As Christine Nepia clocks up 20 years at Tūranga Health she recalls it took two attempts to get a job with the hauora. “Someone told me to apply for a job as a drug and alcohol educator but that was after I had applied for a kaiāwhina job...and didn’t get it!” says Christine, also known as Nogs. Christine told her whānau “nah, they’ve already declined me!” But the whānau perservered and it’s been Tūranga Health’s good fortune to have her on the team ever since. Christine is Ngāi Tāmanuhiri on her dad’s side and Ngāti Porou through her mum. She spent some of her early life up the Coast but when her maternal grandmother passed she reconnected with her Ngāi Tāmanuhiri roots back in Muriwai. Christine’s first health job was in 1996 as a health promoter with the Public Health Unit (PHU). At the time she was noticing Māori seemed to become unwell and die earlier than non-Māori. “I lost my dad to cancer in 1988 and I was always wondering ‘why has this happened?’ I didn’t want to see my own whānau, hapu or iwi go through what we did. What could I do as a Māori wahine to contribute?” Christine worked alongside health leaders like Riki Niania, Ann Shaw, Jan Askew, Kuini Puketapu, Nona Gaskin Ashton and Heather Roberston, and they shaped her passion for improving the health of others for the next 25 years. After the PHU Christine was employed at Matapuna Training Centre and for a time was also a caregiver at a rest home. Then she found work at Tūranga Health as a drug and alcohol educator. “This was the first Māori organisation I had worked for and it felt great. When I was at the PHU I found it difficult to help non-Māori understand the extra challenges and cultural layers facing whānau. Now I was somewhere there was an understanding.” If someone told her to “visit Uncle Charlie on Papatu Rd,” she didn’t need a database to tell her who he was or whether she was going to be able to help him. “My whakapapa meant I already had a foot in the door.” After a few contract changes and different roles, Christine really hit her straps when she moved into the Aukati Kaipaipa smokefree programme championing kaupapa Māori-based approaches to smokefree lifestyles. The programmes demanded unique ways of working with individuals and groups. Christine and her colleagues visited people in their homes, hosted quit programmes at workplaces, and encouraged sports teams to become smokefree. As a former smoker she could relate to the challenges and she was good at her job. These days Christine works with Vanessa Lowndes Centre staff helping them with the skills they need to live independently. She will often be in the centre’s huge catering kitchen helping whānau learn to cook for themselves. It was in this kitchen, during the Level 4 and 3 Covid-19 lockdown that Christine and colleague Nyoka Fox made a huge difference to hundreds around the rohe. The pair created well over 1500 meals for delivery to whānau in need. Christine was grateful to chief executive Reweti Ropiha for laying down the challenge and giving her and Nyoka space to manage it how they saw best. Christine says during the chaos there were some amusing times. For example, she and Nyoka would debate who would do the huge shops at Pak ’Save. They weren’t scared of Covid. “Nah, that was fine. It’s just that when Māori see Māori with a huge shopping trolley, they naturally assume someone has passed. All the way around I would get asked “who is the tangihanga for?” With New Zealand now operating at lower lockdown levels Christine has found time to spend more time with her granddaughter Araia and pursue her other loves. “If I wasn’t in health, I would be a fashion designer,” she says. With that, Christine pulls an impeccably made mustard coloured Covid mask featuring gold trim. “The ultimate in mask evening wear!” Chief executive Reweti Ropiha isn’t surprised at anything Christine says or does. “She’s got the desire and the intent to always do well. Her approach is innovative and about the people. She has a lot of connections in the community and a good understanding of everyone. Congratulations on your 20 years Christine.” Saying it like it is! Classic quotes from Nogs On Aunty Jacinda: “Now there’s a leader who has actually taken the time to lift the mat and vacuum underneath.” On holiday travel once husband Mike stopped needing to get out for a smoke: “Turns out it doesn’t take seven hours to get to Shannon!” On Turanga Health: “There’s something good going on here. It’s about time services are provided by Māori for Māori.” On health promotion: “To succeed it’s about 80 percent preparation, 20 percent presentation.”
