Rangitāmiro
Partners

“We are in the community and because there are a lot of barriers and hurdles for whānau, we try to make access very easy. We’re online, on the phone, whatever works for whānau, wherever they are, we will come to them. Whānau Ora for me means that our whānau can reach us. We are people who get to know them, who they trust and who they can talk to. We take a lot of time to build that whanaungatanga because we know it’s important to them. They’re not after a quick fix, they want someone to walk with them on their journey, and we can do that. We have the staff, the capability and the capacity to do that.”

“Whānau Ora is a valuable addition to a lot of other things we do here like our Hauora, our cultural renaissance, ahikatanga, our manaakitanga and our mana ora. Although it is one piece, Whānau Ora is an important piece, and we are very glad to be associated with Rangitāmiro and Whānau Ora enabling us to continue to be providers for our whānau.”

“The current climate within the political arena is making it much harder and it’s pushing us backwards. So, between ourselves as partners and Rangitāmiro we are going to have to work hard to make a difference, to stay in the game. Whānau Ora is special, Whānau Ora is specific, and our Whānau Ora navigators are skilled people, and it begins with the lived experience of Māori. And it also sits in the space of our own stories, our own narratives, especially our lived experience in relation to where we have come from.”

“This work, when you see all these different things, it’s cool, it’s amazing but, it’s because our people are in need. I wish we didn’t have to do it. However, I choose to do this and to help people. Success is when we don’t have to do this anymore.

I know that my outspokenness can hurt us, and we don’t get the funding we should because of it. But you must speak up, because there’s no point in having some sort of public profile if you don’t use it. There’s no way I can’t say these things. I’m not trying to be a radical, I’m just saying the things that are happening politically and the things that we are seeing in our communities.

This system is so full of bureau-crap, that’s what I call it, it stops people from helping people. We help no matter what, so many whānau just have their heads above water and we do what we can with what we have. We make it happen and I’m glad we’re here to help our people. Whānau Ora is family and helping one another. That’s what it is, no one is getting left behind. If someone is still going, we go back and we pick them up.”

“We have a lot of different whānau who are looking for a range of different support services. For us whānau Māori is our primary focus because they are the ones who are heavily impacted by negative statistics. So, we enhance our whānau especially from a Whānau Ora perspective, not as a single person-focus. We view hauora as a whānau focus and we position ourselves to engage with high to critical needs whānau in impossible to reach places throughout our community.

We amplify their wellbeing by looking at their situation from a Te Whare Tapa Whā framework and seeing what walls are lacking, and what walls need support, and being able to provide that for them from a tinana, hauora standpoint. We provide mental health services and we run events throughout the year for tamariki, mokopuna, tane and wahine to increase that social aspect for overall positive well being.”

“Our whānau whether they are red, black or white are welcome here at this marae. We have over 52 services here, Whānau Ora 2.0, Rangitāmiro is just one in our approach to support whānau. We are an urban marae, with whānau who have experienced extremes of hardship, of poverty, but we try to take them on a hikoi through unconditional support, manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and rangatiratanga. As a marae we are here to serve our community as best as we can. If we can’t support them with one of our 52 services, we seek it elsewhere with our partners, our funding organisations who support us, our philanthropists who back Papakura Marae. We always find a way to tautoko whānau.”

Finn Strickland has dreamed of being a pilot since he was a tamariki, an aspiration that will soon become his reality with the help of a scholarship from Rangitāmiro Whānau Ora partner, Papakura Marae.

“The first time I experienced that feeling of flying was on my 12th birthday when my nanny got me a flight on one of those little aircrafts and I just loved it. So, I began taking the relevant subjects at school like physics, maths and English. Once I passed those, I started to look seriously at the courses I needed to take to move towards aviation.

Becoming a commercial pilot in Aotearoa requires some challenging prerequisites, including 200 hours of flying experience, a tertiary qualification in aviation and some serious financial assistance. Fortunately for Finn, that’s where Whānau Ora came in.

“There are huge costs involved but the Whānau Ora scholarship covered the shortfall so I could start my studies and my journey to becoming a pilot. This is my third year and so far I have my private license and I’m working towards my commercial license. I have about 20 hours left to fly, and I already have booked it in so I should achieve that within the next few weeks. My goal is to fly around the world as a commercial pilot. Something that became more accessible because of Papakura Marae and Whānau Ora.”

At a time when some rangatahi are making headlines for the wrong reasons, Finn is encouraging his age group to reach out for the right support to start putting their aspirations in motion.

“Nothing is impossible. Before I even started wanting to be a pilot, I thought it was beyond my reach. But finding and receiving that financial help was huge and it happened because I started asking around to see who could support my goals and what I needed to do. Starting there is a good place because eventually you will find someone to help make it possible.”