A Tangata Whenua Approach To Manaaki ki te Tangata

LORRAINE HAWKE
Ngai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Waitaha

I have spent much of my life in service to my people, raised in a whānau hapu environment with the type of embuing that centralises your focus on whānau motuhake and hapu rangatiratanga, politically attuned from the cradle.  Empowered by value sets that have built my resilience over time, I can appreciate the multi-faceted approaches needed to strengthen and enhance whānau identity and connection, specifically, protective structures that envelop rather than disempower.       

My professional experiences have been diverse, involving various sectors, from Tourism, Education, Workforce Development, and the Health and Social Sectors. In terms of the latter, this has included experience in the mental health, alcohol & drug field, family violence, sexual violence, suicide prevention and intervention; my learnings across this spectrum is to keep it simple, build foundations that are meaningful and lasting, have no expectations, however, challenge each minefield, or barrier that undermines whānau dignity and integrity and do so as a tipuna in the making. 

My experience as a member of our hapū leadership and as an iwi representative across regional statutory partnerships has been a rigorous journey offset by moments of clarity & unification; however, such moments have been marred by embedded colonial thinking and practices leading to systemic barriers for Tangata Māori, from this level one can truly value the strength of whānau, hapū, iwi and hāpori Māori fortitude and resilience. 

I co-founded a Whānau-led, Tangata Whenua Hauora service, Te Ahi Wairua o Kaikoura (TAWK).  As a wānanga-centric service this enables us to engage with whānau across a large geographical spread; Wānanga is a methodology that has been used throughout tradition to imbue and ignite knowledge, the dynamic of group consciousness and cognitive exchange is a powerful medium that can strengthen and support healing. 

As a Māori practitioner, the compilation of experiences, motherhood and as a Taua with many mokopuna, has been and continues to be the cornerstones that guide my practice, the modelling that comes from our pūrākau and the many tīpuna who, through their attributes and qualities sequentially provide a framework that can enhance one's practice, particularly if one can align the value sets, concepts, rituals and neuro creative mediums, and recognise that Te Ao Māori methodology is configured to enhance whānau hauora holistically.