Back row: Ivan Stick, Alex Gauthier, Phil Judge, Jayson Herewini, Rikki Winiata, Raewyn Winiata and Ken Rangiwananga. Front: Manaia Lomax, Marie Dickinson and Samantha Haverfield.
Back row: Ivan Stick, Alex Gauthier, Phil Judge, Jayson Herewini, Rikki Winiata, Raewyn Winiata and Ken Rangiwananga. Front: Manaia Lomax, Marie Dickinson and Samantha Haverfield.
The Whanganui Plunket Hub was presented with a new “reading nook” on Wednesday, May 1. It was funded by the Ministry of Education and constructed by Men’s Shed Wanganui. It features a beautiful Māori carving that has been hand-crafted and donated by members from the Men’s Shed.
The carvers were: Rikki Winiata, Jayson Herewini and Elijah Herewini.
The completed reading nook at Whanganui Plunket.
Herewini and Winiata gave a representative speech on behalf of Plunket and welcomed the Men’s Shed and Ministry of Education into the workspace.
It was a great turnout, a karakia, and a blessing were held and explained the meaning to those present as it had a lot of significance for the carving.
“Many beautiful kupu [speeches] shared and it’s a great space for tamariki and whanau to have when visiting the Whanganui clinic,” said Eugene Katene
“The day was filled with kupu from the Men’s Shed about the work we do at Whanau Awhina Plunket and the meaning behind the wharenui. The powhiri was shared with our community services team, our clinical team, the ministry of education, the men’s shed and the Katene whanau. Nga mihi nui ki a koe Katene whanau mo to korero mo matou.
“A beautiful karanga was shared from Maramapai Stark as the reading nook was unveiled. The reading nook was carved by the men’s shed in Whanganui with a beautiful meaning behind it that will be shared with our whanau and Tamariki.
The carving illustrates and embraces the Kahanga Reo philosophy of Aroha, manakitanga, and me te whanau. It is the important role of mother, father and child. The carving at the apex signifies the guardian (kaitiaki) sky father, matua kore.
“The wharenui was carved with different patterns, koru and Māori symbols representing the mahi we do at Whanau Awhina Plunket. Ranginui sits front and centre of the wharenui, he is the kaitiaki who protects and watches the tamariki that enter this space.
“The outside of the larger symbols on the wharenui represent the matua, who are the parents, and the smaller koru sitting within represent our tamariki. The symbols that face up towards the sky represent rangunui the sky father and the symbols that face down represent papatuanuku the mother of the earth.
“The ripple intertwined between our matua and tamariki represents the knowledge that our kaimahi/kaiako share with whanau every day in our mahi. This ripple flows through the wharenui to represent the knowledge that flows from the kaimahi to our whanau and tamariki.
“This whare is all about the whanau and community who are connected to Whanau Awhina Plunket and the mahi we provide and the knowledge we share to tautoko them through their parenting journey.
“Nga mihi nui ki a koe Marie Dickinson who organised this beautiful wharenui for the Whanganui clinic, it is a taonga.
“Nga mihi to our kai whakairo – Jayson Herewini, the tauira whakauiro – Elijah Herewini and the kaiwhakamamae – Riki Winiata. Your mahi is greatly appreciated from Whanau Awhina Plunket,” said Katene.
Men’s Shed Wanganui has about 50 members, generally 20 to 25 are on site at any given time, from 9am to 2.30pm Tuesdays and Thursdays. Members of the public are welcome to pop in to have a look.
Whanganui Plunket
Pēpi, tamariki and whānau are at the heart of Whānau Āwhina Plunket. The charity is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest health and wellbeing support service for tamariki – seeing 290,000 under-5s. Over 80 per cent of newborns are enrolled with Whānau Āwhina Plunket each year.
Their nurses provide clinical assessments, and along with Kaiāwhina and Community Karitāne, support whānau and families, through home and clinic visits, as well as Plunket Line 0800 933 922, a free 24/7 telephone advice service for parents. For appointments and enquiries call 0800 184 803.
The website plunket.org.nz is one of the country’s most widely read digital child health resources, with 1.8 million visits each year. It is data-free, which means users don’t need mobile data to access it, and they can choose to view it in English or te reo Māori.
