2024: United in purpose and inspired by our people – A Year in Review

“Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei” 
Seek your treasure you value most dearly, if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain. 
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The sacred summit of maunga Hikurangi, standing as the highest peak in the rugged Raukūmara Range, is a special reminder each ata (morning) as it is greeted by Tamanui-te-rā, of the incredible energy of our communities and the sheer power of te ao Māori. 

It is this incredible energy that has inspired Healthy Families East Cape in 2024. 
 
The year 2024 kicked off at a high tempo for the team, with the introduction of new team members into our work whānau. With new whānau members in our ever-growing health prevention workforce, we are always graced with fresh perspectives, skills and energy, and a shared love of community and innovation that form the manawa of our team here in the East Cape. 
 
We’d like to acknowledge our new team members in 2024, Practice Lead George Kingi, Kaupapa Innovator Hineani Collier-Campbell and Executive Assistant, Kim Koia. 
 
Healthy Families East Cape led by Manager, Tomairangi Higgins, had two aspirations to serve as a solid foundation for the team throughout the year: whanaungatanga and relationship building, and; growth and capability building.  
 
“It is always a privilege of mine to lead and support our team as we grow and expand throughout the passing year. With a strong focus on building the capacity and capability within our team we have seen many highlights across our kaupapa and movement. We look forward to the coming year and continuing the momentum of leveraging our collective impact for better health and wellbeing across Te Tairawhiti.” 
 
Working across two sites and a vast region from Gisborne to Ōpōtiki has always meant ample travel for the team. What Healthy Families East Cape looked to this year, which is also often fed by the inspirational kōrero and knowledge of our Rautaki Māori, Jade Kameta, is the profound opportunities to connect with and embrace te taiao. From taking part in Te Kura Reo Taiao ki Tokomaru, hosted and led by Te Whānau a Ruataupare, Ngāti Porou and supported by Te Mātāwai, and Te Tira Whakamātaki; to visiting Te Takapou a Māui with our wider Te Ao Hou Trust organisation, our time in te taiao has been accelerated and inspiring. 
 
Coming into February will always be a sombre time for our team on the East Coast, as it is now an annual reminder of Cyclone Gabrielle and the local, national and global crisis that is climate change. Built on resilience, the community of Tairāwhiti is known for its ability to bounce back even stronger, and Healthy Families East Cape has enjoyed being a part of forums and sector relationships that take the time to make decisions informed by our whānau and communities. 
 
“The resilience of our people of Te Tairāwhiti is deeply rooted in our connection to the whenua, moana, our whakapapa, and our strong whānau and community connections. It’s a resilience born from centuries of adapting to challenges, guided by kōrero tuku iho, tikanga, and the wisdom of our tīpuna.” - Jade Kameta, Rautaki Māori 
 
Early in the year we made a significant decision to journey to, and welcome other teams into our rohe – a reflection of the commitment to seeking and embracing opportunities to connect and collaborate throughout our national HFNZ movement. The year 2024 saw us welcome Healthy Families Te Ngira into our whare, with the team journeying also to visit Healthy Families Hutt Valley and Healthy Families South Auckland at The Cause Collective. The continued opportunities for relationship building across our movement became crucial for shifting and inspiring the trajectory of some of our Kaupapa which are so poetically based around wai, this year. 
 
Taurikura, our kaupapa committed to growing the confidence and wellbeing of pēpī and their whānau in, on and around the water, continues to grow. The opportunity that Taurikura has presented is not centred around learning to swim, in fact, it is about further fostering deep relationships between our whānau and their pēpi and providing a deeper connection between whānau Māori and wai.   
  
Historically, the relationship between Māori and wai (water) is deeply interconnected, with Māori engaging with water in ways that see it touch all areas of our lives. The impact of colonisation has impacted on our relationship with wai, with rapid movements from rural into urban areas and mindsets shifting towards an attitude of fearfulness around water. The approach adopted by Healthy Families East Cape was to create a supportive, whānau and tikanga-led environment centred around the education of swimming and delivery of swimming lessons for pēpi.   Twelve months on, we are excited to celebrate coming to the end of our explore phase which saw us dive deeper into whānau experiences and aspirations and seeking to improve health outcomes. It has also improved relationships with water, and created a roadmap for future generations to reconnect to our whakapapa through wai, beginning with their own pēpi. 
 
Alongside Taurikura has been He Kura Tī Waka, taking our connection as Māori out of the pool and learning and into the moana, exploring how we can re-indigenise and ensure the tools of our ancestors, such as maramataka, can be reintroduced into Waka Ama for the benefit of wellbeing and productivity on the water. Both kaupapa, working side by side, have shown us the sheer power of community when our people are given the opportunity to lead in their own right, and in their own way. 
 
Coming into 2025, Healthy Families East Cape looks forward to taking our Kaupapa Wellbeing into the next phase as we look to complete what has been a long, deep and insightful period of capturing the voice of the ‘anchor’ of most households – wahine. The team looks forward to releasing the insight report of this kaupapa in the coming weeks. 
 
The kaupapa of kai is never far from our thoughts, and what we have learned in 2024 is that the training wheels of kai sovereignty and kai security have come off in our region, with more and more locals understanding the role they can and are able to play in the local food system when they are enabled and when systemic barriers are removed. We have observed local leadership listening and allowing themselves to be guided by community, and are excited to support these transformational changes into the future.  
 
As we reflect on these achievements, it is evident that being Kaupapa-driven and mokopuna-focused not only contributes to but leads to transformative changes. 
 
 
Healthy Families East Cape Manager, Tomairangi Higgins, says the highlights and outcomes achieved this year were centred around the revitalisation of mātauranga Māori not just locally, but nationally, and brought the team closer to whānau and communities, united in purpose. 
 
“We’ve also allowed ourselves the time to zoom out, and reflect on the big picture that is our local ecosystem in Eastern Bay of plenty and Tairawhiti, arming us with enhanced knowledge and what I see being potential for a more cohesive approach to elevating our efforts in 2025.” 
 
Looking forward to 2025, Healthy Families East Cape intends to look for and nurture greater ways to leverage our collective strengths throughout Tairāwhiti and Eastern Bay of Plenty, and utilise the growing capacity for innovation in our team to create brave new spaces for more kaupapa-driven opportunities.  
 
“Te torino haere whakamua, whakamuri – At the same time the spiral spins or travels forwards, it travels backwards. Walking backwards into the future – drawing on your past failures, successes and experiences to help navigate you in your future planning and thinking.” 
 
We want to acknowledge our Iwi, Māori leaders, public sector partners and community champions for the continued collaboration as we mobilise to improve wellbeing for our region. Our value add is that we can accelerate our impact through stakeholders and community working together across the system.