Supporting Māori communities to develop their own pathways to better health will be central to a new Rautaki Māori role in Active Southland’s Healthy Families Invercargill team.

Metiria Light joins the team from Active Southland’s Healthy Active Learning team.

She is a passionate advocate for Māori self-determination.

“We can determine our own pathway to what health means to us, using whakapapa and tikanga Māori to help build the pathway to better outcomes. Our whānau forget just how much mana they have when it comes to designing and delivering their own pathways” she says.

“If you think about what has happened over the past 200 years, our health has declined massively. We need to take a look back, because obviously we were healthier, and we had self-determination then. What can we do to help us reclaim our own healthy approaches?”

Rongoa (a system of traditional Māori medicine and healing), maramataka (using the Māori lunar calendar to guide planting, harvesting, fishing, and hunting) and purākau (storytelling which creates shared understanding and identity) were central to reclaiming those approaches.

“We belong to that, we come from that. We come from atua (ancestral spirits), the taioa (natural environment), it’s in our whakapapa. This is why this role is important.”

The Rautaki Māori role was created in consultation with Waihōpai and Awarua rūnaka.

Metiria sees connection as a vital aspect of her kaupapa.

“This is about helping Māori connect with Māori - mana ki te mana - and then having them invite others who might align.”

Article added: Monday 12 December 2022