Maori health dream nurtured to fruition

Poina Clayton, left, remembers when rongoa Maori was a practice kept hidden from mainstream health authorities.
The Whangarei woman now runs a traditional Maori healing clinic at Whangarei Treatment Providers and she is uniquely qualified for the role.
Last year she attained a Diploma in Heke Matauranga Rongoa but traditional Maori healing has always been a part of her life.
"I was brought up by a whanau who were all practitioners of rongoa Maori," Ms Clayton said.
A descendant of the Te Arawa tribe, she says her family home in Rotorua is a place where the ancient art thrived, albeit in secret.
"We had loads of people coming to our home for healing - that's how I know my life to be," she said.
In those days, rongoa Maori was practised in secret to avoid detection from mainstream health authorities.
"It was very secretive because of the Ministry of Health regulations and the Tohunga Suppression Act did a lot of damage."
The Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 imposed penalties on tohunga, experts in Maori medicine and Maori spirituality. The Act was finally repealed 1962.
"We just kept it quiet. People that came got well and talked to other people," she said.
The family's home was open to anyone and in time became a tourist attraction.
"We had Japanese, Germans, we had everybody down because the (tourist bus-drivers) were Maori and they would stop at our house. It was a pretty full-on life."
One of 13 children, she was often sent out with her brothers and sisters to fetch natural remedies from nearby bush.
"It was just like going to pick blackberries. It was one big camping trip," she said.
She would spend days in the bush gathering native flora.
Ms Clayton describes Maori healing as holistic - looking at a person's physical health, mental health, spiritual health and whanau.
Attitudes have changed and rongoa Maori no longer needs to be practised in secret.
The Ringa Wai Ora Clinic, run by Ms Clayton, opened last month.
It was a dream come true for her.
"I always dreamed of being in the open, being under the same roof as other alternative healers. It's been my dream since I was 13 years old," she said.
"I'm free to come out in the open and do whatever I want to do."
She offers karakia (prayer), wairuatanga (spiritual healing), rongoa rakau (Maori medicine), mirimiri (massage), panipani, (natural ointments), korero (counselling) and family wellness services.