Kōrero o te Tiamana
Tēnā koutou ngā uri o Ngāti Rangitihi.
It has been a busy start to 2017 for Te Mana with a lot of our mahi continuing through the summer. This will be a big year for Te Mana and Ngāti Rangitihi, and we are excited by what is coming up; our batteries are re-charged and we are ready to go!
In January, we met with officials from the Office of Treaty Settlements, the Department of Conservation (DOC), and local councils to discuss our negotiations. We are on track to sign an Agreement in Principle in June, which will put us in a good place to continue our journey with the new Government following the elections in September. This mahi is keeping us very busy but we have a strong group of people helping us. We look forward to providing another update in our next newsletter.
The Board is encouraged by the turnout of whānau for our Whakapapa Wānanga, Te Reo classes, and Hui-a-Iwi. The recent Whakapapa Wānanga packed our wharenui, with a number of new faces and whānau returning to the marae. Ka rawe ke! I want to thank Anthony Olsen, Donna Semmens, Alana Hunter and the kaimahi at the marae for all your mahi. If you haven’t been to a Whakapapa Wānanga yet, I’d encourage you to try to get along to the next one.
The Board is focused on investing in areas that will provide real benefits to our whānau at home in Matatā, across Aotearoa and wherever they live around the world. The Whakapapa Wānanga are an example of this, where we are holding these wānanga at home on our marae, but also filming them and uploading the footage to YouTube and our website.
We have also recently invested $150,000 into setting up Wi-Fi in Matatā. This will benefit our tamariki in the first instance, as they’ll be able to connect to the resources from their kura. We believe this is a good investment and will help our whānau with their education. We are also looking at what other options there might be for Wi-Fi in Matatā. The equipment is on its way and it will need to be tested before it is made available to whanau; however, it is an exciting project. Watch this space!
Thank you to those whānau who attended our recent Hui-a-Iwi and to our negotiators Tipene, Delwyn, Peri and observers who were there also. We are looking to hold another Hui-a-Iwi soon to discuss matters across our iwi.
Ngā mihi,
Leith Comer
Chairman