The government’s inquiry into mental health and addiction, announced in January, travels to Whanganui this week, home of the mental health worker who changed Jason Renes’ life. Content warning: suicide, self-harm, depression. After the third time I self-harmed I told my mother I was hurting myself and I needed help to stop. She set up … Read more
Ian Tarei has spent over a decade protecting kiwi in the forested hills behind the Eastern Bay of Plenty settlement of Awakeri. Late last month Jason Renes joined him on a kiwi call count to learn how the Omataroa Kiwi Project made its way out of some hard times to become a kiwi conservation success. … Read more
Climate change is not a taniwha far off on the horizon, it’s right before us demanding we address it. In the first week of May, members of Te Whānau-a-Apanui invited indigenous climate change activists and thinkers from Aotearoa and around the world to the Red Tide International Indigenous Climate Action Summit. Jason Renes travelled to … Read more
A new cultural hub in Ruatāhuna is the third eco-friendly building for Ngāi Tūhoe, representing their values of mana motuhake and self-sustainability. Jason Renes went to the opening and explored Tūhoe’s 40-year housing strategy. This is part of a series on Māori land and housing. Hokimoana Te Rika-Hekerangi sits on the courtyard of Te Tii. Her … Read more
Every two years Te Hui Ahurei a Tūhoe invites Ngāi Tūhoe descendents to come together and celebrate their unique reo and culture. But how do urban Tūhoe express their Tūhoetanga when they live away from the lands of their tīpuna? Jason Renes attended this year’s festival to find out. There is mist around Rotorua on … Read more
The flooding of the Rangitaiki River left devastation for residents of the small Bay of Plenty town Edgecumbe. To help with the recovery effort local iwi Ngāti Awa put out a call for volunteers. People from across the district and the country answered. Jason Renes joined them Your shoulders start to get tight after a … Read more