Kaitiakitanga

Kaitiakitanga Program and Network
Te Whaiti Nui-a-Toi children
guard and share Whirinaki,
their culture, language and values

1.1.1. Raglan Field Trip:
Enterprises for Sustainability of Environment & Community

Description:

Te Mauri Tau - setting up a new enterprise

We visited the Whaingaroa Environment Group in Raglan to learn about some of the Kaitiakitanga projects in their community. Rusty helped organise the trip and eighteen of us went to Raglan, including some parents and friends. It was a hot Friday and Saturday in January and we didn't really know what to expect. When we arrived we were welcomed to the area by the Te Mauri Tau and some members of the Whaingaroa Environment Group including Mary and Liz. We had a powhiri welcome from Kataraina Wirangi Mataira and Maioha Kelly, followed by a delicious organic kai. Te Mauri Tau have just got this area for their marae and they have formed a cooperative, are already keeping chickens, and starting to grow their own food. Ati Tepa showed us amazing videos they produced to record stories and for EnviroSchools. Kataraina used to be a teacher and she believes you need to nourish your spirit and your body as well as the land and the people around you. Tipu Ake.

X-treme Waste Centre - Recycling Whaingaroa

We had a talk at the X-treme Waste Recycling Centre from Rick who told us how they had started with a small shed. They realised their landfill was full up and didn't want to burden another community with their waste. It took a great deal of courage to keep going. They now recycle 70% of what would have been landfill, and recover rubbish worth about $100,000 every year which would otherwise have been buried. They are now a profitable business and everyone in Raglan has a great respect for them. They keep the community thinking about the waste they create and have a column in the local paper. Rick told us that plastics are graded and most things have numbers on but that only numbers 1,2, and 5 can be recycled at the moment. X-treme Waste action now keeps about 23 people busy. Some of us had a go on the video camera and we interviewed the site manager PJ Harworth while others looked around the shop and picked up some great bargains.

Raglan Beach - surfing fun

We got pretty hot nosing around the tonnes of cardboard and plastic so we when we got the next stop, the beach, we didn't waste any time jumping right into the waves!

It was a small hike to our lodge for the night which was at the foothills of the Karioi mountain. They had a confidence rope course and a flying fox which was very fast...

Raglan Community Centre

The next day we had a big breakfast of bacon and eggs and we made sure the plates and foil went back to the cafe for recycling. Some of us visited the Raglan Community Centre.

Raglan HarbourCare - River restoration for a clean water harbour

We visited Boyd at Harbourcare. Here they are planting native bush along the waterways to help keep the soil in place and to keep the animals away. The plants also act as a filter for runoff from the land. Boyd showed us around the nursery where they grow natives from seed and keep them safe from pests (like insects and people). He also told us about some of the uses of plants and gave us his views on making the land well again. He really made us think differently about a lot of things.

Kaiwhanua Organics Trust - Growing Organic food for local businesses

We visited the Kaiwaka Riki and Lynette Lovini at the Kaiwhenua Organics Trust. Kai told us how while on the dole they had started growing vegetables on a small patch of land and now they supply the local shops who buy everything they can produce. They do not use chemicals on their land and they experimented and listened to nature for the best ways to grow things. It must work because we all thought the strawberries were deliciously sweet! They are very worried about proposals to drop 1080 poison to kill possums on their Maunga Karioi, as the water running down from it is used in their garden so will effect their organic status. We asked Uncle Malibu (a lifetime surfie) what Kaitiakitanga meant. He said it is a rich concept that governments can never define at an official level and that it was not just about the land but also embraces people - He told us that it was something that must start first within ourselves.

