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A rūnanga business in Kaikōura is changing lives, the environment and the narrative when it comes to pest control in its takiwā.
“The norm for most organisations that operate in pest control has been about eradication,” says Rawiri Manawatu, the Managing Director of Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura, “but we are changing that narrative to restoration – restoring the balance of nature.
David Brennan has made a life and a living from cultural tourism. Through global financial crises, earthquakes, and now a global pandemic, he has faced them all with tenacity and enthusiasm.
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Keri Whaitiri is reluctant to give the work she does a label, instead she has a collection of words that when combined, help to describe it: public realm design, seeding, facilitating, scoping, building of understanding, developing, interpreting and maintaining design strategies – lining things up! But whatever word or combination of she chooses, the results of her labour are clear to see throughout Christchurch city and further afield.
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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.
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When COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill it required some people to strap up their boots and get busy. Waikura McGregor (Waitaha, Māmoe, Kāti Wheke) was one of those people who, protected by a mask and rubber gloves, was out in the community supporting whānau.
Waikura is a Whānau Ora Navigator with Hei Whakapiki Mauri, an Ōtautahi-based organisation which supports Māori, and their whānau, living in the community with disabilities.
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Ngaropi, the kuia with the moko kauae, would put her walking stick out and touch one of the strands so I knew it was in the wrong place. I’d look at her and I’d shift it and she’d go, ‘kāo, no!’ They would laugh and chatter away, but I didn’t mind at all, because that’s when I really got the feel of harakeke and knew, hey, this is something I want to do.
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Sharon Roberston and her whānau live on 10 acres of lush, rolling Taranaki farmland, 30 minutes drive from New Plymouth.
Horses have been part of her life since childhood. In recent years she has transformed her love of these majestic animals into a business that is helping to change lives.
For Amelia Taylor (Ngāi Tahu) her relationship with Kaikōura Whale Watch is as deep as her love of the sea and the magnificent whales that make their home off the coast of the small township. It was the foresight of Uncle Bill Solomon that led four Kaikōura families to mortgage their homes and finance the fledgling eco-tourism business in 1987. More than 30 years later it is an international success story and the backbone of the local economy.
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When Max’s girlfriend Carley “busted out” her pepeha, it was the perfect motivation the young videographer needed to start learning his language. “It really inspired me that Carley, who isn’t Māori, could stand up and introduce herself in te reo and tell everyone her whakapapa,” says Max Tiweka, who is Ngāi Tahu on his mother’s side and Ngā Rauru on his father’s side. A year-and-a-half ago, Max started work as an intern at Ariki Creative, an Ōtautahi-based Māori creative studio specialising in digital and print media. It’s that career change Max credits as the beginning of his journey to learn about his Ngāi Tahutanga.
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Harlem-Cruz Atarangi Ihaia surprised herself as much as anyone else when she won the title of Miss Universe New Zealand 2017. The young Ngāi Tahu woman happily admits she is most comfortable in her trackies and a hoody, so when she entered the contest she never thought she’d get past the first audition.
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