“I orea te tuatara ka puta ki waho. A problem is solved by continuing to find solution” 

This whakatauki refers to the need for creative thinking, adaptability and perseverance in order to solve a problem. 

In Tairāwhiti, a remarkable innovation movement is revolutionising the game. Taiki e! Impact House is at the forefront of cultivating a culture of impact and innovation in our community. By empowering changemakers to tackle social and environmental challenges through entrepreneurship. 
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Taiki e! firmly believe that business can be a powerful force for social and environmental innovation. Their goal is to collaborate on all levels and create sustainable impact, by providing opportunities for the community to engage in impactful initiatives, inspiring them to lead their own innovative solution development processes. 

The work at Taiki e! delves into the realm of imagination, exploring what it truly means to thrive and what changes are needed to make a positive impact on people and the planet. While it is crucial to address the immediate impacts of recent crises, we recognise the importance of examining the underlying systems that shape our lives. This is the essence of imagination work. 

Reflecting the theme of "Imagine if..." Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti 2023 sought to create a new economy that prioritises system-level change while preserving our planet. This 54-hour innovation boot camp guided participants in shaping their ideas into viable business models aligned with their purpose. The event was driven by a passionate and dedicated volunteer team, supported by the energy and enthusiasm of our community. 

During Tairawhiti's fifth Startup Weekend, 35 participants embarked on an incredible journey from imagination to creation. Seventeen individuals courageously pitched their ideas on the first night, and by Sunday, six teams presented fully fleshed-out business concepts to a panel of esteemed judges.
 
Cherish Wilkinson, a member of the Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti organizing team, says the ideas pitched at this year’s event were truly inspiring and a beautiful expression of aroha.  

“We wanted to inspire our community to use their imagination and creativity to help solve existing problems and challenges.”  

“What an amazing weekend it was. We are all still on a buzz at Tāiki e! Impact House. We’re full of gratitude to the special people that made this weekend possible. From the facilitators to the mentors, volunteers and judges, our organising team and sponsors, and most of all, to the participants.” 

Healthy Families East Cape proudly congratulates Arohamai Funeral Home for winning first place at Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti 2023. Their innovative solution addresses the issue of inaccessible and unaffordable funeral services, offering affordable and solutions that are mana-enhancing and steeped in Mātauranga Māori. 

Arohamai Funeral Home exemplifies the profound impact that can be achieved when individuals are empowered to create innovative solutions. In the weeks ahead, Healthy Families East Cape will shine a spotlight on the top three winning rōpū, showcasing the remarkable impact they are making within our community through their innovative solutions and business models. 

Stay tuned as we continue to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in Tairāwhiti! 
 

Ki ngā whakaeke, haumi – Join with those who connected the waka together. Find your place, you are part of the action.
 
This whakatauki speaks to the entrance into the moon phases that supports action. This is how we set ourselves up to dream of connection and more open and intimate experience of living (Wawata, Dr Hinemoa Elder).
  
Using Te Whare Tapa Wha framework and the maramataka to guide and inspire innovation in Kaupapa Wellbeing has been the driving force behind the partnership between Healthy Families East Cape and Ngā Wāhine Toko I Te Ora.
 
Under the influence of the Ōturu marama on Saturday the 6th of May our Healthy Families East Cape’s Practice Lead, Tomairangi Higgins, Rautaki Māori, Jade Kameta, and Communications Manager, Ranui Maxwell presented a Kaupapa Wellbeing prototype to our Kaupapa partners, Ngā Wāhine Toko I Te Ora – Te Tarāwhiti (Māori Women’s Welfare League – Te Tairāwhiti).
 
It has been six months since Healthy Families East Cape began collaborating with our Kaupapa partners, Ngā Wāhine Toko I Te Ora – Te Tarāwhiti (Māori Women’s Welfare League – Te Tairāwhiti) to understand what their aspirations for their own and their whānau well-being are. As collaborative partners, we have worked together to co-design a prototype that has culminated in created resources and tools to help our wāhine achieve their aspirations.  
 
The Kaupapa wellbeing has been able to refresh Māori Women’s Welfare Leagues activation of leadership in our communities and within our iwi, hapu and whānau. Māori Women’s Welfare League have been activating leadership since their establishment 1951, and the partnership with Healthy Families East Cape team has been able refresh the adaptive capacity of the community in the direction of greater strength.
 
In attendance at the regional hui were over 40 wāhine, along with the National President of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, Dr Hope Tupara.
 
Dr Tupara spoke about the value of a partnership approach, noting their success with other partnerships. These partnerships are operating at every level of the system, meaning that partnership at this level can impact and influence transformational change at a policy level, and also shift behaviours at a community level.
 
The Healthy Families East Cape team drew inspiration for the framework from insights gathered from the wāhine across our region, and utilised a co-design wānanga that saw the Te Whare Tapa Wha framework help mould the collection of lived experiences and aspirations for wellbeing -  addressing the four taha of wellbeing, taha tinana (physical), taha hinengaro (mental), taha wairua (spiritual) and taha whānau (family).
 
Aligned with the Māori Women’s Welfare League - Te Tairāwhiti Branch hui, Healthy Families East Cape have taken a quarterly approach, delivering prevention solutions via the resource pack and focussing on one of the four taha at each quarter.
 
What came from our co-design hui and insight gathering is that our wāhine acknowledged a holistic approach to well-being, and that there is a passion to utilise a Te Ao Māori worldview - a worldview where hauora can only be achieved unless we address all four taha of our wellbeing.
 