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NALEYA Ahu loves to work in collaboration with others and, given her line of work, that is just as well. As Turanga Health's kaiāwhina for emergency housing, she engages with many other people and agencies to help bring about a great outcome, and that's something in which she is very well versed. Formerly an education kaiwhakahaere with Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou, Naleya was last year seconded to social services hub Manaaki Tairāwhiti to help with its new 50 Families pilot. As such, she was already working with Turanga Health and in late 2019, she joined the team. “For most of my work I am in partnership with a Ministry of Social Development (MSD) case officer in making sure that we have great systems in place, and that the whānau narrative is at the centre of everything we do.” That relationship means that while MSD staff ensure whānau have access to the proper benefits and entitlements, Turanga Health supports them in pastoral and health care. “We look at things like why someone may be regularly moving out of homes . . . are there other problems – like mental health or family violence – they may need help with? We are there to walk alongside them on their journey.” And Naleya's job is not easy: emergency housing is a big issue in Tairāwhiti where whānau are often homeless, overcrowded or facing eviction. “A problem, too, is that compared to many other regions, we have limited options when it comes to transitional housing,” she says. “So that's another challenge we have to overcome.” The mother of a fast-growing teenage son, Naleya (Tainui, Te Aitanga a Mahaki) has studied psychology and has degrees in both teaching and social work. However, she says the learning she values most is around effecting change, as well as the five years she spent deep sea fishing to help pay off her student loan. The fishing, she says, gave her the determination and work ethic she hopes to pass on to her son. “But it is the work around the 'change environment' that has me thinking the most,” she says. “We need systems, but they can't be systems that are convenient for agencies, they have to be systems that work for whānau all the way.” AS a young father, Avenir Maurirere took a “whatever it takes” approach to supporting his growing family and that's what he brings to his work life. As a navigator for Turanga Health, Avenir works with whānau targeted for support under Manaaki Tairāwhiti's 50 Families scheme. And he knows all about the challenges whānau can face. Raised in Mangatuna and Kaiti, Avenir and his “soulmate” started their family very young so he had to make the choice between staying at school or going into the workforce . . . the workforce won. From there the roll-out of challenges continued until, while living and working in Hastings, Avenir and his partner faced multiple deaths in the whānau that brought them back home to Gisborne, and led to some tension in their family unit. “All sorts of things can have an impact on your life and it is that understanding, that 'lived experience', that I bring to our 50 Families whānau,” he says. “For my own whānau finding a nice home was a real turning point so I see how just addressing one thing can make a huge difference.” Housing might be something Avenir (Ngati Iranui, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti/Ngati Porou) talks about with whānau. Or it they might need help to navigate social development systems, justice, education . . . whatever it takes. “Many whānau have a preconceived idea of what social services means but my approach is just 'this is me, and I'm here to help',” says the proud father of three. “One of the most rewarding things is that, between us, we can help bring about systemic change in encouraging agencies to help whānau achieve their goals, not get in their way.” Avenir's unusual name is derived on the French word for “the future”, and he says that's what he's firmly focused on. “We listen to whānau, we help them work out a plan, and then help them work towards their goals. “But though everyone is different, the one constant is that our relationships are entirely built on trust. If whānau trust us, they can be open with us, and then the real work can begin.” AFTER more than 30 years as a hairdresser, Marnie Evans went for a career change that’s not quite as radical as it seems. As a navigator for Turanga Health, Marnie works with whānau targeted for support under Manaaki Tairāwhiti's 50 Families scheme. “Any hairdresser will tell you that the job is just as much counselling as it is working with hair so I've had a lot of experience in that area,” she says. “And in any case, throughout my life I've always taken in kids in trouble, those who have needed a bit of help, so this is a natural fit for me.” With Under 50 Families, the approach is “whatever it takes” to help targeted whānau -- both for their own good, and for the good of generations to come. And “navigator” is a good term for Marnie's role as her job is not only to support whānau in good decision-making, but to help them untangle the systems they may need to work through. For Marnie (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki), “whatever it takes” means she and her colleague Avenir Maurirere listen to whānau before working out a plan. “It is not our place to tell them what they need, it is for them to tell us what they need,” she says. “Our role is to build trust, to hear what they are saying, and to do whatever it takes to get it done.” So on any one day she might be helping a whānau member get to the doctor, supporting them in court, teeing up counselling or just taking the time to talk through what is affecting them. “There's a lot involved but it never feels like work,” says Marnie. “Being able to help whānau achieve their goals is the most rewarding thing you could ever do. It just makes me happy.” Years ago while working as a caregiver for the elderly Shannon Maats-Niwa decided she wanted to be a nurse and