He Mihi | Seasons Greetings

Ngā mihi o te Kirihimete me te Tau Hou ki a koutou.

The festive season is upon us and it’s an opportune time to wish you and your whānau a Merry Christmas and happy New Year. 
It’s been a really vibrant start to the new triennium, in terms of our partnership with the Lakes Council. We’ve got a solid foundation to work from now, along with a general acceptance that Te Tatau plays a valuable role in partnering our people into the municipality, and creating a place where they can contribute and influence change for the better.
The challenge now is to continue the momentum and deliver on the promise of the partnership. What does that mean for us? First, we’re tracking well to establishing a Te Arawa vision thanks to the contribution and effort of Te Arawa hapū, iwi, uri and entities. By the New Year, we’ll be well down the track into making that a reality and being able to give our people an intergenerational focus over the next 30 to 50 years. 
We’re also embarking on renewing our efforts on strengthening Rotorua as a bilingual city. That’s a work in progress and we’re really positive about moving that ahead. And of course, just before Christmas – we played a part in showcasing a planning tool built with and for Ōhinemutu. It will enable our people to be ahead of the game when it comes to town planning by using visualisation tools in a research project in partnership with Canterbury University. All exciting stuff. 
We again wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. All the best, and let’s all come back refreshed for the challenges ahead – but all very positive challenges.
On that note, we acknowledge the very sad situation on Whakaari as well, and those people who perished on the island. Our thoughts are with them and let’s turn our thoughts also to their families, and secure their wellbeing.

Nō reira, tēnā koutou katoa.

 Te Tatau o Te Arawa

Mahi Whakawhanake | Hapū Led Town Planning

Te Tatau manahautū, Jude Pani.

Te Tatau o Te Arawa has been involved in a project to develop tools which allow our people to get ahead of the game. 
We have been working alongside the Ōhinemutu Development Working Group and University of Canterbury on a visualisation tool of Ōhinemutu resources for town planning purposes.  
Jude Pani says the tool puts hapū in a leadership role to determine how their village development might proceed. 
“A variety of geospatial tools have been co-created to assist hapū to undertake their roles, rights and responsibilities as kaitiaki, mainly in the resource management space.” 
The research project, ‘Map-based tools for Community and Hapū-led sustainable town planning’, involves the co-creation of ‘flax roots’ tools so communities can be more engaged – and even lead the town planning process.
The project team is co-creating a replicable, open sourced, cultural narrative driven, place-based tool for their village. This tool will essentially enable the hapū to build their own culturally layered GIS map of their village and the taonga within to better lead/inform town planning processes with Council while better controlling their stories and information. The project has advanced to the stage where a demonstration of the tool prototype was held this month at Third Place Café overlooking Ōhinemutu.
“This project was woven into the Te Arawa E kaupapa to align with one of Te Tatau’s primary objectives of building hapū and iwi capacity and capability and strengthening Te Arawa participation in Council’s decision-making and other processes,” says Jude.
“It’s a great opportunity for our people to lead and not follow.”

Rotorua Reorua | Ka Pai Kai Rotorua

Aroha Dorset, Ka Pai Kai Rotorua.

Ka Pai Kai Rotorua is a social enterprise which makes and delivers nutritious affordable lunches in schools. Available in 18 schools this year, Ka Pai Kai Rotorua was established in 2017 with just two schools. Lunches start from as little as $1.50, and community and volunteer participation are an integral part of what they do. Ka Pai Kai Rotorua aims to reduce food inequalities within the community.
Ka Pai Kai board member and treasurer, Aroha Dorset, says Te Tatau o Te Arawa has helped Ka Pai Kai to better service kura kaupapa by translating menus into te reo Māori. 
“Without this kind of support, we’d struggle to maintain our offering to whānau who’ve chosen total immersion for their tamariki,” she says.

“It’s so important for the community to be a part of what we do if it’s to succeed long-term." 

Te Tatau’s, Jenny Riini, says Ka Pai Kai fit the criteria of a kaupapa Te Arawa whānui would like to support.
“It’s come through clearly with our Te Arawa Vision work that our people care about the wellbeing of people, first and foremost. Ka Pai Kai Rotorua is a perfect example of a voluntary group who are all about helping our tamariki, so of course we were happy to help.” 
Jenny says going forward, Te Tatau o Te Arawa is looking into a sustainable social enterprise that works in partnership with others to ensure the longevity of the Rotorua Reorua kaupapa.
“For that social enterprise to be self-sustainable in the future, there may have to be a cost for translations and other related services but to align to the values and directions set in the Te Arawa vision a sliding scale may be appropriate so that a charitable rōpu woking with our most vulnerable may be at koha level, whereas a corporate enterprise might be different. If we’re unable to help, we’d connect them with registered Te Arawa translators.” 

Rotorua Reorua | Lakes Defibrillators

RLCB chairperson, Phill Thomass, pictured with a lakeside defibrillator 
with bilingual signage.

