Cain | Tairāwhiti, Gisborne

“I’ve been inspired through some work that we’ve been doing with some of our rangatahi here in Tairāwhiti, working with them to create platforms for creative expression and the emergence of talent amongst our rangitahi here in Tairāwhiti.

We’ve been working alongside some young leaders from our community to create these types of spaces and platforms, to bring young people together so they can showcase that emerging talent that’s on offer, and we had a practice run last week with some of the groups that will be performing next week and I was blown away by the deep thought, that our young people have for not only their peers, but their families, the community, for the world, the way that they are thinking about the work that needs to be done in the way of bringing people together is inspiring for those of us working in these spaces. To see generations coming through who innately have that sense of community and of belonging, and connection. That made me feel really good.

I think the deepest forms of connection and respect comes from recognising difference, and it makes me think of a tee-shirt that is same-same but different. We’re all part of the fruit salad. We make up one part of a larger whole, but we each come with our unique gifts. We all stem from different places, but on the deepest level, we are all one. So, let’s celebrate diversity. It makes our world a better place, to know where people come from, the paths that they’ve journeyed from, their whakapapa, and how we all connect together. I think we can learn many lessons from our young people, about how difference can be a strength, how diversity and recognising diversity is a strength. It’s a way that we can connect on deeper levels. We need to bring that more to the fore, in terms of the way that we are working and coming together as communities. 

So I was born in Levin but did a lot of growing up on the East Coast on Dad’s side. I did schooling up on the East Coast, was sent away to boarding school down at Te Aute College, and then have been on my own, have worked for the public sector, done a lot of indigenous community development work both here in Aotearoa, and also lived in Canada doing some similar work overseas, but have returned home to sunny Tairāwhiti. It’s the best place to bring up kids. The values that are unique to us, both as Māori but also as New Zealanders, this place is really rich in. People think and act in a very connected community way here and that’s why we’re here. Absolutely love it back here and so all of our work is really building from that place of our strength, working as a team, a team of 50,000 out here in Te Tairāwhiti. We’re ways away from anywhere and so that breeds a sense of self-reliance on each other. We have to work together. We’ve created this space here, Tāiki E. It’s about bringing that diversity of people and of thinking, of experiences and skills, together under one roof so that we can use those different skills in collaborative ways to create positive impact here in Te Tairāwhiti. Across a number of different spaces from technology to entrepreneurship, innovation spaces, digital literacy, financial literacy. You name it, it’s happening under this roof. We’re really proud of the work that we’re doing. Collaboration is the name of the game, in our community here, and I think in Tairāwhiti, if we can build from that place of strength, we can not only be an exemplar to New Zealand but to the world.”