Kaitiakitanga

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

3.2.2b Hikoi to Indigenous Knowledges Conference, Wellington June 05

Description:

Our community was invited to present a paper on Tipu Ake ki te Ora at the Indigenous Knowledges Conference run at Victoria University in Wellington on 22-25 June 2005. The theme of the conference was Reconciling Academic Priorities with Indigenous Realities. In June 2004 we had a group of three from our community make a similar presentation at the Sharing Indigenous Wisdom conference in Wisconsin. USA.

Our Iwi, Ngati Whare was honoured to be able to host on Murumurunga Marae indigenous visitors from all around the world on a pre-conference hikoi from Auckland to Wellington . We were pleased to welcome them to Aotearoa and allow them to recover gently from their long travels and get to know each other before the conference. Their bus left Auckland early on Sunday 19th June to arrive for the welcome in Te Whaiti at around 3.30pm. They spent a full day relaxing with us on Monday 20th before departing for Wellington early on Tuesday 21st. We enjoyed taking them to our our Whirinaki Rain Forest and visiting some of our special places . This was a special time of connecting learning and sharing experiences that will help us all share our knowledge and grow rich and sustainable community futures in balance with our world (Kaitiakitanga).

We thank Joanna Kidman and the conference team for helping make this possible, and in particular Moka Apiti, Pene Southon and the others who accompanied our manuhiri on the bus from Auckland.

We were sorry that a group of around 10 Rangitahi (young people) from Bream Bay in Northland, who are part of the "Though Our Eyes" project were not able to join us.

We enjoyed having friends from our wider Kaitiakitanga network in Hokianga attend. Unfortunately the others from Raglan who last year attended and presented at the Sustainable Resources conference in Colorado were unable to make it. It was good to welcome back Rau Hoskins and Carin Wilson from UNITEC who brought their architectural students down to help us with plans for our village last year.

It was a privilege for four people from our community to travel with the group to Wellington and participate in the conference. We had hoped that we could also catch up with the ECO Annual Conference "Mountains to the Deep Sea" which was also on in Wellington on 24-26 June at the Tapu te Ranga Marae in Island Bay, Wellington, where Bruce Stewart and Whanau are doing some special things for the environment, but that was not possible.

Watch this space for a report from our delegates......

For those who were not able to join the hikoi (or our overseas visitors wanting more information to show their family and friends at home), our websites show more about our place. Here you can see our children on a tramping trip in the Forest and our people working on Kaka and Kiwi endangered species recovery programmes in Whirinaki.

Outcomes expected:

Networking sharing and learning from others.
International understanding and sharing of indigenous issues and experiences.
More awareness of the relevance of kaitiakitanga and other indigenous protocols for protecting our future.

Budget:

Koha was found by the conference organisers to cover the local direct cost of food and transport from conference thanks

Nominal Project Leader:

Joanna Kidman from Victoria University in Wellington was the Conference Manager and arranged the hikoi.

Project Team:

The Te Whaiti Nui-a-Toi community made all arrangements for the hosting the Te Whaiti stay.

Issues Register:

Progress Log

NOTICES AND ACHIEVEMENTS:

Our gift to you - download our Free Whirinaki Wall Calendar

"Re-designing our future" youth forum with Michael Braungart - 30 Aug

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