Connected Murihiku Hui

18 Jun

In April around 70 representatives from different community organisations gathered at a hui co-ordinated by Connected Murihiku at the Murihiku Marae in Invercargill.

The day had a focus on networking and connecting while also growing people’s understanding about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Te Ao Maori and to empower people to grow their organisations’ capabilities in honouring Te Tiriti.

Connected Murihiku project lead Becs Amundsen said “the day was incredibly special and informative”.

Beginning with a mihi whakatau, those attending heard about the plans for the day before heading into the wharenui for a talk by Rev Evelyn Cook, who spoke about the history of the Murihiku Marae and the community and rangatahi who were closely involved with the physical building of the wharenui, including carving and paintings.

The group then moved back into the whare kai for a talk by Anjum Nausheen Rahman, a community leader and human rights activist who advocates for the rights of Muslim women in Aotearoa.

Rahman is part of the Inclusive Aotearoa Collective, a project focused on connecting and empowering communities and community-based action across the motu. She spoke about systems change and what that looks like within a community, telling the group about her being part of a collective that created SASS (Systems Change Advocacy Support and Solidarity) who also released a “non-white paper” Voices from the Front Line: Community-Driven Pathways for Systems Change in Aotearoa, which discussed pathways towards necessary system change and creating spaces where people can speak for themselves.

This paper is a gift to everyone who is passionate about creating a more equitable, inclusive, Te Tiriti-based Aotearoa – “whether they work in Systems Change or support it”, she said. It is organised into five key pathways, each with clean, actionable steps and is an invaluable resource for those involved with the community.

A major point was the importance of serving those most in need, she said.

“If we serve them, then everyone else will be served as well,” Rahman said.

After lunch there was a presentation by Pania Coote and Dr Keri Milne-Ihimaera about Te Tiriti o Waitangi. While many attending had some knowledge of Te Tiriti, this presentation was a fascinating breakdown of the complexities and issues around this founding document.

The talk provided context around the different articles within Te Tiriti, and the pair spoke about the disparity in the numbers of signatories throughout the land and the crucial differences in the English and te reo Māori texts.

Essential websites and places to find further information was also shared with the attendees, meaning they could easily continue with their own education after the hui.

People then broke into groups to discuss and present some learning from the day, focussing on new learnings, what organisations are already doing to engage and involve Māori, Te Tiriti-based policies within organisations, what co-governance or partnership would mean for an organisation and what the next Te Tiriti steps would look like.

“People left having made new connections with others in their field but also with the tenets of Te Tiriti,” Amundsen said.