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Ko ara ake he tūnga hou ki te whānau mahi o Te Arawa Lakes Trust nā reira a Tamihana Hamiora Reweti i hoki mai ki tōna ūkaipō.
Nō te mārama ko hori timata ai ia. Ko te tikanga e whā tau te roa o tana tūranga mahi, mō ngā roto moana o Te Arawa, tūturu ko Tarawera.
He pou hononga taiao te taitara o tana tūnga. Engari hai tāna ko te tino mana nui o tana mahi ko te kōutuutu i ōna ringaringa ki ngā wai māori o Tarawera.
He uri a Tamihana nō Tūhourangi – Ngāti Wāhiao, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Ranginui me Ngāti Pōrou. Nō Te Whakarewarewa, nō Ngapuna te whānau a Hamiora.
E toru tekau mā toru tōna rahi. I whānau a Hamiora i Rotorua he ahakoa i pakeketia i Pōneke. Kai ngā rā e taea ai e tana whānau ki te hoki mai ki Rotorua, ka hoki mai rātau kia mahana ai tō rātau pā harakeke. Kua wha tau ia e noho nei ki Rotorua he kanohi kitea hoki ki te pā taunaha o Te Whakarewarewa.
He mātanga haka ia nā reira e pūare ana tana ngākau ko ngā niko o tā tātau reo taketake.
Tokorua ngā tangata o tana tīma. Ko Harina Rupapera, raua ko Clare Bear.
Koia ko ēnei ngā pou tiaki taiao. Taka iho te pūtea tautoko i te Kawanatanga. No te wāhanga o te tiaki taiao. Ka ora tēnei kaupapa i a rātau mō te rua o ngā tau. Engari ka whakapau kaha hoki tēnei tīma mahi ki te hao pūtea e maunu ai tēnei kaupapa mō ngā tau haere ake nei. He tauhou a Tamihana ki tēnei tūmomo mahi, nō reira kai te ara ia e tārai ana i tana tao.
‘Kāore au e huna i te kōrero. Ko te tūtakitaki me te noho tahi ki te iwi he āhuatanga hou ki ahau. I puta au i te ao o te whenua Māori ko tāku he whakahaere kaupapa. E toru tau te roa o taku noho ki reira’.
' He mōhio nōku ko taku taha aroha nō Tūhourangi. Kua tae au ki tēnei taumata o taku oranga, ā, e tika ana ki a tahuri ahau ki te tiaki i tō tātau ao. Nō te mea he Tūhourangi taku whakapapa, e tau ana taku wairua i taku whiwhinga ki tēnei mahi ki te manaaki i ngā wai o Tarawera’.
Ehara i a Tūhourangi anahe ki tēnei takiwā. Ko Ngāti Tarawhai me Ngāti Rangitihi hoki e whai take ana ki tēnei kaupapa. ‘Ka nui te īnoi atu ki ēnei hapū me ngā hoa mahi o TALT ki a tahuri mai rātau ki te āta poipoi me te āta tohutohu i a māua, otīā kia whāngaia māua ki te ruaki o tēnei takiwā.
Ko te pae tawhiti e ai ki a Tamihana, kai te kaha manaakingia ngā iwi, me ngā hapū, kai te momona rātau i ngā tini rauemi hai whakapakari i te mana e hoki mai ai ngā tini whānaunga ki te tiaki i ngā wai māori o tua whenua.
I hua ake tēnei kaupapa i ngā tau ko hori. He āmaimai nō te iwi me te hāpori hoki i te kore aronga tika o ngā mātanga tiaki taiao ki te mauri ora o Tarawera.Kāhore he pūtea hai kawe i ngā kaupapa mahi ki tēnei takiwā. Kai te hui tahi te tīma mahi nei me te hunga rangatahi.
