TE KARAKA

Reviving an ancient scent

In Ngāi Tahu traditions, taramea is renowned for its exquisite fragrance, a highly prized perfume that was once presented as a prestigious gift, or traded for food, ornaments, tools and such precious resources as pounamu. Historical references record hinu taramea as a key ingredient in the manufacture of “the grand Māori perfume”, yet in its natural alpine environment on the eastern flanks of Kā Tiritiri-o-te-Moana (the Southern Alps), few people get close enough to have a sniff.

Expanding Whānau Horizons

Since 2019, a series of school holiday wānanga held in Ōtautahi has been supporting a group of rangatahi Māori as they prepare to transition from education to the workforce. Designed for the great-great-mokopuna of Eruera and Amiria Stirling, the wānanga bring together an increasingly disconnected generation of rangatahi. Programme leader Amiria Coe hopes that by removing barriers and creating enablers to success, the wānanga will turn the tide on four generations of missed opportunities.

Nutrient Rich Super Food

Pharmacist Brendon McIntosh has always believed wellness of the body and the environment are interconnected; that the future of medicine will be all about sustaining the tinana while simultaneously protecting the whenua. “My why, my purpose is stemming I guess from being a Māori pharmacist for the last six years.”

Te Ao o te Māori

Some nights Johnny Chambers would venture outside at Robinsons Bay, on Banks Peninsula, to gaze at the night sky and ask the universe what it had in store for him and his whānau; wife Gill and their three young sons. Johnny (Ngāi Tahu) returned to Christchurch in September 2018 after six years in Brisbane. “We’d had enough – something was calling us home,” says Johnny, who spent 27 years working as a glazier.

Gill and the boys came back first; Johnny followed about 18 months later after finishing a major building project. There were no set plans, but they both knew it was time for something different.

Hei Mahi Māra
Te Kaha o ngā Hua Raumati – The Power of Summer Fruits

The good thing about summer is that we can look forward to berry fruits which provide a great vitamin C boost along with many other minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients crucial for our health. These include strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries and boysenberries. Most important right now is vitamin D and the best part is that at this time of year our bodies make it free when we are out in the sun. There is no better way to get a good dose than working in the māra (or at the beach)!

Reviews

A Long Time Coming is an important and judicious book. As the full title indicates, it covers the period, processes and personalities involved between the Waitangi Tribunal releasing the Ngāi Tahu Land Report in 1991 and Parliament passing the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement 1998.

In retrospect, because we know a settlement package was negotiated and given effect to, and we know Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu was established as part of this, these events appear inevitable, perhaps even orderly. In eleven short chapters, historian Martin Fisher shows that to be anything but true. Instead, as he notes at p.129, “it was a minor miracle that an agreement was signed when it was.”

Aukaha
Te Waipounamu Landscapes

Mihiata Ramsden (Ngāi Tahu, Rangitāne), proud māmā to George Moki Tānemahuta and Nina Ihiroa Rākaitekura, and photographic artist with a passion for capturing and sharing stories. Creating memories is one of the most important things that anyone can do and memories are the only things that we can take with us, which is why photography is so important to me. It’s pretty much a physical memory.

He Tangata
Dr Hana Royal

Dr Hana Royal spent much of her childhood growing up in Tuahiwi before heading to university in Auckland where she studied medicine. After graduating she worked for a time in Auckland hospitals as a surgical registrar before deciding to become a general practitioner.

Ngā Hau e Whā
From the Editor

As we go to print, the world continues to reel from the incomprehensible impacts of COVID-19, which as we have seen is not selective. Therefore, unsurprisingly much of the content in this issue of TE KARAKA has a COVID focus. Life in the USA – A Grim Reality (page 36) is a poignant piece written by Ngāi Tahu wahine Ila Couch who is currently in lockdown in America. Her honest and sobering account is yet another reminder of how fortunate we are to be living in Aotearoa at this time. Closer to home our cover story, Against the COVID tide, offers a positive story of restaurant owner Sahni Bennett, who is rising above the challenges presented by lockdown to keep the doors of her successful Lyttelton café open.

From the CEO
Lockdown Learnings

You would be silly to think that working from home over the past three months has slowed productivity to a snail’s pace – from my experience it certainly isn’t the case. Adjusting to staying within your home environment 24/7 was something we all had thrust on us at short notice. Whether on your own or in a house full of whānau, we had to find ways to cope within our confined space. There were many things I noticed during lockdown – from the empty sound of silence at night due to no planes across the usual flight path, to no early morning traffic noise in the distance on the motorway. I also started to notice the beautiful birdsong outside my window, and after checking out all the sounds on Mrs Google, I’m sure I heard the korimako (bellbird).