14 May He Au Honua- Indigenous research conference Maui, Hawaii 2019

Aloha mai kākou! In March our Kaiarahi-Training and development specialist, Darrio Penetito-Hemara, attended and presented at He Au Honua, an Indigenous research conference in Hawai’i on the island of Maui.

The kaupapa for the conference was I Mana ka Mauli, I Mauli ka Mana – Life is Divine Power, Divinely Powerful is Life.

Our kaimahi had the opportunity to hear from many Indigenous scholars and experts from around the world on a range of kaupapa as well as engaging in the beautiful whenua and moana of Hawai’i.

Darrio’s presentation was titled He Pī Ka Rere: Taonga, tips and tools to tautoko hauora and wellbeing. The attendees of this workshop were given an opportunity to understand how an Atua and Kaitiaki can guide a nutrition and physical activity approach. The attendees were gifted a koha from Aotearoa with many hoping to mahi tahi with Toi Tangata in the future.

Darrio interviewed many different individuals about their research kaupapa and the similarities to our kaupapa here in Aotearoa.

The attendance at this conference has led to many great relationships that all our Toi whanau will benefit from. Stay tuned for some future Toi Ako opportunities featuring some of our Tuakana and Teina from across the world.

For more  He Au Honua click here

Growing the Puna: Te Koronga on tour

Whilst at He Au Honua, Toi Tangata had the privilege of reconnecting with two of our past Growing the Puna students, Ben Hanara and Chelsea Cunningham, University of Otago, Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Koronga.

The two presented findings from two research studies. During the first study they examined ways to reconnect whānau (family) to their ancestral landscapes through walking, paddling, swimming and biking with our maunga (mountains), awa (rivers) and marae (ancestral meeting house) and through technology such as virtual reality, short films and story maps created by rangatahi (youth) for their elders. The second study explored the whakapapa (genealogy) of Tangaroa (deity of the ocean) through creating taonga tākaro (Māori games and physical activities) to improve health, wellbeing and identity. Tau kē kōrua.