‘Ko tētehi wāhanga o tā mātau mahi he rapu pūtea hai whakakaha i ā mātau rauemi, ā, me te whakapakari i te mana o te whānau. Ara, ko te whakaara tūnga mahi mā te whānau. He wāhanga hoki e puare ai te kūwaha kōrero ki ngā iwi, ki ngā hapū, ki ngā taratī Māori me ngā rōpū o te hāpori ki a tukuna mai e rātau ā rātau kaupapa me ngā moemoeā.
‘Ko tetehi anō whāinga ko te whakahaere kaupapa e kitakita ai te mauriora o Tarawera’. Engari te mātotoru hoki o te kaupapa. Ka rere mai ngā wai o Ōkāreka o Okataina, o Rotokakahi, o Rotomahana me Tikitapu ki te oko o Tarawera nō reira kāpiua katoatia ngā tini āhuatanga katoa ki te wāhi kotahi. Ko tā mātau he tātari i te wai ehu, he tiaki i te wai ora, he manaaki i te mana o Tarawera.
—Na Raimona Inia i whakamaori
Tamihana Hamiora Reweti has come home and grabbed the chance to work for his iwi and give back to the community.
He is a member of a new Te Arawa Lakes Trust team which started work last month in a four-year project conducting research on the Rotorua Te Arawa lakes, but more particularly Lake Tarawera.
His official title is Pou Hononga Taiao (Community Connector) but the real fish hook is Tarawera. Tamihana is an uri of Tūhourangi, Ngāti Wāhiao Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Ranginui, and Ngāti Porou.
His Hamiora family are from Whakarewarewa (Whaka) and Ngapuna.
Tamihana, 33, was born in Rotorua and raised in Wellington and his whānau returned to Whaka to keep the connections alive.
He has been back in Rotorua for the past four years and makes a conscious effort to be involved at Whaka as much as possible.
One of his passions is kapa haka where he is exposed to the beauties of Te Reo.
The Tarawera Impacts Collective comprises Tamihana, Harina Rupapera & Clare Bear. It has funding from the Ministry for the Environment for two years, but the project is hoping to secure more funding to continue as this is such a large project.
Working in the Taiao is a whole new ball game for Tamihana who is learning on the job. He has experience in customer service and public service.
“This sort of iwi and community engagement is new to me. I’ve worked in the whenua māori space land administration space for the past three years.”
When the job came up, he seized the opportunity to give back to his community.
“I think my passion for wanting to give back to my iwi [is part of] being a descendant of Tūhourangi, Tarawera is extremely important to us so if I can positively impact that in anyway I’ll do that.”
Iwi partners in the projects are Tūhourangi, Ngāti Tarāwhai and Ngāti Rangitihi.
“We’re hoping our iwi partners and with help from our Talt Taiao team can help provide support from a Te Ao Māori and historical standpoint.”
For Tamihana the future goal would be that iwi and community groups feel supported and have the resources to build capability for their own whanau to come back and look after our Lakes.
The collective came about because communities and iwi felt as if Tarawera itself wasn’t getting enough attention. There was no funding at the time to do mahi and work around the lake catchment as a whole.
The team is currently in the phase of engagement reaching out to various groups including Rangatahi.
“Part of our team’s mahi is to seek funding for training, resourcing and building capability for our whānau.
“This would be to provide opportunities through engagement for iwi, hapū, Māori land trusts and community groups to share what they are doing and/or wanting to do.
“Another goal is to facilitate opportunities to be connected and working collectively for the health and wellbeing of the Tarawera Lakes System.”
That system is extensive. Lakes Ōkāreka, Ōkataina, Rotokākahi, Rotomahana and Tikitapu all drain into Lake Tarawera, either via surface water or groundwater flows. Lake Ōkaro and Lake Rerewhakaaitu drain first to Lake Rotomahana, then to Lake Tarawera.
I encourage any whānau who would like to be updated about the project, future wānanga and events.
- Contact Tamihana via email at Tamihana@tearawa.iwi.nz
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