Ana Apatu: Like a tree, we all weather storms

Ana Apatu.

As I drive up to the marae, I sense something is wrong.

Gary, our head gardener, is seated with his head in his hands. Pam, beside him, looks worried and is on the phone. I'm greeted with "there has been vandalism in the garden".

Someone has slashed our irrigation tyres and hose in several places. The next day, we discover the natives appear to have been "booted in" about 100 of the more established trees from the 2000 planted to create shelter at the back of the garden. Unfortunately, it's not the first time.

The cliche, two steps forward and one step back. When our collective disappointment and frustration abates, we all agree that this is a symptom of a small section of our community. School holidays? Perhaps bored young people with nothing better to do. Better these individuals take it out on our garden than on each other.

The community's response has been incredibly humbling and I'm constantly reminded about how caring our community is. People are outraged and, to those of you who kindly donated money to replace the damaged irrigation equipment, thank you.

Today, we will take tunu tunu to the area where we believe the trouble is coming from. The garden is one of our flagship programmes.

People have provided so much support to this garden. It is a compulsory stop for all visitors to the marae. I have been introduced to so many interesting people associated with the garden. One of these individuals is Robert (Pa) McGowan.

This week, we had a visit from Pa McGowan who dropped off dahlia bulbs for use as flowers on the marae tables. We walked out to the garden to inspect the recent damage. After close inspection of all damaged trees, his reassuring words were: "They'll come back Ana."

Pa McGowan (Pakeha and fluent in te reo Maori) is the amo aratu for Nga Whenua Rahui, which is a contestable ministerial fund established in 1991 to provide funding for the protection of indigenous ecosystems on Maori land.

His role primarily involves providing support to Maori land owners in restoration projects.

This support extends to other aspects of the NWR's work such as the establishment and management of kawenata (covenants). Pa is particularly known for his knowledge of rongoa Maori (traditional Maori medicine).

He believes it is not just the consumption of the rongoa plant itself that is healing but our interaction with planting rongoa and the soil that is just as healing.

The physical act of going to the ngahere, the bush, to collect rongoa has a much wider significance than the medicinal properties particular rongoa may contain.

He, of course, is a big supporter of our community garden and provides advice with regards to planting and the maintenance of our natives. This includes advice to Hastings District Council with maintenance of flax with the local Paharakeke project.

Pa McGowan's original vocation was a Catholic minister where he served in the Paki Paki parish. Later, he moved to Te Puke where he established a large parish; however, he became disillusioned with the Catholic Church and went on to further his passion with nature and growing.

He lived on the Whanganui River where he was handed traditional knowledge of growing natives and rongoa from local kuia. He is also a continuing education officer for the University of Waikato and worked for the Department of Conservation.

My friend, Marama Laurenson, insightfully describes Pa as the Pied Piper.

When in his company, we all trail after him taking in his extensive knowledge regarding caring for natives and rongoa.

He radiates a special quality that makes you want to stand close to him to listen to what he has to say. He is a very special man.

And finally, next week I will start writing a series on housing.

The damage and chaos created by poor housing standards inflicted on our families in Flaxmere will make us reflect on who the vandals really are in this community.

• Ana Apatu is chief executive of the U-Turn Trust, based at Te Aranga Marae in Flaxmere