TE AO O TE MĀORI: A Window Into The Rich Lifestyles of Contemporary Māori

Photographs and words nā Phil Tumataroa

Eight years ago Libbie Faith was working in the Australian oil and gas industry doing industrial rope access work. “The money was great,” she says, “but morally I felt I wasn’t helping anybody, so I started volunteering with St John and realised I‘d found what I wanted to do.”

Libbie spent four years with St John and completed their Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) programme to become clinically qualified as an ambulance officer. In 2019, she jumped at the chance to join the Taupō rescue helicopter and was able to work while she completed her Bachelor of Health Science degree through AUT distance learning to be a paramedic.

In August, Libbie (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu) landed a job with Westpac Rescue Helicopter based at GCH Aviation in Christchurch; it’s a job she loves and it has focused her sights on the bigger picture of creating better health outcomes for Māori in Aotearoa.

“In the future I want to change it up and do Māori public health. I love my job and I really love flying, and I love helping people on what is sometimes the worst day of their life. A lot of the things that I see on a daily basis could be prevented through better access to healthcare, access to prescriptions, warm living environments, even just having petrol in the car.”

Libbie grew up in Te Kohurau and has returned south after 20 years living in and around Taupō. She says Taupō was starting to feel like home, but she wanted to be closer to her whānau with a sister in town, and her parents and 17-year-old daughter Niamh at boarding school down the road in Timaru.

Throughout Libbie’s schooling learning te reo Māori was important to her, inspired by her native speaking Taua Ngareta (Letty) from Moeraki. “Since primary school I’ve been learning te reo Māori; at high school I was speaking te reo a lot, but then I was away from it for so many years. So for the past eight years I have been taking te reo Māori classes and learning online.”

Libbie has also been learning raraka for the past year and is starting a course at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in the new year. She has also joined a waka ama club since arriving. “It’s different down here, but I’m loving being back in Te Waipounamu.”