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Rereata Makiha: Recapturing ancient knowledge

Matua Rereata Makiha is a renowned Māori astrologer and a leading authority on the maramataka -  the Māori lunar calendar, as well as traditional food planting and harvesting practices and kōrero tuku iho, or Māori history, handed down through generations.Matua Rereata Makiha is a renowned Māori astrologer and a leading authority on the maramataka -  the Māori lunar calendar, as well as traditional food planting and harvesting practices and kōrero tuku iho, or Māori history, ha...

Mindfulness study:

Karakia and connecting with te hā (the breath) were among mindfulness practices found to improve health outcomes of wāhine Māori suffering chronic stress.As part of her doctoral research at Massey University's School of Psychology, Dr Miriama Ketu-McKenzie (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Rongomai and Ngāti Whakatere) ran a "Māori-centric mindfulness programme" for eight weeks.Her research found mindfulness practices which "wove in Māori elements" helped regulate the hormone cort...

Many of our energy assets are built on Māori land,

He created a power company to help vulnerable whānau. Now, Ezra Hirawani is fighting to keep his dream alive. Jehan Casinader reports.Ezra Hirawani, the man leading a quiet revolution in the power industry, is dressed by Kmart. Every few months, he buys a fistful of black, white and grey T-shirts. A pair of shorts completes his work outfit, and he’s confident enough to rock up to meetings with high-powered executives.“When I started in business, I decided to be fiercely pono. That means aut...

Race Relations Commissioner says video threatening Māori

Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon says a recent YouTube video threatening violence against Māori is "extreme white supremacist" behaviour. Foon told Newshub he wants "everything under the law [to] be thrown at these people or this person for inciting violence". The video was uploaded to YouTube on May 23 but was taken down after the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) got involved.The contents of the video were described as "highly distressing" in a statement provided by the DIA ...

Employment Opportunity: West Coast

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'Cigarettes felt like a comfort blanket for my whānau and I':

Reformed smoker Rebecca Gilbert is urging Māori to break the cycle of tobacco use among whānau and get behind the Government’s proposed Smokefree 2025 Action Plan.Gilbert, who is acting health promotion manager for the Cancer Society, says many Māori will relate to her experience of spending most of her life entrenched in a community that normalised and embraced smoking from a young age, and turned to tobacco during good times and bad.“From my teenage years onwards, every social occasion ...

Māori health authority

The interim Māori health authority has moved another step forward with iwi leaders and Māori health experts appointed to the steering group tasked with choosing who will govern the authority.Six members have been chosen to sit on the steering group by chair Tā Mason Durie, based on their mana and knowledge of Māori health and iwi leadership.Their task is to identify candidates to govern the interim Māori health authority, which was announced by the government in April.Members include U...

Learning how Māori ancestors

A unique festival, Te Hau Kōmaru, has been run this week in Tauranga to bring voyaging in waka hourua back to life.Locals and visitors are getting to go on-board four classic Māori replica double-hull canoes classed as waka hourua named Hinemoana, Tairāwhiti, Haunui, and Ngahiraka-mai-tawhiti, to learn about the history of travel to the thrill of many so far.They get to listen to crew members' stories of travelling around the world on these vessels and see how people live out o...

Oranga Tamariki survey

Almost one in four tamariki and rangatahi in state care don't feel they can contact their birth families as much as they would like to.The finding is from a Oranga Tamariki survey of more than 1500 children in care.The survey, Te Tohu o te Ora, is the first of its kind for the ministry and will be carried out annually. It is set out in the report Te Mātātaki.Ebony Flemming was taken into care at the age of five with her brother, and is now studying social work at university.She said going into...

PARENTING Child psychologist warns that maturity in children

An Australian psychologist is warning parents of children who act "mature for their age" that it can be a red flag for excess pressures at home. Dr Briony Leo, psychologist and Head of Coaching at relationship self-care app Relish, told Daily Mail Australia a number of factors can lead to high maturity levels in children, including personality traits and birth order.For example, the eldest child will often feel a sense of responsibility for their younger siblings. But she add...

Dame Cindy Kiro announced

New Zealand's next Governor-General will be Dame Cindy Kiro, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed. The PM made the announcement at her weekly post-Cabinet press conference this afternoon, where she was joined by Kiro. Kiro used to be the Children's Commissioner and has extensive experience working with Government. She also has a lengthy academic background and was appointed as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) for services to child wellbeing and education in th...

Māori high school students

Five winning students have walked away with scholarships worth up to $20,000 each to work towards their desired universities.Te Ara a Kupe Beaton Scholarship was founded in 2017 to encourage young Māori representation on the global stage, to push social equity initiatives and for Māori students to make a lasting impact on the global community.It includes personalised mentoring and education services to help students get accepted into their dream course at their dream university – be it compu...

Ground-breaking Māori presenter Oriini Kaipara

Oriini Kaipara, who made history in 2019 as the first woman with a moko kauae to read a major news bulletin, has moved to Three with a presenting role on Newshub Live at 4.30pm.She replaces Susie Nordqvist, who went in the opposite direction in January when she moved to TVNZ to host A Current Affair.Apart from appearing as a fill-in for TVNZ 1’s midday news bulletin, Kaipara worked on the state broadcaster’s te reo news show Te Karere. She previously worked at M...

