As the country gets settled into Level One and a ‘new normal’, the emergence of young people as Te Hiku leaders has been a stand out learning since Level Four lockdown was implemented on March 25 2020.

The response of Te Hiku iwi, hapū and marae during COVID-19 was swift and saw a raft of initiatives emerge, designed to protect people living in the region. These included the erection of roadside checkpoints at iwi boundary lines, the creation and distribution of care packages for elderly and vulnerable communities, and the provision of emergency accommodation for families who needed to lockdown safely.

As other teenagers were familiarising themselves with home schooling during a global health pandemic, 15-year-old Kaitāia College student Waiata Harrison (Te Rarawa) got to work.

Waiata was part of the ground distribution crew that operated out of Roma Marae during the height of the lockdown period and helped to pack the 500-plus care packages that were distributed to the coastal community’s whānau.

Waiata says she comes from a whānau with a steady legacy of community work and custodianship in the Ahipara area.

“I’ve been doing stuff since I was born, in the frontline, in with it all. We do anything and everything that’s needed. From putting up the pou at the beach to stopping the pāua poachers. Like today, we just got back from putting up signs to stop the bikes from wrecking the dunes. We’re heavily involved at the beach,” she says.

While the state of lockdown can produce social anxiety, Waiata says moving amongst the community didn’t faze her or sway her from her sense of duty.

“I didn’t have any anxiety, I wore gloves and stuff and made sure that I didn’t get sick. I didn’t have to, but I just wanted to help everyone out during the pandemic. I wouldn’t even say it’s volunteering for me, because it’s just a job that you have to do as a rangatahi of this area,” she says.

Her sense of manaakitanga is echoed by NgāiTakoto sister-brother team Te Reinga Patuwairua (22) and Tikiahi Davis (27). In the chaotic days when New Zealand moved from Level 3 to Level 4 within a 48-hour period, they were struck with the idea to create an online platform for rangatahi voice.

The ngai_takoto Instagram page has amassed 135 followers since. It was set up, based on Te Whare Tapa Whā model of health, to inspire ideas for NgāiTakoto rangatahi to keep motivated and connected while socially distanced, using a platform that has a younger following of users.

“It all started when lockdown hit and we knew were going to be stuck at home for a couple of weeks. So, me and the tuahine had some whakaaro around starting an Instagram page, just to give rangatahi and all our followers something to do during the time of lockdown when they’re stuck at home. We were posting up videos of whatever we were getting up to on the daily and that involved raranga, smoking fish, working out, cooking lessons and how to prepare homemade hāngi. Just random little videos that we get up to,” Tikiahi says.

Both also have a strong inheritance in iwi involvement from their whānau and for Te Reinga, in her final year of studying law at the University of Waikato, she is getting a head start representing the interests of rangatahi to a wider Te Tai Tokerau iwi leadership.

“We released an article to Te Kahu o Taonui as an introduction of who we are and what we’re doing in that space. We were just there to be the rangatahi branch from what we’re doing for the iwi on a higher level. I think it’s quite important to have that rangatahi voice in those spaces,” she says.

Tikiahi says as well as following the videos that were posted, many rangatahi have also used the page as a safe space for open dialogue on COVID-19 related issues that affected them.

“There was a big kōrero around the legislation that was passed through and the government only allowed 10 at the marae for tangihanga but 100 at pub and bars. So there was a lot of kōrero around issues like that, which our rangatahi were chucking their hands up to talk about and how that works,” he says.

Both were also part of the effort that saw young people from NgāiTakoto, Te Rarawa and Ngāti Hine join marae crews to pack and distribute 250 kete āwhina to whānau in need in between Whangārei and Te Hiku.

“That was a busy space but cool to be amongst it with the people that are doing the mahi on the ground floor. Even though it’s lockdown and all that, they were still operating on the ground floor doing the hard yards while everyone’s still working from home,” he says.

Te Reinga re-inforces that manaakitanga for her people is the driving motivator behind her mahi and will eventually put her in good stead as she fixes her sights on a career in family law when she graduates.

“Both of us are quite busy in our everyday lives and it’s a good time to give back to our iwi and our community for once. We’re both quite full on and we never get the opportunity to share our journey,” she says.

The ngai_takoto Instagram page will continue to remain open and is located at https://www.instagram.com/ngai_takoto/channel/.

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