Dune Care Raglan - Protecting our land and sand dunes from erosion

We were very lucky also to be greeted by Hinemoa Rossi of the mana whenua involved in Dune care. Hinemoa is the niece of Eva Rickard. Eva was a strong campaigner for the reclaimation of local Maori land. It was very controversial at the time but she succeeded in getting the land back. Now Hinemoa and others work hard to protect the dunes which are under threat from soil erosion. She gave us a tour around and showed us some of the community activities near her house. She also told us a bit about her life in London as an investment banker and she told us about leasing land. It was interesting to hear that she felt gaining trust was an important part of Kaitiakitanga - in a world where everyone is "out for themselves", people have a lot of trouble believing that anyone can be doing things for the future interests of all and our world.

Thank you!

After a full two days we were pretty worn out, but we know we learnt alot and had a fantastic time. We are very grateful to Liz and Rusti for orgnanising the trip for us and getting us to meet so many different people. A big thank you to those dedicated people in Raglan, all so passionate about what they are doing, and to everyone who helped make our trip possible.

Watch this space for the Kaitiakitanga field trip video we will soon have available. Our thanks to the volunteer media crew including Maraea Davies (Southern Cross Film and Television School), Surav Purkayastha and Teresa Liu (AUT Multimedia Studies) and Madeleine Mauwer (visitor from AccountAbilty, UK) who shared so much with our Te Whaiti Children.

Outcomes expected:

We (students, parents, local community, and wider community) will:
See successful projects in Raglan and think about what we can apply to our own area.
See first hand how others have gone from an innovative idea to making it work in practice
Deepen and share concepts of Kaitiakitanga
Broaden our communications skills through meeting new people, asking questions, and conducting interviews
Learn some multimedia skills through taking digital photos, handling camera and sound equipment.
Have a video record of this field trip to share with others wanting to become kaitiaki.(guardians)
Have fun in a different environment

Start Date: 16-17 January 2004
Expected Completion: January 2004

Budget:

Nominal Project Leader: Rusti Rangi

Project Team:

Issues Register:

Progress Log

NOTICES AND ACHIEVEMENTS:

Our gift to you - download our Free Whirinaki Wall Calendar

What Andree a sustainability writer discovered about Kaitiakitanga
Check out our school's Energy Monitoring / Weatherstation project
WEMZ - The Whirinaki Ecological Restoration Zone - a project with DOC
Building our new visitor information kiosk on the main road
Take a photo tour through our valley see restoration work needed
Pending - our Whirinaki Centre, Nursary and Recycling Projects
Celebrate what our friends at Hokianga Harbourcare are doing
Our Network's Mycorestoration Research Project - Fungi and mushroom
Thanks MfE for a big toxin cleanup on our millsites - July 07
Thanks TPK for facilitating Govt support for Minginui initiatives
Our Community Digital Strategy pending - Whirinaki Interactive - Dec 06
Our Lopez friends help Raglan initiate an affordable housing program
Prince Andrew adopts our Kiwi, Princess Beatrice on Mokoia Is Mar 07
Our Project to upgrade our water supply in Minginui Mar 07
Our network on the Kiwi Youth Voice learning journey to US. Mar 07
Our network at Youth Voice Digital Earth Summit on Sustainbility Aug 06
We welcomed Hunter Lovins 7-9 July 06, VIDEO view NZ tour resources
Thanks Waikato University for help with broadband 05
Thanks Housing Corp, house painting and marae restoration teams
Go Tramping in Whirinaki. See Kaka, Kiwi, Weka, Robin, Blueduck
Report Living Organisation workshops. Tipu Ake presented worldwide 05
Report Hikoi to Indigenous Knowledges Conf , Well, NZ. June 05
Thanks to UNITEC Architecture Students for help with town plans 04
Report on Sustainable Resources Conf, Colorado 04
Report on PMI Global Forum, Los Angeles Tipu Ake paper 04
Report on Sharing Indigenous Wisdom Conf, Wisconsin, June 04
Int and local visitors attend Tipu Ake Retreat March 04 See report
MPs Horomia and Mallard open our new merged area school Jan 04
Trip to Whaingaroa Env Gp Raglan, Jan04 learnings, VIDEO view