ASB Ttrust funds marae revamps

The Three Northland Marae are getting some overdue refurbishment thanks to the ASB Community Trust.

In its latest funding round, the trust made grants to Te Paatu Marae
near Kaitaia, Rawhitiroa Marae near Kaikohe, and Whare Marama O Parirau Marae in Kaipara.
Jennifer Gill, the trust’s chief executive says that’s on top of the $1.8 million in grants last year.

She says the trust recognises the role marae play in rural communities.

“We are firmly of the view that a marae is pivotal to a healthy community and it’s really important those facilities are there, both for things like tangi but also as important meeting places and community centres,” Ms Gill says.

The ASB Community Trust will have another round of grants this year for initiatives to raise Maori educational achievement.

AUTISTIC CHILDREN CAUGHT IN BENIGN NEGLECT

There’s concern Maori whanau may not be doing enough for children with autism or Asberger’s syndrome.

Margaret Mikaere from Autism New Zealand says Maori are often very accepting of difference.

But she says that may mean children aren’t getting the help they need for their condition, which affects their mental and social development.

“We don’t make a big fuss over things, they’re just our mokopuna. I wonder really are we really coping. Could this be some of the causes of why there’s sop much abuse in the home, because we’re not actually working with that child because that child thinks differently. We’re trying to make a square peg fit a round hole,” Mrs Mikaere says.

Autism New Zealand has teamed up with Auckland-based Oho Mairangi Trust to develop a 0800 support line for families with autistic children.

HIGH END THE PLACE FOR TOURISM OPERATIONS

Maori tourism operators are being urged to target an emerging high end Asian ecotourism market.

Oscar Nathan, the chair of Maori in Tourism Rotorua, says the total number of inbound tourists is currently down, but Australia and China have bucked the trend with slight increases.

He says Asian tourists are particularly keen for unique experiences that include a flavouring of Maori culture, such as the Footprints over Waipoua tour.

“In the past you think of Chinese or Japanese groups as very much ‘come here and have a look at this’ and away they go. But there are emerging pockets in the Chinese market, particularly at the upper end, particularly out of Singapore and other places like that, south east Asia, they are very much into Lonely Planet and very much into off the beaten track,” Mr Nathan says.

Tourism is worth almost $9 billion a year to the New Zealand Economy.

FILM BRINGS OUT ECHOES OF HISTORY
An armed police raid on an Urewera township has been brought to the big screen in dramatic fashion.

It’s not Ruatoki 2007 but Maungapohatu in 1916, and it’s the centerpiece of a new film by Vincent Ward.

For Rain of the Children, Mr Ward returned to the Waimana Valley to dig deeper into the life of Te Puhi, who as an 80-year-old kuia featured in his first film, In Spring One Plants Alone.

He says the film could not have been made without the support of Ngai Tuhoe.

“I’ve been very lucky. Something like 50 elders shared their stories with me about Puhi’s background, growing up with Rua Kenana at Maungapohatu, known as Rua the prophet, the police raid of 1916 where her husband was arrested and her lover killed, and the stories that surrounded her to do with the fact that she believed that perhaps there was a curse on her and how she tried to deal with that, and so people have been pretty open,” Ward says.

Several hundred Tuhoe people in the audience for its New Zealand premiere at the Auckland film festival on Saturday, descendants of Te Puhi and of Rua Kenana.

TAMIL TIGERS NEED AWHI FOR INDIGENOUS STRUGGLE R&R

A Green MP says Maori should reach out to indigenous people fleeing violence and oppression in their own countries.

The Maori Party says it’s picking up concern from members about immigration from Asia and how it affects their place in society.

But Metiria Turei says some of those coming in have a lot in common with Maori.

“Some of the Sri Lankans who come here, a lot of them are Tamil Tigers, and they’re fighting a resistance movement in their own country for control over their own land. They have a really strong indigenous sovereignty issue going on there and they come here for relief from those struggles and it’s a real kind of awhi thing from one indigenous population that’s struggling to another,” Ms Turei says.

While the Tamil Tigers, or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, is considered a terrorist organisatin by Australia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has not been designated as a terrorist entity under New Zealand law.

Earlier this year, New Zealand expressed concern over the withdrawal by the government of Sri Lanka from a 2002 ceasefire agreement and urged both sides to return to the negotiating table.

PARIS GETS POLYNESIAN PERSPECTIVE ON MUSEUM CURATING

International museums have been hearing from New Zealand about how to develop shows with Maori and Pacific peoples.

Two curators from Te Papa, Sean Mallon, and Arapata Hakiwai, presented papers at a conference at the Musee du Quai Branley in Paris.

Mr Mallon says the recent exhibition of the history of Pacific Peoples, Tangata o Le Moana, is an example of the approach developed in this country.

“The approach we took was very much in line with the way tangata whenua exhibitions are developed do there’s lots of community consultation and discussion around the concepts. A lot of the specialist knowledge rests in our communities. A lot of the stories about our communities’ histories in New Zealand are in the communities, so we went to them,” Mr Mallon says.

Other Pacific region curators at the conference had similar perspectives on the challenge of representing Polynesia to outside audiences.