Te Aroha Kanarahi Trust Report to Funders AMC Trust, MSD, Eastern & Central Community Trust, Trust Tairawhiti, Todd Foundation, Spitfire, Gizzy Kai Rescue, JR McKenzie Trust, Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou, Ngati Porou Hauora, 7th Generation Fund Ani Pahuru-Huriwai Te Aroha Kanarahi Trust 141 Onepoto Road Wharekahika (Hicks Bay) 4054 Email: [email protected] Ph. 021885602 August 2020 1 Horahia e Matariki ki te whenua Te maramatanga mo te motu e Kia tipu he puawai honore Mo te pani mo te rawakore e Shine thy glowing light of Matariki Onto Mother Earth As a guiding light for this land Nurture the bloom that it may blossom An honoured benefit for those in poverty and need Matariki in 2020, heralds for us at Te Aroha Kanarahi Trust, a new year full of promise. It signals that we survived the “unprecedented times” of COVID19, and offers hope that we will not have to go back into Lockdown. It is with extreme gratitude that we present to you, those funding groups and agencies who supported us in our most desperate of times, this report, encapsulating the mahi that was carried out during Lockdown. All of you, were critical cogs in the wheel, that needed to keep turning at what was a very stressful time. We wanted to present one combined report to all of you, rather than one per group, so you can appreciate the many different groups that contributed to our effort in Matakaoa. We especially want to acknowledge our Treaty Partners in the philanthropic space, who came to our immediate assistance from Week 1 – we cannot thank you enough. We also include in this report a “Where to from here?” for us. E kore e mutu nga mihi ki a kotou te hunga whairawa, e aroha ana, e manaaki mai i nga hapori o Wharekahika/Potaka/Waikura, hau atu ki Te Araroa, arā matau o te rohe o Matakaoa i te wa o te mate urutā. 2 Table of Contents Te Whāinga Nui: Goal .............................................................................................................................. 3 PRE-LOCKDOWN ........................................................................................................................................ 4 DIY Hand Sanitizer, Soap & Emergency Kit WorKshops with Tairawhiti REAP .................. 4 DIY PPE Gear ............................................................................................................................................... 5 DURING LOCKDOWN ................................................................................................................................. 5 Te WhaKatū Rahui: Roadside ChecKpoints ....................................................................................... 5 Kai/Care PacKs ........................................................................................................................................... 7 But Wait….There’s More… ...................................................................................................................... 9 Wood Delivery ............................................................................................................................................ 9 COVID19 Mobile Testing Station with Turanga Health ............................................................. 10 Emergency Kits sponsored by Trust Tairawhiti ........................................................................... 11 Whanau Day & Koha for Volunteers ................................................................................................. 11 SINCE LOCKDOWN ................................................................................................................................... 12 Maori Warden Training ........................................................................................................................ 13 Te WhataKai a Hinemaurea: Food Sovereignty Plan .................................................................. 14 HEI WHAKAKAPI: CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 14 APPENDIX I: Te Aroha Kanarahi Trust - COVID 19 Income & Expenditure ........................ 