Marae will keep Flaxmere garden open

Flaxmere councillor Henare O'Keefe says volunteers at Te Aranga Marae are determined to press on after their Community Garden's hose was slashed. Photo / Paul Taylor

Flaxmere councillor Henare O'Keefe says he's determined to continue fighting poverty after Flaxmere's Community Garden was vandalised at the weekend.

Mr O'Keefe said volunteers at Te Aranga Marae arrived yesterday morning to find the vegetable garden's irrigation hose had been slashed in multiple places.

A trolley used to transport the hose had also had its rubber wheels slashed.

The industrial hose was used to transfer water from the pumps to the vegetables, which feed up to 40 struggling families per day.

"It's devastating. I'm not sure what possesses people to do such a thing. There are a group of families that totally depend on the garden and the marae."

The garden was the U-Turn Trust's flagship project, born out of the 2008 "enough is enough" hikoi organised by Mr O'Keefe after a spate of violence in Flaxmere, including a home invasion in which his daughter was threatened and her partner badly beaten.

"Our people said they needed a garden where they could come together, feed each other, nurture the garden and each other."

Mr O'Keefe said volunteers had already sprung into action yesterday to ensure the garden's vegetables were watered.

They were salvaging parts of the hose and transporting water to the plants with buckets.

The garden would remain open to the public despite the attack, which Mr O'Keefe had not reported to police.

He said volunteers at the Community Garden had a duty to keep it functioning.