NUKU

Pagan Karauria (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa) started woolhandling when she was just 15. Today, she has not only made a career of it, she is also an international champion, winning competitions in Aotearoa, Australia, the UK and Europe. Two summers ago she also ticked off a shearing goal with 402 sheep shorn in 8 hours. She has won accolades in this division too, at national and world champs winning the women’s shearing final in 2019 and coming second in 2020 competition, while carrying a shoulder injury.

As a shearing contractor’s daughter Pagan set out to learn everything in the industry. Now based in Clyde, she spends her year between farms in Central Otago and Te Tai Tokerau, and at competitions in between.

In this episode we talk about wool and the diverse experiences it has given our NUKU //072.

Dr Ani Alana Kainamu (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa, Kōtirana - Glaswegian) is an environmental researcher within Te Kūwaha, the National Centre of Māori environmental research at the National institute of Water and Atmospheric research. She is also a māmā of two kōtiro.

Her mahi has taken her across Aotearoa and over to Hawai’i learning and sharing Indigenous aquaculture practices.

In this episode we talk about her journey, from her career, to māmāhood and everything in between. She shares her passion for hauora through kai, we explore the way she acknowledges her Pākehā whakapapa and, Ani tells us a tale of that time she saw a starfish chase a paua.

When I first read an online bio for Dr Erica Newman it stated her whakapapa as Māori, and then in brackets, ‘iwi unknown’. It has to be one of the most powerful, yet painful, identifiers I have ever read.

The lecturer in Te Tumu: School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous studies at the University of Otago, recently received a Marsden Fast Start research grant to journey with descendants of Māori adoptees in their search for their tūrangawaewae.

It is a journey she knows intimately, as the daughter of a Māori adoptee.

In this episode Erica shares with us her whānau story of disconnection and the ongoing mahi to search for her whakapapa. She tells us the effects of our adoption laws in Aotearoa and discusses identity formation of Māori adoptees, sharing the personal account of her own māmā.

We also talk about the heartbreaking reality of knowing you are Māori, but not knowing where you come from. This isn’t an easy kōrero, but it is such an important one.

Georgia Latu (Kai Tahu, Ngāpuhi) is the 14-year old C.E.O behind Pōtiki Poi. A pakihi that makes, sells and distributes poi and earrings, while sharing  mātauranga Māori.

Her business has environmental and social values at its heart, using op shop and second hand materials, with biodegrading plastic, and employing people with diverse abilities from Cargill Enterprises.

In this episode we talk about the inspiration behind Pōtiki poi, Georgia shares the realities for juggling kura and mahi, and she gives an insight into what it's like being an Indigenous kōhine, today.

Te Ao Kapa (Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Wai, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Porou) started with Te Kaha O Te Rangatahi Indigenous Youth Hub at age 18, filing paperwork and helping in the office. 

Today, 12 years later, she has just been made the organisation’s CEO. Her mahi is to support rangatahi navigate their way to becoming their own champions of positive change.

In this episode we talk about Te Ao’s career journey. From her role as a rangatahi sexual health peer support worker, to a stint as general manager. She shares with us her views on leadership and how her own experience of personal neglect, burnout and life-changing whānau events led her to reevaluate her orangatanga, in turn changing her leadership style to better influence work-life balance within her organisation.

We also talk about her village of empowering Indigenous wāhine and, her involvement in Hip Hop International NZ. -

Kyla Campbell-Kamariera (Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Taranaki Tūturu) is the Waikato Students' Union President and a member of the University Council. Currently completing her masters degree, focusing on Indigenous leadership, she has a passion for politics, history and wāhinetanga.

Her journey has at many times been very straight forward, with her love of education and her drive to succeed both academically and creatively. At other times, she has faced challenges many of us could never comprehend; being diagnosed with a brain tumor as a teenager, and losing her māmā and kuia to murder.

In this episode we talk about her upbringing in the far north. Kyla shares her leadership ambitions, her educational achievements and the realities of her mahi representing a diverse collective in University politics. She also talks about systemic racism and the power of Indigenous women.

Dr Ngahuia Murphy (Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Ruapani ki Waikaremoana, Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rangitihi) is a mana wahine, kaupapa Māori researcher recovering ancestral knowledge that heals and empowers Māori and other Indigenous whānau.

The author seeks to recover living relationships with our atua wāhine and helps to facilitate that for others through her research, ritual, wananga and dance, as a medium of ceremony.

In this episode we talk about the divine feminine, about our whare tangata, our menstrual blood and the mana and tapu of wahine. We also talk about how we can recover our own ceremonies for ourselves and our whānau.

We delve into topics that can feel deep, heavy and tapu, so be conscious of where you are listening to this episode, take care of yourself and take breaks where needed.

Loretta Lanauze (Imi Moriori, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāi Tahu) calls Rēkohu Chatham Islands her home. She lived there with her whānau until, like most teenagers on the island, she had to move to the mainland for her high school education. While many leave the island for schooling, few return to live permanently.

Loretta however is one wāhine who has come back to Rēkohu where she is raising her beautiful daughter, looking after the whānau homestead and whenua, working as a chef, training to become a fire woman and recently, becoming a member of the local LANDSAR, land search and rescue volunteer organisation.

In this episode we talk about her island life and upbringing, we discover more about her moriori whakapapa and the mahi her whānau is doing to reclaim their reo and tikanga and, she tells us all about her dreams to one day write her own cookbook.

Kaai Silbery (Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tainui) is the founder of Go Wild Apiary, Chatham Islands Freeze Dried Honey.

Also working as the head chef at Hotel Chatham, she is passionate about wild foods, endemic plant species and, of course, her bees.

In this episode we travel to Rēkohu, Chatham Islands, to kōrero with Kaai about her unique honey product and how it is gracing the menus of restaurants across the world. We also talk about her journey to becoming a chef and how a carved pou at the local island marae helped her discover her whakapapa connection to Rēkohu.

As a 35 year old Māori woman some of my greatest pain, sadness, whakamā and frustration comes from my journey with te reo. Like many, I didn't grow up with te reo Māori as my first language and over the years I have searched for it in school, at night classes, through wānanga and with whānau. 

Recently I have yet again opened the books to continue my efforts in becoming fluent in my own language. Following on from the kōrero with NUKU //063 Stacey Morrison, she flips the microphone on me to share a bit about my challenges, celebrations and expectations with te reo Māori and why my yearning for my reo is stronger now than it has ever been.  

// Qiane Matata-Sipu