Top NZ roots reggae band Katchafire

This year's waiata anthems participants include Kiwi favourite Katchafire with their hit song 100 or what can now be called Karawhiua.Waiata Anthems started in 2019 as a music project by Hinewehi Mohi to support NZ musicians to embrace te reo Māori in their work. This time around it has become a documentary series.Katchafire were among seven artists selected for the 2021 documentary series, alongside household names like Che Fu, Bic Runga, Annie Crummer and rangatahi favourites Drax Project and...

'It can be done':

Revitalising te reo Māori will require hunger, commitment and demand time, but it’s not impossible.That’s one of many wise words spoken by Sir Tīmoti Kāretu at a Māori language symposium held in Te Tauihu-o-te-waka-a-Māui (the top of the south) on Wednesday and Thursday.The symposium was opened by Kiley Nēpia, pouahurea (cultural advisor) of Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, to an audience of more than 450 people who had gathered to hear the stories and value of language re...

Draft history curriculum misses

This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission. An expert panel has criticised Aotearoa New Zealand's Histories curriculum draft for omitting topics, including women, labour and economics, and the single largest block of the country's human history - the 600 years of pre-European Māori life.In a report on the draft version of Aotearoa New Zealand's Histories curriculum, the panel convened by the Royal Society of New Zealand to advise...

UK company Invictus

A UK company has been slammed for using Māori culture to sell carpet.Invictus Carpet & Flooring incorporates numerous elements of Māori culture in its website branding and its advertising, including a video ad released in 2015 showing white children performing a haka in their living room.The company has caught the attention of Kiwis in the UK who have expressed concern at the use of the Māori cultural elements.And Māori cultural adviser Karaitiana Taiuru told the Herald he had "never seen an...

Te Puea Marae whānau

The marae was thrown into the spotlight five years ago as it opened its doors to help dozens of homeless whānau.It is still helping vulnerable families, as a transitional housing provider, giving them a place to live and wraparound support as they wait for a permanent home.Out the back of Te Puea Marae, behind the wharekai, are five portable cabins. The cabins are basic - a couple of beds, a kitchenette, and a small bathroom. There is a shared kitchen and whānau room as well."They're pretty ba...

Consent should be basis for all learning,

A Christchurch student-led group working to tackle sexual violence and rape culture plans to take its action a step further by presenting Parliament with a school curriculum focused on consent.“Consent should be the basis for all learning,” one admin of Culture CHCHange said.The group, initially organised by three Christchurch Girls’ High School students, has grown since it first came together in March, and is stepping up the fight for better education on sex, consent, and eradicating...

NZ lagging behind other developed countries

Around 40,000 Kiwis aged 15 to 25 are believed to be responsible for providing a significant level of care for family who are ill, disabled or struggling with addiction or mental health issues. The issue was brought to light after an in-depth investigation by Sunday looked at how this hidden group of young people have been propping up their families.  New Zealand ranks bottom of the global index for young carers, with little to no awareness of the huge degree of responsibility held by these...

Imagining Decolonisation with Moana Jackson - our first BWB Talks video!

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Māori content shake up

All law schools in Aotearoa will have to include Māori content in their core courses, AUT Law School Interim Dean Khylee Quince (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Te Roroa) has told followers online."Well, my first meeting of the Council of Legal Education was a memorable one. The CLE prescribes the core courses that all schools offering an LLB must deliver - public, criminal, contract, torts, property," Quince said in a Facebook post Friday."Today we unanimously passed a resolution requiring the te...

Oranga Tamariki strip searches

Minister for Children Kelvin Davis says he doesn't want kids being strip-searched in Oranga Tamariki facilities, but it can't just be stopped without a replacement. © Video - Newshub Nation; Image - Getty Images Kelvin Davis on Newshub Nation.Newshub Nation on Saturday morning revealed dozens of strip searches have been carried out in the state agency's Youth Justice residences in the past six months, mostly at a single facility in Christchurch.Items found ranged from broken ...

South African rugby team stops

A South African rugby team who went viral over their use of the haka have stopped performing the Māori challenge after being requested to do so by New Zealand Rugby. Last month, Walter Sisulu University were filmed doing a pre-match haka in a Varsity Shield game against the DUT Rhinos in which they performed a combination of both Ka Mate and Kapa or Pango. The team, nicknamed the All Blacks, said at the time the haka was performed out of admiration for how New Zealand's national team plays...

Educating rangatahi

"Don't just use books as a base to teach children.”That's according to Ha,ilton's Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Ara Rima principal, Tony Walker.He says the best teaching tool is leaving the classroom and connecting with the land, sea, and forest to grasp its infinite wisdom from a Māori perspective.Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Ara Rima made its way to the Waikato River today and took in history lessons from Kīngitanga elders. The childrens' minds and hearts were filled with stories of Te R...