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Mēnā koe e hakoke ana a te Hātarei te kotahi tekau o Pīpiri e rangona ana te harurutanga motopaika, kai wēhi koe ko te kaupapa Ride for Life e haere ake ana.
Ka wehe rātou i Ngongotahā ka haere ki Kawerau ki Maketu ki Matata kātahi ka hoki ki te hau kāinga ki te waiariki nei. He ahakoa ngā piki me ngā heke nā te māuiui korona ka whakarewangia e te taratī ohaoha ko Patua Te Taniwha tana kaupapa tuarua nei.
Me he mārangai, me he āwhā nui a te Hātarei ka huri kē tātou ki te karapu peihana o Ngongotahā ki reira te hunga tautoko noho ai. E ai ki tētehi o ngā mema o te taratī ko Cassey Thompson ko te kaupapa matua ko te whakahono atu ki ngā hāpori itiiiti, nā te mea e ai ki ngā tātaunga, kai reira te hunga e tino hemo ana i te mate whakamomori.
Mō te rā nei ka puta ngā mema o Tangata Whenua Riders (TWR) ko ngā manuao mō te rā kua tukuna mai e Tawharau Housing Ltd. Ma te kōhanga o Aorangi te hāngi mō te hunga hautu motopaika, ā, ka hokona ki te hunga hia hangi engari me ōta moata kē te tangata. I whānau a Cassey i Rotorua, i pakekengia i Uawa. Nō Ngāti Rangiwewehi, nō Ngāti Pikiao tētehi taha ōna, ā, nō Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti me Ngāti Awa hoki tētehi atu taha.
Tokorua āna tamāhine. Ko Aiorangi he ono te rahi, ko Maiaorere te whakapakanga e whā te rahi. He ngākau aroha nui tō Cassey ki te hāpai tangata, ki te whakapāohongia te kaupapa whakamomori kia mārama kehokeho ai ngā tangata katoa ki ngā painga me ngā kinonga hoki.
"Ko taku whakangākau ki tā tatou iwi, kāore e take ana te pūnaha hauora, kāore e tika ana ki a tātou, hinga noa te whānau, ko taku whānau ake, e nonoke ana te iwi te hunga kāore i pirangi ki a noho mai ki tēnei o te ārai. Ka toko ake te whakaaro me whakahuri tēnei āhuatanga e tātou. E kūware ana i tēnā wā- engari ka noho a hau me ētehi o aku hoa, e whakawhiti kōrero ana tātou nā wai rā, ka whakatūria e tātou tēnei whare aroha. Katoa ngā hoa kōrero i tāua taimā, ko ngā taratī tuatahimoroki noa nei me tō rātou aronga kau ki te awhina tangata.
"Ae, ka tūponohia tātou, he kōrero nui he whakatakoto rautaki katoa ēnei whainga me tutuki e tātou i ngā marama e toru, ko te tau tuatoru, tuawha pea, ā, kai kōnei tātou, kua oti i a mātou ngā kaupapa hāpori kotahi tekau mā toru. Nā enei kaupapa kua mōhio mātou me pēwhea e whakahāngai pū ngā kaupapa ki te hāpori, kua mōhio hoki mātou he aha ngā kaupapa kāore e take ana.
Ko te karahipi me ngā huinga nui te aronga matua, kai reira kē te mana nui e puta ai te hāpori ki te whakarongo, ko ā mātou he kawe ake, ake tēnei momo tūāpapa". Ko te tikanga o te kaupapa Ride 4 Life, ko te waha i te kaupapa matua nei ki ngā hāpori itiiti.
"I puta mai ngā tātaunga whakamomori e mea ana kai ngā hāpori itiiti te nui o te hunga whakamomori, nā reira te hiahia ki a uru atu ai mātou engari me pēwhea e taea ai te whakaatu ki ngā hāpori iti nei kai te whakaarongia rātou e ngā tāone nui, ka ara ake ko te kaupapa, Ride 4 life".
Engari kāore i mana te kaupapa i te tau ko hori nā te māuiui korona, whoi anō rā.
"I whakakorengia te kaupapa nei i te Maehe o tēnei tau tonu i te hikitanga mai o te ngārara korona ki ngā hāpori, e kūware ana ki te roanga o te rāhui hou whoi anō ka tū mai te Āperira kua puta mai te kōrero kua māmā ake te taumaha māuiui korona, nā reira ka wawe kē te nanao atu ki te hunga TWR, ka whakaae mai rātou ki tā mātou tono, ā, hai te kotahi tekau mā tahi o Pīpiri ka tū te RDL, kua ora anō te kaupapa". A Cassey nei, kai te Wānanga o Awanuiarangi, e ako reo Māori ana, e rapu ana i tana whakapapa me ngā hononga huhua ki ngā waka o te motu.