With this in mind, the Healthy Families East Cape team innovated to create resources that support their wellbeing journey, making it practical and drawing upon their overall aspirations - “Te Whare Whare Tapa Wha”, a take on a bingo card.
 
 
The resources included:

• A booklet containing a Te Whare Whare Tapa Wha Bingo Card
• A Maramataka Reflective Journal, focusing on only four of the marama phases; Rākaunui, Tangaroa, Tamatea, and Whiro. The wāhine have also been provided Wawata – Moon Dreaming by Dr Hinemoa Elder. The kōrero in the book draws upon kōrero tuku iho of Ngāpuhi but incorporates Dr Elder’s mahi in psychology to understand our emotions.
• A Sleep Dial, along with kōrero and practical ways to improve sleep. A tool to support and encourage positive sleep habits, with a particular focus on preparing for sleep. The Sleep Dial is driven by insights gathered from the wāhine that speak to their desire to tap into sleep as a preventative factor for health. The Sleep Dial seeks to harness the power of sleep, reducing the number of health risk factors and improves mental health and well-being and providing a practical tool to measure the hours of sleep you need, when to stop using electronic devices like phones and watching TV.
• Wawata – Moon Dreaming Book by Dr Hinemoa Elder

 
This quarter, the focus was on Te Taha Tinana, in line with our maramataka and the season, encouraging our wāhine to “korikori tinana” (move their body) for 20 mins and incorporate daily activities like walking their dog and visiting their awa (river/lake).
 
Healthy Families East Cape is committed to elevating maramataka and embedding the practice into all of our initiatives, and for some of our wāhine this will be the first time they have been exposed to the practice of Maramataka.
 
Healthy Families East Cape continue to gain insight from our wāhine through their reflective journal and deepen the knowledge of maramataka being a prevention solution that creates positive change in our wāhine, their whānau, and communities.
 
Kaupapa Wellbeing is elevating opportunities to work collectively to achieve an impact that makes a difference and evidence Māori systems of well-being.
 
E tū i te tū a Hamoterangi,
Wawata i ngā wawata a Hineteiwaiwa,
E Kā i te ahi a Hinemauhuika,
Tauiratia te mana a Hinetitama
 
Stand tall like Hamoterangi,
Dream big like Hineteiwaiwa,
Be the flame of Hinemahuika,
Be Hinetitama. 
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Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa. Let us keep close together, not wide apart.

In the final days of April, Healthy Families NZ held its annual national hui, entitled "Now & Beyond," which brought together 11 Healthy Families localities from across the country.  

The national hui was hosted by Healthy Families Te Ngira at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia with the purpose for sites to learn, share and come away with tangible actions as the Healthy Families NZ health prevention and innovation movement enters its third phase. 

The final night of the national hui saw all teams present kaupapa from across the country, with Healthy Families East Cape team utilising the time to raise awareness of the lived reality of our communities and region that have been and still are affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. 

Attendees were given a firsthand account of the impact of the cyclone through a creative skit entitled "Survive the 35," an escape room style challenge which highlighted the barriers faced by our communities in the aftermath of the natural disaster.  

The skit was used to spark discussion around preventative solutions and how communities can better prepare for future disasters. 

Utilising the lived realities of six personas from both inside and outside the Tokomaru Bay community, participants in the room were invited to work together to devise real-time solutions to the challenges Te Tairāwhiti faced during the Cyclone: 

• A lack of access to medication and dialysis treatment  

• The impact on tangihanga 
• Non-potable water and no access to water 
• Telecommunications breakdown, and;  
• Damaged infrastructure  

“The team wanted to highlight the importance of community collaboration in disaster preparedness but also, they wanted to highlight the importance of prevention and innovative solutions at times like these, further delving into the tremendous role that Healthy Families plays in our wider ecosystem,” said Healthy Families East Cape Manager, Toni June, of the team’s performance. 

Healthy Families East Cape would like to mihi and acknowledge all of our Healthy Families NZ teams for allowing us the opportunity and privilege to share, connect and be privy to their most cherished mahi from across the country. 

Healthy Families East Cape would also like to mihi to Taiki e! Impact House, our pioneering community champions, for their guidance, partnerships and inspiration in providing us the innovation tools and techniques of “Fishbowl conversations” and “Unconferences” which were utilised as part of the Healthy Families NZ national hui. 

These tools not only allowed our sites to creatively discuss and idea-share around key focus areas of Healthy Families, but they allowed us to elevate conversations around the importance of Mātauranga Māori as a health prevention tool, healthy food and physical activity choices, and increasing mental health, resilience, and wellbeing. 

Taiki E! I rangatira mātou i a koutou. Te taea te whakahua i ngā kupu hōnore. Tēnā rawa atu koutou. 

Every kōrero, connection and time for kai was an opportunity for learning, sharing, creating whakapapa ties and igniting our commitment to continuing the kaupapa of health prevention and innovation, “now and beyond.” 
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Finally, Healthy Families East Cape would like to mihi to Healthy Families Te Ngira for their organisation and hospitality of the national hui, for bringing our teams home to Te Rohe Pōtae o Waikato Tainui. Te kainga o tā tātou Ariki Nui Kingi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Te Tuawhitu e noho mai nei ki te ahurewa o āna mātua tūpuna. Ko koutou kei runga tōhaunui i rangatira ai te manaaki i te motu pae ki runga i a koutou. Tēnei ka mihi.