Writer and Māori advocate Tina Ngata talks about the project: It Takes a Kāinga, and explores the alarming mental health disparities faced by Māori mothers in Aotearoa.
How would you describe the It Takes a Kāinga kaupapa?
A reclamation of narratives about hapūtanga and wāhine that re-centres our tapu and that of our babies.
How did you come to be involved in this documentary project?
I was approached by the production team. I don’t think they realised at the time that I’d carried out research in relation to this very topic years ago, and sad to say, nothing has changed from that time to this, but it’s still a topic that is very close to my heart so I was very happy to support it.
What do you hope the kaupapa will achieve and what do you hope people take from watching this documentary?
I hope our young māmā will watch it and they will hear the love and reverence that they are held in by their tipuna. I hope the people around them will hear it, and seek ways to re-establish that love, reverence and support for our young māmā in their hapūtanga. I hope at least one of the takeaways is that we do have solutions that we can engage with to support our māmā hapū, and that these are needed, because the system does not work for them, and there’s nothing wrong with *them* (the māmā), because the system was never meant to work for them in the first place. They’re beautiful, sacred, and deserve support that is relevant, accessible, appropriate, consistent and of a high quality.
What can we all learn from Māori birthing and child rearing practices?
That they didn’t lead to disproportionate maternal suicide.
That Māori birthing and child rearing were viewed within the lens of whakapapa - a web of relationships that ensured continuity, with protocols that reinforced the wellbeing and importance of the māmā and her baby, that the growing of whakapapa was a responsibility tended to by the whole community.
Tina Ngata
A powerful concept referred to in the documentary is “intergenerational healing” - what does this mean to you?
We are often told that our trauma is intergenerational - which is true, but this also means that our gifts for healing trauma are intergenerational, and so we can call upon that intergenerational strength to tend to the intergenerational wounds. So much of what our young parents are judged for is a consequence of a story that is playing out over multiple generations. Similarly - looking after our young māmā and their babies, making sure she is able to still get a good education and has access to good healthcare, is supported in culturally relevant and appropriate ways, and that her support network is also enabled to provide her with good support, is a “circuit breaker” of intergenerational harm, and can facilitate intergenerational healing.
For those māmā who are struggling to identify who their kāinga (village) is, any tips on where they can start?
Traditionally, kāinga are their hapū and marae, but kāinga, as a word, means “that which feeds/nourishes” - so seek the people who nourish you, nourish your identity, nourish your heart, body and mind. That is also a way to identify who your kāinga is.
Finish this sentence: Māmā are superheroes because … they literally save the world, by birthing it anew.
