The Ngāti Kuia iwi has launched a film it hopes will convince its uri to move home and the iwi thrive.
Working in collaboration with the Rāta Foundation, Ngāti Kuia Iwi has captured many iwi stories, which have been released online.
Ngāti Kuia chief executive David Johnston says this has been an opportunity to gather the stories of old over the past six months as a reflection of what it means to be Ngāti Kuia.
“What that has enabled us to do is take a snapshot of time. In terms of the many things that are happening it's wonderful but it is also very sad. Even within that time frame, you've got these wonderful resources of a point of time bu,t since the filming, many of our kaumātua have died. So to be able to capture their voices and their stories to help guide us into the future has been absolutely wonderful,” Johnston says.
The main focus for Johnston was to show who Ngāti Kuia people are and what they are known for, celebrating their ancestral ties.
Providing an inspiration
“Over a period of six months so many things have been going on in our iwi world, whether that be celebrating our Polynesian navigators from the past and current; whether it be some of the initiatives that we're doing to develop our tribal whenua, and whānau economy or whether it's around our history, he iwi karakia, he iwi pākohe. The important things that make Ngāti Kuia who they are.”
In 2021 a survey found two-thirds of the Māori population know their whakapapa and 28% of those are within a 30-minute drive to their marae. However, this documentary is aimed at the other third who may be unaware. Ngāti Kuia, like many other iwi, hopes this documentary sees the return of their people.
“Many of our whānau want to come home to their whenua. Many of our whānau live outside of Te Tauihu but, for them to come home, they need somewhere to live, and they need jobs.”
“Part of this particular documentary was for us to be able to provide an inspiration, a set of stories to help whānau to realise the potential of coming home.”