"Ko te whakapapa me te pepehā ngā pou tokomanawa ki ahau. Nā ēnei ka hono atu ai ahau ki taku toto rangatira, ā, ki taku pā taunaha hoki. Nā taku mōhiohio ki ēnei e toitū ai taku tū i te ao nei he mea e kore e tāea e ngā ngaru o te moana te horomi.
"E noho takakau ana engari kai te whakamīharo tonu nei ahau ki ngā hononga whakapapa e waru o aku pēpī, whoi anō ka pakekengia rātou kua toitū hoki nā o rātou waewae ki te oneone".
He ahakoa nā te māuiui korona i whakakorengia ai te World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference (WISPC) i Kanata, i nanakia kē ngā whakahaerenga a Patua Te Taniwha kia whātoro atu ai rātou ki te hunga e noho taumaha ana ko tetehi he whakatū karahipi e kīa nei ko Manawa Ora Rangatahi.
He kaupapa i whakatūria ai mō rātou te hunga kua whakarerea e tetehi. Me ana kupu kōrero ki te rangatahi:
"E whakarehurehu ana te huarahi, rapua te ngākau whiwhita, māna koe e arahi". "Whakatakoto rautaki, whakatū whāinga itiiiti, nui rānei, kia kaha ki te aro ki ngā whāinga kia oti kau i a koe – hai aha noa atu te hunga whakapōrearea, kurukī rātou ki tāhaki!".
— Na Raimona Inia tenei purongo i whakamaoritia.
Anybody out and about between Ngongotahā, Kawerau, Matatā and Maketu next Saturday, June 11, if you hear the roar of motorbike engines don't worry, it's the Ride for Life, raising awareness about suicide.
Patua Te Taniwha Charitable Trust, despite false starts due to Covid has its second ride scheduled to go ahead next Saturday.
If the weather makes conditions too unsafe for a ride then the Ngongotahā Bowling Club will be open to riders and supporters for kōrero and a kaitahi, hāngi is available to pre-purchase or buy on the day.
Trust member Cassey Thompson is in charge of the ride which is to connect with Rotorua's smaller surrounding towns who unfortunately have high suicide rates.
Fronting up on their vehicles will be members of Tangata Whenua Riders (TWR) and first aiders will be provided by Tawharau Housing Ltd. Aorangi Kōhanga is producing a hāngi for the participants and supporters of the ride which is funded by Te Rau Ora.
Cassey, who was born and raised in Rotorua and Uawa, has whakapapa to Ngāti Rangiwēwehi, Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Awa.
The mother of two daughters Aiorangi, 6, and Maiaorere, 4, has a passion for helping our people, raising awareness around suicide and reducing the stigma that comes with this kaupapa.
"Seeing the system fail my loved ones, seeing our people struggle to be here, seeing our people not want to be here, something needed to change. I wasn't sure what or how but when I met my friends who were a part of the trust's establishment and we shared kōrero, we realised that this trust we have formed and is still going today, was and is needed for our people.
"We crossed paths we had a kōrero, we made a plan and how we will get there and become an established charitable trust within months. Three nearly four years on we have held 13 different kaupapa for our community. From these events over the past years we have learned what was affective and what was not for our people through surveys and event turn outs.
"We now focus on events/scholarships that evidently worked for our people and aim to continue these as long as we can."
The Ride For Life was initiated to take the message of support to smaller hāpori. "Learning that the suicide rates in these really small towns were so high we wanted to connect with these towns and their hauora organisations to show support from our town to theirs."
Covid meant the 2020 ride was cancelled.
"We originally cancelled Ride 4 life 2022 in March when Covid was within our community and we had no idea of how long we may be in the Red light of traffic light systems.
However, in April we were notified that covid had passed its worst levels and the levels at what we operated began to decrease so we decided to reach out to TWR, and they agreed on holding R4L 2022 on June 11."
Cassey is on a reo and whakapapa journey through Te Wānanga o Awanuiarangi.
"Whakapapa and Pepehā are most important to me these connect me to my bloodline, these connect me to my pā. It is knowing these I know I will always belong and have a place somewhere in this world and it cannot be taken away from me.
"I am not with my children's Pāpā but have been so grateful to learn of my babies' whakapapa and pepehā (8 sides so far) so that they too can grow up to know where and who they are."
Although Covid led to the cancellation of the World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference (WISPC) in Canada, Patua Te Taniwha continued to adapt and find ways to support our people, including to creating the Manawa Ora Rangatahi scholarships for rangatahi who had lost a significant person in their life.
Her message to rangatahi: "If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion and your passion will lead you right to your purpose. "Set goals, create a plan to work towards these goals and action it. Don't let anyone discourage your ambition."
'We really have something special going on here,' the academy co-founder says.