A unique kapa haka competition is taking place in Kirikiriroa to connect Māori and tauiwi kaimahi in the private and public sector with the healing power of culture.
“Our why was really simple, it was about using kapa haka as a vehicle to give all our kaimahi across the sector greater insights into the benefits of how we use culture to heal,” says Poata Watene, CE of Tuu Ohu Mai Services and member of Te Pūkotahitanga, the independent tangata whenua rōpū advising the Minister for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence.
“It’s about the vibration and the positive influence wairua can have when it’s expressed through waiata, actions, haka spirits and karakia,” he said.
Tuu Oho Mai, a kaupapa service provider started hosting the competition in 2022 with the whole aim that it’s not about just having Māori performing, it’s about any kaimahi in an organisation, whether it’s a state agency, kaupapa Māori, or hapori Māori organisation.
“It was always about taking our culture of kapa haka through kaimahi of all cultures back to the community.”
Te Kōhao Health, Kirikiriroa Family Service Trust, Waikato Women’s Refuge Te Whakaruruhau, Tuu Oho Mai, and Raukura Hauora o Tainui are competing before a crowd of five hundred. Maeroa Intermediate School are also taking to the stage during the lunchbreak.
Kapa haka is being used as a healing tool.
Watene is not wanting to see only Māori performances.
“Because I know for a fact there’s a lot of our tauiwi colleagues and a lot of other ethnicities. There are a lot of Polynesian people across our agencies. So, one of the criteria is that every kapa haka that stands must do a Pacifica item.”
Lady Tureiti Moxon, managing director of Te Kōhao Health, praises any kind of inter-agency interaction as a good thing for teams to meet.
“To get to know each other and our values and do the kinds of things that really strengthen us as Māori,” she said.
“Whether it’s kapa haka, or whether it’s working closer together, it’s all about whanaungatanga and that is the key to building stronger relationships because for many years, we’ve been very siloed.”
Kaumātua Raymond Mihaere has overseen the Te Kōhao Health preparations with kaiako of the rōpū, Chucky Pirika.
“It’s about the involvement and about their commitment to te ao Māori. Kapa haka is, is it’s a nice way of doing it,” Mihaere said.
“Learning through waiata and kapa haka simplifies it. It’s about their connection and we acknowledge Tuu Ohu Mai for the challenge to us at Te Kōhao Health. This is about mātāwaka and the connections under the whakataukī of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero.”
“Kotahi te kohao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, te miro pango, te miro whero.”
Training has been going non-stop for 15 weeks in preparation for the competition. Starting once a week for an hour and ultimately culminating to two full days of practices.
Pirika has a team composed of some novices who have become converts due to having a sense of mana and a sense of belonging to a culture.
“We’ve got a few members that haven’t performed at all in their life. Now they’re so excited. They didn’t want it to end. They’re actually wanting more of it,” said Pirika who taught kapa haka at kura.
“My biggest challenge is just instilling it into them that they’ve got what it takes. From where we’ve come from, to where we are today, it has just blossomed massively.”
