Who has changed your life?

Hana | Pōneke

The big relationship Hana is working on is with Papatūānuku, Ranginui and their children – the atua Māori that protect our taiao.

So if I think of Papatūānuku, in particular as a living being, she’s having a continuous massive influence on my life—wellbeing, connection to place, connection to natural cycles. Yeah, all of those things are really important and impactful for me.

I think the reason I’m particularly interested in connection to Papatūānuku and Ranginui, although as a wahine, I feel very connected to Papatūānuku, is that’s a constant for us in relationship as tangata whenua with all the change that happens.

We were just talking about the Kiingitanga, mate atu he tētē kura, ara mai he tētē kura. One fern frond withers or passes, another one rises. But our whenua is always here. Her lands, her waterways.

So it’s not a particular moment, but just more a growing sense of the importance of that fundamental relationship.

I’m from the Earth. I’ll return to the Earth, and I am, he tangata whenua au.