i tōna orokohanga me tana kōrero tupuna hoki.
Ka whakaae mai te tono kia whakahoungia te marae ka kī mai te kaunihera kāre e take ana ki te whakahou i te marae nei ka peia atu ki te awa o Waikato ka whakakīa te puna ki te oneone. Hai awhina i te kaupapa whakarauora marae kua whakatūria e Erueti tētehi kete pena pūtea kua mana tēnei whakaaro i ngā wānanga, ngā mārengatanga me ngā noho marae hoki.
Ko te pae tuarua ko te whakaara whare mō ngā kaumātua hai tā Erueti kua waimārie rātou i a Tauhara North. Hai tīmatanga, ka whakaturia ki Waimahana kia rua ngā whare duplex, nā reira ka whā kē mai ngā whare ka piki ake pea tēnei nama engari tāria kia tino mātau ai mātou me pēwhea te tohutohu atu i ēnei whare ki ngā marae kē atu.
Katoa e toru ngā marae ki te rohe o Tahu-Whaoa ko Te Toke, ko Ohaaki ko Mataarae. I te kaupapa huringa oneone i ngā wiki kua pahemo tae mai ai a Willie Jackson me te mema o Reipā a Tamati Coffey, nā te Kawana mā Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga i tuku mai he kotahi tekau mā rua ira rima tekau mā toru Miriona tāra mā ngā whare e rua tekau mā whitu i te rohe o Reporoa tāpirihia ki tēnei ko ngā whare kotahi tekau mā tahi i Waimahana.
Ka kī mai a Jo Te Huia he māngai mā Tauhara North Kāīnga e whitu ngā kāinga kotahi o aua kāinga e rima ngā rūma, e toru o aua kāinga e whā ngā rūma ka oti ana e toru o aua kāinga he mea toru rūma he paku nekehanga hoki e āhei ai te whakatū kia whitu anō kāinga i Waimahana ki te poraka Ahu Whenua.
Ka tukua e Tauhara North Kāinga me ētehi atu whenua e toru ira rima miriona tāra hai awhinatanga. Hai tāna ko te tūranga a Tauhara North Kainga he mea whakahaere me te āta tohutohu whoi anō e tū nei hai kamupene whakatū kāinga mā te hāpori. Kua whai hoa awhina rātou i te kāwanatanga mā Te Puni Kōkiri ki te whakatū kia rua tekau mā whitu kāinga, tūturu ka tū rātou hai whare matua i te pūtea kawana nei.
Ko ngā kāinga kotahi tekau mā ono mō ngā kaumātua ka pupuringia ka whakahaerengia e Tauhara North Kainga engari ko te pae tawhiti ko te tuku i te mana whakahaere ki ngā marae.
Kai te āwhinangia e Tauhara North Kainga a Waimahana Land Trust Homes ki te whakatū i ā rātou kāinga e whitu, mā te mahi tahi nei ka puta te haeoratū o ngā whare ki ngā kapua o te rangi, ka oti ana kai te whakahaerengia tēnei kaupapa papakāinga hai kaupapa kotahi.
Te Rahurahu's heartbeat is growing stronger as projects on his marae of Waimahana come to fruition.
Waimahana, 40 minutes south of Rotorua past Reporoa, is in the middle of a paddock in farmland. It's easy to blink and miss it. That's what marae committee chairman Erueti Rakena can't believe he did for 20 years. Blink and miss the marae of his Barlow-Matenga whanau.
"I was a sales rep for Steel and Tube for 20 years, working out of Rotorua. I made trips to Taupō at least once a week during that time.
"Even when I set up my own steel business I travelled this road."
The road back to vibrancy has been long and tortuous. Squabbling generations ago led to Waimahana being abandoned, and he sat desolate for 40 years.
His only visitors were squatters. Animals and birds left their droppings all over the place, including inside the whare tupuna Te Rahurahu.
Human squatters left drug paraphernalia, empty bottles and cans, and used condoms. All were given short shrift when Erueti's committee took over.
Waimahana was brought back to the land of the living in 2016. The committee had a lot of passion and drive but very little money. Undeterred they carried on.
Erueti, a kaiako at Te Wananga o Aotearoa is not afraid to enlist the help of qualified craftsmen and tohunga. He wanted only the best.
He called on Heritage Trust marae restorer Jim Schuster for advice on restoring Te Rahurahu. Kaiako matua toi at Te Wananga o Aotearoa, John Turi-Tiakitai, was recruited to help too.
But it was whanau who answered the call.
They set up a lawn-mowing roster, they cleaned the droppings and painted buildings. Then there were the koha of bricks, cobble stones, cut-price buildings which house toilets, tradies turned up to lend a hand.
Kai and cooks appeared to feed the multitudes.
Born at Ihumatao and raised at Makaurau Marae, Erueti was groomed by Nanny Toto Galvin to take charge. Ngatoto Nganehu Galvin (born Barlow) was born in 1904 at Waimahana and she took Erueti as her spokesman around the motu.
Erueti has a picture of Waimahana in the 1900s and a story that when consent was sought to rebuild the marae the local authority said it was only worth demolishing. It was pushed into the Waikato River and the puna on the land filled in.
To help create a putea, Erueti has the marae booked for wananga and noho most weekends. It has even hosted a whanau wedding.
The next step is kaumatua houses and this is where Erueti says Waimahana is lucky because they have the backing of Tauhara North.
To start with, two duplexes creating four flats are to be built at Waimahana but this could increase depending on how many of the 16 houses planned can be placed on the other three marae in the Tahu-Whaoa Runanga area — Te Toke, Ohaaki, and Mataarae.
The plans were unveiled in a soil-turning ceremony a couple of weeks ago with Labour Minister Willie Jackson and Labour MP Tamati Coffey. The Government, through Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga committed $12.53 million for 27 homes in the Reporoa district, including 11 homes at Waimahana.
At the same time, balloons filled the marae urupa as the graves of children who died in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic were unveiled. Jo Te Huia, for Tauhara North Kainga, said there would be seven whanau dwellings — one five-bedroom, three four-bedroom and three three-bedroom homes — but with infrastructure to accommodate a further seven whanau homes at Waimahana on the Ahu Whenua block.
Tauhara North Kainga and other land trusts will contribute about $3.5 million.
She said Tauhara North Kainga was principally fulfilling a facilitator and project coordinator role – as a community housing provider.
It has packaged the 27 home papakāinga programme in engagement with the Government through Te Puni Kōkiri and is the conduit for the Government grant.
The 16 kaumatua dwellings will initially be owned and operated by Tauhara North Kainga in partnership with each marae, but it is intended that over time the marae will be supported to take full ownership.
For the Waimahana Land Trust homes (seven whanau dwellings) Tauhara North Kāinga is providing project support working closely with the trust, and the construction of the papakāinga is managed as one project.
Now it's down to getting the infrastructure in place.
There are 93 horses still facing an uncertain fate.