offer exemplary care. “I wanted to be the kind of nurse that a person deserved to have,” she says. And now she is! Shannon has been a nurse for seven years and is loving her new role at Turanga Health as a tamariki ora nurse supporting new māmā and their pēpi. She started with the iwi health provider just before New Zealand went into lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and so for the first few weeks in her job she provided virtual care to whānau over the phone. It was vastly different to her previous nursing jobs including stints on various wards at Gisborne Hospital and four years on the frontline at the Rhythm and Vines music festival. “I wanted a job in primary care to help shape me and I have discovered I love being on this side of caring for people.” “It’s humbling” visiting whānau in their own home. She says some of the strong wahine she supports live with very little in the way of life’s luxuries and it makes her appreciate her own family and extended Dutch and Māori whānau. With an insatiable thirst for learning Shannon, 34, has her sights set on expanding her nursing career. Since graduating she has already added a post-graduate certificate and post-graduate diploma in nursing. Becoming a nurse practitioner, one of the country’s most qualified nurses, is her long term goal. “I like to keep on learning. I get stale if I stay in the same thing for too long” says Shannon, who along with husband Adam is bringing up their four children. There’s a chance her curiosity and motivation comes from her unique and stimulating childhood. Shannon and her two siblings grew up in a house truck for nearly five years traveling around much of New Zealand. They had a childhood surrounded by a range of unique and worldly people with the added bonus of being home schooled to a high standard. “It was an adventure,” remembers Shannon, who finished her education at Lytton High School. Turanga Health welcomes Shannon Maats-Niwa. Eligible Three Rivers Medical patients are being vaccinated against influenza by Turanga Health nurses as the region’s two biggest primary health providers unite against the deadly disease. Three Rivers Medical co-owner and chief executive Ingrid Collins says Turanga Health’s offer of help to ensure patients over the age of 65 are vaccinated against influenza has come just at the right time. Local figures from the National Immunisation Register show 64 percent of people aged over 65 in the district have been immunised as of 29 May – up by 11 percent on last year’s figures. The figures also show 1350 over-65-year-olds who identify as Māori have been immunised – 56 percent of those who are eligible. But that means 1060 over-65-year-olds who identify as Maori around the district haven’t been immunised. “We want to make sure the eligible patients enrolled with our practice don’t miss the chance at protection,” says Mrs Collins. Mrs Collins says nurses and kaiāwhina from Turanga Health already have a relationship with many Three Rivers patients as part of the iwi provider’s work. “Turanga Health staff are already out in the community. It’s what they are good at so the partnership means we can use them to help get to our patients that qualify for the free vaccination.” Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious respiratory illness, caused by strains of the influenza virus. Each year it has a large impact on the community with 10-20 percent of New Zealanders infected. Some of these people become so ill they need hospital care, and a small number die. As part of the Ministry of Health's preparation for the potential impact of Covid-19 on the health sector, the 2020 influenza immunisation programme began early, from 18 March, for eligible patients, as they are at greatest risk of serious illness from influenza. Turanga Health now has five, two-person vaccinating teams working around the rohe. A kaiāwhina makes contact with the eligible person and lets them know when they will next be in their area. The kaiāwhina then books the person in for vaccination and a Turanga Health nurse administers the flu jab in the person’s home. Turanga Health adds the vaccination details to the National Immunisation Register, a computerised system that holds immunisation information of New Zealanders. Turanga Health chief executive Reweti Ropiha says there’s a couple of very good reasons why the large iwi health provider wanted to help. He says influenza is incredibly easy to catch and following New Zealand’s move through the lower alert levels, interactions between people are increasing. Alongside the onset of winter, it’s human nature for people to spend more time inside, Mr Ropiha says. If someone has the virus then there is a risk of giving it to anyone you are sharing air with indoors. “Our pakeke are vulnerable and so we want to get to them if we can.” By Monday 8 June Turanga Health staff had managed to track down 50 hard to reach pakeke who otherwise would have gone unvaccinated. Mr Ropiha says it’s important for whānau to remember the flu vaccine does not protect them against Covid-19 but it will help to “flatten the curve” of demand on Gisborne Hospital this winter. The shared influenza vaccination campaign is not the first time the two health organisations have worked together. Four years ago, Turanga Health’s flexible