Tāwhitiwhiti Build 2023-24
Healing, returning to and sustainably reoccupying their ancestral lands is seen by the Whānau Matekuare as a pathway to economic wealth and wellbeing for successive generations. This project aims to build 41 homes and utility buildings including a telemedicine health centre, an innovation area for Māori business development, a community laundry, and a Whare Tapere o Poukura (Community Centre). These unique and ambitious building project will offer healthy new homes and buildings for up to 100 whānau over a three-year period.
The Tāwhitiwhiti build heralds the potential for Māori to return to their homelands and build their own papakāinga in a way that creates a healthy and modern environment, that is based upon their proven principles of innovation and communal living. The transition to healthy homes will also improve the devastating effects of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)1 as whānau move into new healthy homes over the next three years.
A 50-hectare block of Māori freehold land, Tāwhitiwhiti is located at Te Whaiti nui a Toi (the Great Canyon of Toi) in the central North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. The whenua (land) is the ūkaipō (place of sustenance and nurturing) for the Matekuare whānau of Ngāti Whare-Tuhoe who, after many years or separation, are re-establishing their papakāinga.
Healing, returning to, and sustainably reoccupying their ancestral lands is seen by the Matekuare Whānau Trust as a pathway to economic wealth and wellbeing for successive generations. This project offers potential for Māori to return to their homelands and build their own papakāinga in a way that creates a new type of society that is based upon their proven principles of culture and communal living.
1 Amongst New Zealanders aged 50 – 64 years, Māori are approximately five times more likely to die from COPD-related causes than non-Māori and are affected by COPD up to 20 years earlier. https://www.asthmafoundation.org.nz/assets/documents/Respiratory-Impact-report-final-2021Aug11.pdf