Four defibrillators with bilingual signage are being set-up in local lakeside communities to support Rotorua Reorua.
Rotorua Lakes Community Board (RLCB) have funded two defibrillators which are being placed at the Rotoiti Sports & Community Association and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Rotoiti, while community associations have funded a further two defibrillators to be placed in West Rotoiti and Hamurana.
RLCB chairperson, Phill Thomass, says they’ve been working on a programme most of the year to get defibrillators out in the lake communities. 
He says the defibrillators will be in cabinets with a combination lock. They are available to the public and when required, people can call 111 and provide the location to the operator to be given the code to unlock it. No further questions will be asked. 
“St John’s Ambulance have kindly created the backboards for the defibrillators, with English instructions. However, we wanted them to be bilingual, so I contacted Jenny at Te Tatau o Te Arawa to ask for Māori translations. They worked out what would be appropriate to go on the boards, so now our defibrillator signs will be bilingual to support Rotorua Reorua.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve heard Māori spoken in Rotorua. And given we’re putting one in the kura, I thought I’d never put anything in a reo Māori school that didn’t have te reo on it.”

Phill says he’s been overwhelmed by the support they’ve received from the various lakes associations to support the bilingual signage for the defibrillators. 
“I absolutely thank Te Tatau and also the communities who are providing their own units. They’re not necessarily in areas where you’d expect people to see the importance of te reo, but everyone has been receptive and supportive of the idea.”

Hui ā-Kuia | Kiri Potaka-Dewes

Kiri Potaka-Dewes

Te Tatau o Te Arawa koeke representative, Kiri Potaka-Dewes, is leading a series of hui ā-kuia to capture the stories of kuia on the marae.
Kiri says the wānanga enable the voice of the kuia to emerge on issues that she implements. 

“You get vignettes of her time, the fashions of her time, the people of her time. It won’t just be about her role anymore, because out of the kōrero will emerge images, stories and reflections. And they’re important."

Kiri says the hui will include a tour of the marae by the local kuia who'll also help facilitate the kōrero, a cup of tea, and a sharing of stories. 
“The 80s plus group may be less mobile and hard to capture unless someone brings them in, so we may need to go to a kuia’s place and talk to her on her own. Or if she can get a couple of her mates to come over, we’ll have a kōrero and a cup of tea on a smaller level, but still in a comfortable environment.
“We’ve had all these women in their 90s born before the war, who had stories to tell, which we’ve lost. The pre-war years were a very colourful period. 
“We get lots of stories about the Māori Battalion, but we don’t get stories about the women they were with, even though they had wives, mothers, daughters, and sweethearts. It'd be good to capture that group because there’s not a lot of them left.”

Te Arawa E! | Vision update

Te Tatau o Te Arawa board member, Aroha Bray, shares her vision for Te Arawa
in a series of Facebook videos.

Thanks to support from Te Puni Kōkiri and Rotorua Trust a number of workshops were hosted in October to further build on the Te Arawa vision strategy. 
Jenny Riini says feedback at the workshops solidified whakaaro already received, helped sharpen the thinking around Te Arawa values and provided good challenges on the prioritising of strategic goals like those for the taiao. 
“We’re moving into the early drafting stage now, but we’ll still be engaging with our people and keeping them involved and up to date. We’ve committed to being iterative, which is why we’re still reaching out and we’re keeping our surveys open. If new whakaaro comes in, we’ll weave it in as best we can.” 
The final draft of the vision is expected to be launched at a Te Arawa symposium early next year. 
“We had originally planned to have the vision done and dusted by the end of this year but the idea of a Te Arawa symposium came in from our rangatahi. The Advisory Group got behind the whakaaro, recognising it will provide a perfect platform to launch this critical document. It will also allow more time for engagement and to get some runs on the board, such as supporting the development of the new Te Arawa Health Strategy. "The vision and the symposium are about celebrating ourselves as Te Arawa in a way that doesn’t override our own iwitanga and hapūtanga. Instead, it builds on our desire for unity and connection for Te Arawa as a whole.” 

Board Member Profile | Kahutapeka Ututaonga

Te Tatau o Te Arawa rangatahi representative, Kahutapeka Ututaonga.

One of Te Tatau o Te Arawa’s newest board members, rangatahi representative Kahutapeka Ututaonga (Ngāti Tunohopu, Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara, Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wahiao), has a qualification in 
Hospitality & Tourism, and currently works as a lifeguard at Polynesian Spa and early childhood teacher at Te Whare Whitinga o te Ra. 
The 21-year-old says she’s looking forward to providing a youth perspective on the Te Tatau board.
“I also want to learn because I came in not knowing a lot about local government, but I’m keen to get ideas, share my ideas, and eventually teach other people.”
Kahutapeka says she enjoys meditation, which helps her to process her emotions.
“Meditation provides another way of mentally moving forward in life. I’ve learnt about chakras and wake every morning at 5am to meditate with my crystals before I started my day.”
She says the best thing about being Te Arawa is knowing everyone and identifying everyone as whānau.
“I feel comfortable here and proud to tell people I’m from Te Arawa.”