hours and community-based staffing were used to help more eligible Three Rivers Medical patients into smoking cessation programmes. Last year Turanga Health helped encourage more Three Rivers female patients to come in for their regular smear. “Some of our patients are hard to reach,” says Mrs Collins. “But that’s the kind of work that Turanga Health is so good at. It’s a great relationship that’s helping look after the health and wellbeing of this community.” ON placement at Turanga Health in her last term of training, Well Child Tamariki Ora nurse Brigitt Fielder knew she was in the right place. “We'd done all sorts of placements and while I enjoyed the theatre environment, it was Turanga Health that really inspired me,” she says. “The moment I walked in I thought 'this feels like home' and the day after I sat my last exam, in November 2019, I started work.” That seems quick, but Brigitt had taken a long road to get there. A self-confessed “Jack of all trades”, between parenting her children she had worked in areas from upholstery to horticulture, to the stained glass work she still does today. “I had often thought about going into nursing but, with three kids to raise, I couldn't really afford to be a poor student,” she says. “But it was them that pushed me into it. My youngest was still at school when they said 'Mum, it's time, just do it!'.” If Turanga Health feels like “home”, Brigitt sees a lot of other homes in the course of her working day. As one of a team of three, she has hundreds of pēpi on her books, starting home visits from when baby is just five weeks old and continuing – though in reducing frequency – until the age of five. “We look at lots of things to do with a baby's health and development and also to see if mum has everything she needs, and how we can help if she doesn't,” Brigitt says. And working at Turanga Health means Brigitt has support for things outside her immediate brief. “Just recently I visited a rental home where there were eight kids, and no working heating -- it was freezing! – so that was a situation the team here at Turanga Health could do something about. If a home isn't warm, or the tamariki don't have enough clothing, those are issues we can refer on for further support.” But sometimes it is not only the babies that need the care of the Tamariki Ora team. “Everyone has different degrees of whānau support and sometimes the māmās just need to talk, and for you to say “you're doing the right thing, you're doing great . . . you've got this”. As COVID-19 threatened the rohe this month Tūranga Health staff mobilised a swift and unprecedented campaign to protect whānau from influenza. “We’ve never done anything like this before or to this scale,” says Tūranga Health manager Dallas Poi, who’s helped oversee the all-of-staff crusade to keep whānau safe from influenza and its complications. In just one month, Tūranga Health has vaccinated 250 people in their homes and another 300 people in their workplace. “In a regular year we’d spread the vaccinations out over a two-or-three-month period but with the COVID-19 situation we knew we had to vaccinate as many as we could as soon as we could.” Ms Poi says it is normal practice for the iwi health provider to vaccinate primary industry workers as part of its workplace wellness Tū Mahi programme offered to local companies. The workplace vaccinations happened with speed this month at Cedenco Foods, Leaderbrand, Coxco, Riverland Fruit Company, Thompson’s Horticulture, Gisborne Fisheries, and Illawarra Orchard. “They are often two-day jobs but this month we decided to throw a lot of nurses and kaiāwhina at it in one go and have safely vaccinated dozens of primary industry staff in just a couple of hours at each workplace.” Individuals who use Tūranga Health services are usually educated about influenza and encouraged to get their jabs with their GP. But not this year. A fast, home-based roll out of influenza vaccinations, was aimed at keeping the district’s vulnerable and elderly healthy, and as a result, hospital beds free for people with COVID-19. There’s another 150 to go. “We needed to prevent a bad flu season from stressing out a health system that was preparing to cope with the virus.” Tūranga Health’s vaccinations of individuals started ahead of lockdown. The organisation’s nurses and kaiāwhina travelled through the city and into rural areas in the crazy days before lockdown encouraging as many over 65-year-olds and people with long term conditions to come to various meeting points with their sleeves rolled up. Once lockdown was in place two-person teams including a nurse and a kaiāwhina have continued to move around people’s homes offering the vaccination and checking how whānau are. They do as many of the vaccinations as possible outside of the home and limit their physical contact with the person- apart from the actual moment of vaccination. Verbal rather than written consent is sought so there’s no sharing of pens and paper. And this year the recommended post-vaccination observation time was dropped from 20 to 10 minutes where appropriate to help speed up the process and reduce participant’s exposure to potential infectious disease. Registered nurse Kimiora Biddle says it’s an unusual way to deliver health care. It feels a little more rushed than normal