Whanau regaining self-belief

Tariana Turia Photo/File

Tena koutou katoa, nga mihi o te wa nei ki a tatou katoa.

The most profound change for many whanau since the inception of Whanau Ora has been the restoration of self-belief that they can be in charge of their daily lives without the constant need for the Crown and its agencies to be involved. That restoration has meant that whanau are now realising they can rely on each other - that they have a role and responsibility to support other whanau members when needed and they can be independent and capable of managing their own affairs.

Whanau Ora was driven by the dreams and aspirations of tangata whenua for all our whanau to be self-determining and empowered to hold autonomy over their own decision-making. Building whanau capacity and capability is key to making this happen so that whanau can restore harmony in their lives, address significant social issues, develop the skills and training necessary for employment and therefore economic independence.

Planning for the future is a vital part of Whanau Ora through the development of collectives with other whanau members such as joint saving schemes, communal maara kai, joint funding of support services to whanau, developing whanau housing opportunities and living sustainably.

Unfortunately, we have had a long relationship with agencies of the state and NGO organisations who, with the best intentions in the world, have reshaped our attitudes and resulting behaviours so that we lose trust in what was inherent to us as people. We have lost touch with our capacity to look after ourselves.

The commodification of our food sources has resulted in a loss of the hunter-gatherer history that each family practised to ensure sufficient food was available for the total family and not just individuals.

I recall my Uncle Harry, who used to pick up one member from each household of our whanau in the Whangaehu Valley, and we would take two buckets to Waitarere Beach to gather pipi. When we returned, we shared the kai with all our whanau members.

If whanau members went hunting, there was always a sharing of the bounty. This was in the days before fridges and freezers so kai only lasted a short time unless it was dried, smoked or preserved. Today we freeze everything and, as a consequence of the technology, limit who we share with.

Everyone grew their vegetables and there were massive gardens always developed within the concept of sharing. But government policy has historically denied us the opportunity to build on family land as we were moved into towns and cities to work in places such as factories, railways and the freezing works.

It was there that we discovered the corner dairy for our daily needs and realised that a quarter-acre section wouldn't graze a milking cow. We lost our ability to sustain ourselves.

There is so much for us to restore.

Sometimes it feels as if we have been captivated and captured by the jargon of government departments to such a degree that we forget to place our trust in our own ways of being - the time-honoured practices and values that have served us so well.

With the focus of most government policy on individuals over the decades, it has resulted again in fragmentation of our values and aspirations for ourselves and those of Pasifika nations as well.

Confidentiality has become an individual matter which has again impacted on our collective cultural values and has often prevented family members from being involved in decisions affecting the whole whanau.

At some point we need to learn to accept and respect each other's differences - and government policy must reflect the various cultural competencies we have a right to expect to be included in the way they operate. We must be bold and courageous in defining and restoring our whanau to be the place for amazing transformation to occur - that's Whanau Ora our way.