Waatea News Update

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Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Tangata whaiora join in recovery

People with mental illnesses are being encouraged to take more of a leadership role in their treatment and recovery.

Te Rau Matatini, the Maori mental health workforce development organisation, has just completed a three day leadership and training hui at Auckland's Orakei Marae for 150 tangata whaiora Maori.

Organiser Rawiri Evans says tangata whaiora and their whanau have the right to have a say in what happens to them

He says it's a new way of thinking for many Maori mental health providers.

“It's all about empowerment for our people. It’s a move away from just a medical model towards a whanau ora approach to looking at recovery principles for our whaiora,” Mr Evans says.

Too often Maori fall through the cracks of mental health services, so it's important tangata whaiora are able to advocate on their own behalf.

SOUTH TARANAKI COASTAL WALKWAY PLANNED

South Taranaki District Council wants to know whether any waahi tapu lie along the route of its proposed 160 kilometre coastal walkway.

Hawera geography teacher Diana Reid has a New Zealand Royal Society fellowship to explore and define the route from Stony River south to Waitotara's Waiinu Beach.

That includes the rohe of Taranaki, Nga Ruahinerangi, Nga Rauru and Ngati Ruanui.

The mayor, Mary Bourke, says the walkway is part of the council's ten year plan.

She says the first part of the process will be consultation to identify urupa and other sacred places.

“It would not be going through waahi tapu. That would be the last thing we’d want to do. It would be going around those sorts of sites. And there are a number of issues that need to be talked through. One is waahi tapu. Another is access across ancestral lands and any land for that matter, and a lot of the walkway would be right along the coast so it wouldn’t require access,” Ms Bourke says.

GLITTER BRINGS WORLD OF LIGHT TO BLACKNESS

An artist known for his use of colour and glitter is showing his dark side.
Reuben Paterson from Ngati Rangitihi and Ngai Tuhoe is showing is latest work at Auckland's Gow Langsford Gallery.

The glitter on black enamel paintings are symbolic of te ao marama, the world of light.

He says as well as celebrating life, he wanted to explore themes of death and darkness.

“Matauranga, tikanga, whakapapa, all of those things link in with te ao marama and I think the transcendence and qualities of light that glitter gives links to that. But now that I’m using such a black paint, it’s like that light does come out of the darkness,” he says.

The Reuben Paterson Reverie runs until October 13.

AUSSIE CORONERS NEED EDUCATION

A police iwi liaison officer believes Maori in Australia may need to spell out their cultural practices to authorities.

A sydney-based whanau has been protesting over the length of time a coroner is taking to release the body of one of their relatives.

Wally Haumaha says it's a situation police in this country have had to deal with many times, and often it's a matter of having the right person in place at the right time.

He says as the composition of communities change, it can take time for authorities to learn the cultural needs of various groups.

“Within New Zealand we have a diverse range of communities here of different ethnicities and we certainly do our best to meet the cultural needs of those communities. I think it would be no different in Austrealia. They would be looking for a point of contact or someone to guide them through that process,” Mr Haumaha says.

It's important for Maori that tupapaku be returned to the whanau intact for burial.

TALKING BOOKS MATTER OF SKILL

Switching voices from kaumatua to kotiro is just part of the job for Talking Books narrator Hera Dunleavy.

The Ngati Pakeha actor is one of a handful of narrators able to read books and magazines in te reo Maori for the blind and visually impaired.

She says the job requires her to keeping track of different characters in her head, and adapting her voice to suit each one.

When it comes to voicing te reo books like the Huia short story collection Nga Pakiwaitara, she has to do her homework.

“Nga Pakiwaitara that I did last year, there’s writers from all over New Zealand and they all have slightly different dialects an what have you and sometimes in the book there’s misprints so you have to really be quite diligent in understanding,” Ms Dunleavy says.

It's the 70th anniversary of the Blind Foundation's talking books service.

HENARE OUT FOR GAME 131

One of the top Maori basketball players will set a record tonight.

The clash against the Cairns' Taipans at Auckland's North Shore Events Centre will be Paul Henare's 131st game for the New Zealand Breakers.

The point guard from Napier has been a Tall Black since 1999, and he's been with the Auckland-based franchise since its launched four years ago.

Coach Andrej Lemanis says he's got an all round game.

“Paul brings a lot of passion and energy to the game. He always gives you 100 percent. He also does a good job of running the team from that point guard spot and he gets into it defensively and he really gives us an energy that drives the rest of the group a lot of the time,” Mr Lemanis says.

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