but people they visit are grateful to have been vaccinated at all, and in their own homes. “We are seeing sometimes 20 people a day. We are entering a lot of people’s bubbles but we are all well-trained in the appropriate infection control processes and we are able to keep ourselves and our clients safe.” Kaiāwhina Rhonda Pohatu says this kind of support work alongside nurses is unusual for her. She’s enjoying the chance to work with whānau and help resolve any anxieties. She says her own family is very supportive of the work “mum is doing” and know to wait until she has showered and changed before giving her a welcome home hug. As well as the influenza vaccinations Tūranga Health staff have delivered over 1100 hygiene buckets to families who use Tūranga Health services – with another 400-plus to go, says Ms Poi. “As well as the delivery of some practical items like wipes, disinfectant, and tissues, it’s a way of catching up with whanau to see if they need any help.” WHILE many were panic-buying or checking on whanau in the hours before lockdown, Amanda Humphris was standing in a rural carpark administering a production line of 'flu jabs.
“It all felt a bit manic but a line of cars had turned up to meet us at Mangatu and it all went really smoothly,” says Amanda, a nurse at Turanga Health. “Those three days we worked huge hours with vaccinations during the day and doing the paperwork at night but we had a goal and we went for it. “Between us we covered all of Turanga Health's town area, as well as places from Manutuke and Muriwai to Patutahi, Te Karaka and Whatatutu. Our team in the office would make the arrangements and we'd meet people in carparks, outside their houses, on the sides of the roads . . . wherever we could.” As part of Turanga Health's pre-Covid-19 Level 4 push, Amanda and her colleagues spent the three days before lockdown giving over 250 influenza vaccinations both to protect whanau, and to keep pressure off the health system. It was the second part of a two-pronged pre-lockdown push and to come up with the first, chief executive Reweti Ropiha didn't have to look further than out his office window. “The day before the alert levels were announced I just happened to glance up and saw (staffer) Norm Namana walking past carrying a bucket,” he says. “That prompted the idea of getting a whole lot of buckets, filling them with things people needed at that time, and delivering them to whanau. And that's just what we did.” The window for action was small. On Saturday, March 21 the Prime Minister announced the country's four-level pandemic alert system (and the news that we were already at alert Level 2) and urged anyone over the age of 70 or with health issues to stay at home. Two days later she said we were alert Level 3, and that by March 25 – the Wednesday -- the country would go to Level 4, full lockdown. So while Reweti's plan might have sounded simple, getting those 1100 buckets out to whanau – particularly pakeke – required an operation of military scope and execution. Getting the extra 'flu vaccinations had been tough enough: Turanga Health called on the goodwill of general practices around the region to boost its supplies. But getting their bucket-list of information and hygiene supplies – on a weekend, in the midst of a pandemic – was no picnic, either. That task fell to project manager Dallas Poi, who had decided to fill the buckets with soap, disinfectant, wipes, eco bags to hold contaminated material, and information packs about Covid-19. “I don’t know how she did it or where she got all the stuff from . . . it was amazing,” Reweti says. “But she did and, after working through the weekend, we were ready to start deliveries on Monday morning with one person driving the van, a couple in the back to jump out with the buckets, and a truck following behind with top-up supplies. “The last deliveries were made at 9pm on Wednesday – three hours before lockdown – and just seeing the tears from whanau showed we had achieved our aim of keeping it connected and keeping it real with vulnerable whanau and iwi in Turanganui a Kiwa. These weren't just buckets of health supplies. They were a way of saying 'we care', 'we know the next four weeks are going to be tough and we are here for you'.” Throughout the process communication was key and from the Saturday population health manager Dwayne “Tama” Tamatea had reinvented himself as a presenter to front on-line videos outlining Turanga Health's plan. “We wanted to reassure whanau, to get the important messages out there, and I can't say enough about the awesome effort of our staff at Turanga Health,” says Tama. “Everybody just dug into the trenches and worked to get the job done.” Post-lockdown, Turanga Health continued essential work in looking after those in need but Reweti says it was in the pre-Level 4 push that the team truly showed its passion. And aside from his usual rock-solid commitment to whanau, he had another reason for wanting to react quickly to the approaching storm. “I remember my father telling me about his own father's experience with the 1918 Spanish 'flu, when his family of 16 was hit so hard their number was reduced to just six. That was not an experience I lived through, but I will never forget what he told me. “So we knew we had to act and act fast and the team