16 3 Te Whāinga Nui: Goal “Keep Matakaoa COVID19 free; Keep our Whakapapa safe” Our communities in the northern part of the East Coast, tribal territory of Ngati Porou, are some of the most isolated in the country. Our people still remember the impact the last influenza epidemic in 1918 had on our population – it was decimated. That time is commemorated in the names of some of the descendants of those who died – Matekino, Materoa, Te Mamaeroa to name a few. For those unfamiliar with the East Cape, we are 180km from the nearest “city”, Gisborne. Our main route is State Highway 35, the stability of which is questionable, and undermined with each passing weather bomb. We do not have a permanent GP, relying on locums and our terribly under-resourced health care provider Ngati Porou Hauora. Our lifelines literally are the St Johns ambulance & the Eastland Rescue Helicopter. Our communities are predominantly Maori, with very few whanau who are not affected by respiratory ailments, heart disease, diabetes etc, making our communities highly vulnerable and at major risk to COVID19. So, when news of the virus spread, as we watched major cities of the world come to a complete standstill and saw fatality statistics rising each day, the anxiety for our communities heightened as the prospect of COVID19 coming into our piece of Paradise became a reality. As Kaitiaki of our place and space, we had no choice but to defend – by whatever means possible, our whakapapa: • DIY Hand Sanitizer & Soap Workshops with Tairawhiti REAP • DIY PPE Gear 4 • Te Whakatū Rahui: Roadside Checkpoints • Kai/Care packs • Emergency Kits to Whanau from Trust Tairawhiti • Mobile COVID19 testing stations with Turanga Health It was 6-8 weeks of defence against an invisible enemy – COVID19. Our kaimahi giving selflessly to be soldiers on the frontline – away from their own families, putting themselves at risk every day. Because of their dedication, commitment and love for their whanau/hapu/communities we kept the virus out of our Paradise. And thanks to generous support from you, our funding friends, we were able to provide a great Whanau Day for everyone, and give each of our 89 volunteers a koha of grocery/fuel/gift cards. PRE-LOCKDOWN DIY Hand Sanitizer, Soap & Emergency Kit Workshops with Tairawhiti REAP “Wash your hands, sanitize, sneeze/cough into your elbow” – familiar words that has become part of our new “normal”. What do you do when the whole country runs out of hand sanitizer? We learn to make our own and teach others to do the same. Through Tairawhiti REAP’s Adult Community Education DIY Hand sanitizer with rongoā base funding, several well attended workshops were run over 3 days, from Wharekahika to Ruatoria – using a rongoā base for the hand sanitizer and soap. Our tutor, Tina Ngata, also showed the whanau what they ought to have in an emergency kit. The programme gained media attention, with an article running on Maori Television, and soon we were receiving dozens of queries nationally and internationally for the recipe. This lead to a quick video being posted and shared through social media. Key Hand Sanitizer ingredient Making Soap DIY Emergency Kit 5 DIY PPE Gear Like the rest of the country, accessing PPE gear became impossible as the demand for it grew. Not to be deterred, our rangatahi got involved, posting up instructions on how to make your own face masks out of paper towels, rubber bands & staples. Tairawhiti REAP staff, SuperGrans and others in the community also got busy making masks for our frontline workers. Your funding support helped to keep our frontline workers safe, enabling us to purchase PPE Gear AND materials to make our own. Thank you. DURING LOCKDOWN Te Whakatū Rahui: Roadside Checkpoints Our decision as the hapu and community of Wharekahika to initiate Roadside Checkpoints in Ngati Porou, following the example of our Te Whanau-a- Apanui cousins and neighbours, was an obvious and immediate action we could take. This was initially not supported at all by our iwi – quite the opposite, and that was an additional stress our hapu did not need at a critical time. So we forged ahead, engaging NZ Police, NZTA, and GDC, keeping them informed with our Traffic Management Plans, ensuring we had qualified personnel onsite with the health and safety of our people being uppermost in our minds. Tina Ngata on Wharekahika Checkpoint 6 “Education, education, education” – the Checkpoints were key to informing our Whanau every day about the virus, with critical messages to encourage them to stay home within the safety of their bubbles – “Is your travel essential?” “Make a list and go once per week”, “send one person to do the shopping for several households,” “The virus travels when we travel.” The engagement with Police happened every day, and Police call into see how we're doing several times daily, with Tina Ngata managing the media furore, and the relationships with Police and Ministers on our behalf.Our neighbouring communities – Te Araroa, Ruatoria, Tikitiki and Uawa – quickly came on board with their own Checkpoints – some ran 24 hours, others during daylight hours only – we shared with them the resources we had in the form of templates; road safety equipment was kindly loaned to us by the Maori Wardens, and local roading contractors, TWC and Harrison’s Bulk Haulage Ltd; and we ran a highly effective and active Checkpoint chatgroup which kept everyone well-informed of traffic movement