Whakaotirangi and her enduring kūmara legacy
Kai shopping has changed from a simple household chore to a significant point of economic and emotional stress for many in Rotorua. The rising costs of food, especially healthy options, are impacting family budgets, dietary choices, and overall wellbeing. Fortunately, there is also a strong sense of community resilience and a desire for positive change in Rotorua, prompting the development of adaptive strategies and community support networks.
The 2023 Healthy Families Rotorua Kai Survey paints a vivid picture of a community that is not only aware of its immediate challenges – our city is well-documented for its homelessness – it is also thinking long-term and collectively about how the brilliance of local cultural knowledge can contribute to designing solutions that not only ‘feed the puku, minds and spirits’ but care for the whenua as well.
Te Ōhāki o Whakaotirangi is a kaupapa dedicated to the (re)planting of kūmara across Rotorua, and the revitalisation and preservation of mātauranga, technology, stories and practices associated with kūmara. The taputini and hutihuti are legacy varieties whose vines reach back to the arrival of Te Arawa waka in the 1300s. Carried and cared for by Te Arawa ancestress Whakaotirangi, these kūmara are an ancient expression of kai sovereignty and are once again being planted throughout the rohe. They are now sought after as ‘kai for the stars’ in the recently revived whāngai i te hautapu ceremonies that celebrate the time of Matariki.
We have learnt that at the heart of creating sustainable change, are passionate movers and shakers who can communicate a vision, build relationships, and inspire a wide range of people to do important things that create momentum. As a local kūmara champion, ‘Kai Rotorua’ manager Te Rangikaheke Kiripatea is one of those skilled people and a close collaborator with Healthy Families Rotorua. Te Rangikaheke played a pivotal role in sourcing traditional varieties for planting, educates widely, integrates maramataka and pūrākau into his mahi and is responsible for the planting of over 600 kilos of Ōwairaka Red kūmara last season alone. Te Rangikaheke prefers to see kūmara planting as ‘connecting people to Papatūānuku’, or as Kiripatea puts it: where people and land are good medicine for each other.
Mana whenua and local community are the tuāpapa (foundation) of each collective impact ecosystem. Healthy Families Rotorua’s role is to put those closest to the issues, most impacted by the challenges and with great insight and knowledge - at the heart of the problem-solving process. Healthy Families Rotorua supports with the resources and tools communities need to be effective. This approach is fundamental to power-sharing and giving agency to communities.
The Healthy Families Rotorua team has aimed to develop relationships in ways that build empathy and compassion enabling authentic connections. By sharing the unique knowledge with others, creating bridges to facilitate understanding. Building deep relationships takes time, tenacity, and a willingness to keep showing up. It also takes humility, patience, and kindness. Having the ability to access deep wisdom, such as that embedded within our own mātauranga provides direction, insights, and inspiration.
‘Te Ōhaki o Whakaotirangi’ followed the kūmara vine all the way back to Hawaiki. We learnt that if we can master and adapt the science and art of kūmara planting, harvesting and storage (Māori successfully stored kūmara for months in underground pits or caves), there will be a healthy kai source in place to nourish future generations for the next 800 years.
We acknowledge our many partners, sector leaders, influencers, community champions, whānau, hapū and iwi who have prioritised working closely together with Healthy Families Rotorua to help shift the conditions that hold wicked problems in place
When a systems return approach is embedded and aligned to cultural knowledge and concepts of wellbeing, we can improve community resilience through kai security.