really stepped up to achieve that . . . it will be a long journey but they had the desire and intent to beat this thing. “And whanau at our Vanessa Lowndes Centre (for those with physical and/or mental health issues) even did their bit, working that pre-lockdown weekend to get more than 250 parcels of meat and vegetables out to any whanau that might have needed it.” Reweti says that, when the Turanga Health strategy was decided on, he told staff that they were in for a marathon but were in a position to front-foot it. “They were all in. No one talked about their own concerns, no one mentioned timesheets. There was a sense of pride about helping people in our community and that was the only motivation they needed. And when they get time to reflect on all this effort they'll realise they were part of a special team that helped the fight against a global threat.” BY all accounts the opening of Ihipera Mahuika's first solo exhibition was a resounding success. There were speeches, there were friends and whānau out in droves, and there was kai. Lots and lots of kai. The feedback and aroha were awesome, says Ihipera, and she's earned it. To get to opening night, Ihipera first had to take control of the voices, shouting from the pulpit of a long-term mental illness (paranoid schizophrenia), that were dominating her life. “I'd always heard the 'good' voices – ones that connect me to who I am – that I refer to as my 'gift',” says Ihipera who is Ngati Hamoa/Ngāti Porou. “But then the negative ones got too loud.” To help her drown out those voices, Ihipera was admitted into psychiatric in-patient unit Te Whare Awhiora after her first psychotic episode at the end of 2007. In 2011 she was referred to Kenepuru Rehabilitation in Wellington, where she spent a couple of years addressing her addictions to marijuana and alcohol. Then from 2014 she finally dealt with her addiction to cigarettes when she accepted help from Tūranga Health's community-based Whānau Ora Mental Health Team. Depressed, unmotivated and sick of having her life derailed by negative voices, Ihipera worked hard to get back on track with both her support team and whānau working together to help her manage medication, keep clinical appointments, live a healthy lifestyle, and work her way back to her independence . . . and her art. “When she came to us in 2014 the voices were still dominating to the point where she couldn't really live independently and could not follow her life's passion,” says then Tūranga Health community support worker, Kay Walker, who together with colleague, Stella Rihari, worked closely with Ihipera and her whānau. “So before her discharge four years later it was our role to help her get back in charge. Ihipera's strength was that she was determined to get out of – and stay out of – the dark places she had been so worked hard on every aspect of her care, including developing her own strategies to cope.” After discharge there is always a plan to make sure whānau have wrap-around support so they can flourish in the community while knowing that, if anything goes wrong, Tūranga Health is always there, Kay says. “With the support of both Tūranga Health and whānau, Ihipera managed her own journey back to wellness and to her art. I think she is amazing.” Coincidentally, Ihipera's mum Maria Samoa also works with the Tūranga Health mental health team. As her mother, it was not appropriate that they work together but Maria was close by as her daughter developed, both as a person and as an artist. “We are so proud of our girl,” Maria says, “and so privileged to have the support of Kay and Stella, who still make special time for her, even though she has been formally discharged. The team has supported me as much as my daughter.” Ihipera's solo exhibition My Journey: Gifted Voices, was in two parts; the earlier pieces she did while working in the studio at the Toihoukura school of Māori art (where she had previously studied); the newer ones were created in her own studio at Tautua Village, a new creative space to support Māori and Pacific youth. “When I was at Toihoukura, (Associate Professor) Steve Gibbs taught me how to put my life on canvas, and (then tutor) Mike Tupaea helped me develop my contemporary Māori/Pasifika style,” she says. “So these works represent my life up until now.” And Steve says the Toihoukura whānau welcomed seeing Ihipera's return – even though she had completed her certificate. “This was a good example of how engagement in art, in particular painting, creates an important aspect of healing,” he says. “The tragedy is that, for artists, real life can get in the way and disrupt that engagement, but Ihipera showed the commitment, sacrifice and discipline crucial to being a working artist.” Ihipera says she draws strength from both her father's Ngāti Porou (Māori) heritage and her mother's Ngati Hamoa (Samoan), but while she has spent plenty of time at her father's Tūrangawaewae at Whakawhitirā (East Coast), she is yet to have travelled to Samoa. “Especially because I use a lot of those Samoan patterns in my art, it is a big goal for me to get there,” she says. “Working with Kay and Stella, and the Tūranga Health team showed me how I can reach my goals, and even today I know they will always have my back.” |
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