At the June meeting of Ponsonby U3A, charged with educating members on the Waipareira Trust, Chief Executive John Tamihere delivered a lively and educative session.
He outlined the sociological changes that gave rise to the Trust, the tikanga that guided its formation, its work to date and the challenges faced by the Trust over time.
Urban drift was swift and brutal. After WW2, the population in New Zealand was 84% rural but by 1972 it was 78% urban. As they moved off the land, many Māori families landed in West Auckland, resulting in a whole bunch of different tribes coming together. Conceived in 1968, the Hoani Waititi Marae was opened in 1980 to unite all iwi in protecting and nurturing Māori values in an urban environment.
In 1982, what would later become Te O Waipareira was established to deliver the Kokiri Programme in West Auckland.
This saw throughout the 1980s resources including development funding, education services and employment programmes begin to move out into the community from the Department of Māori Affairs into the hands of runanga iwi. Focusing on long term solutions for Māori, there was investment in health, welfare, education and justice facilities run by the Trust.
John asserts that one of the chief challenges to Māori development is building a sustainable middle class given the appalling statistics. Roughly speaking, one third of the Māori population is in prison, one third is on welfare and one third earns under $54,000 per year. To address this, Māori voices were developed in broadcasting and in 1992, a multi-tribal Māori Fisheries Settlement was made with Sealord and the government.
In 2014, the National Urban Māori Authority signed the historical Te Pou Matakana, the largest government contract given to Māori, for Māori, by Māori. Te Whānau O Waipareira takes a central role in running it. A building industry was started with a major development site in Waterview and later elsewhere, enabling Māori to get their children into trades.
An agreement was negotiated with Pharmac to support the Trust’s major health campaign by lowering the costs. The Trust was the first to advance a model of healthcare that accommodates diversity by medical services going out to the people. Nurses do triage and follow up and general practitioners do quality assurance. This model has been adopted for indigenous people in North America.
And underpinning these initiatives is the ongoing challenge of education, the eliminator of differences.
Kathy Walker, longstanding Ponsonby U3A member, treated members to a rousing 10-minute talk. Kathy spent a summer working on an idyllic Greek island in the north Aegean Sea. Lesbos is famous for producing the best ouzo of Greece and for being the land of the famous Greek female poet Sappho, who lived in the 7th Century BC and wrote wonderful poems about her lesbian relationships as well as hymns, love songs and poems on various themes.
Kathy tripped us through the varied scenery, petrified forests and salt marshes and the beautiful architecture, dating back in the case of one aqueduct to 3rd Century BC.
Sadly, Lesbos is now an island of contrast. One side is home to writers, poets, politicians and celebrities and the other encamps Syrian refugees whose population has swelled to over 42,000, almost half the population of the whole island. Conflict is rife. Lesbos has gone from paradise to paradise lost.
Ponsonby U3A welcomes newcomers. If you are interested in attending, first as a visitor, please call President Ian Smith on M: 021 130 2330. (CHRISTINE HART)
NEXT MEETING: Friday, 7 July at 9.30am.
GUEST SPEAKER: Médecins sans Frontières
VENUE: Herne Bay Petanque Club, Salisbury Reserve, Salisbury Street, Herne Bay
ENQUIRIES: Ian Smith, President, Ponsonby U3A. M: 021 130 2330, www.u3a.nz
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Published 3 July 2023