Renay | Matawhero, Gisborne

“I love connecting with different people, even though I’d consider myself a little bit shy. Living in Canada we connected with quite a few of the First Nations Indigenous communities over there and one connection that springs to mind is visiting a little place called Haida Gwaii in Canada.

It’s a little island, one of the First Nations wāhine there just connected on the reservation. We did some cultural sharing, song and dance. She’s come to New Zealand, and we met up at our Te Matatini festival. At the moment, they’re going through some struggles with Covid-19 in their small community. So, they’ve just shut down in lockdown, so we’ve been connecting online. Just thinking about that nation and that whānau that are going through some struggles at the moment.

I think connecting as indigenous peoples, there’s similarities there, but definitely the more specific details are quite different and unique. They can give me a good outlook on how I view my culture and how others view theirs. Just the different characteristics that make us all unique but still living to a more connected sense of connection with our whenua and land. 

I grew up in Ruatōria and then came to high school in Gisborne. I always felt connected to home up that coast. I always return there. My whānau are still there. That’s where I consider home. I’m currently in the field of work where there’s a lot in community development, and I guess being connected to whānau and small towns means that there’s a sense of responsibility to give back to the community that raised me.”