Two marae in the Te Wairoa district devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle 14 months ago have yet to receive any help from the government’s Oranga Marae fund to rebuild.
And whānau say they are sobbing at the sight of their chiefly houses, Takitimu and Tawhiti a Maru.
The families of Takitimu Marae say they are confused about why support has not been there for them, more than one year on from the cyclone that clobbered the country.
Takitimu Marae deputy chair Wikitoria Hauraki says she is angry, hurt and left in despair about the lack of support.
“We need to get a bit real here. Maybe they all need to come down here and have a good look, and see what we’re trying to do. Because while we’ve been hit by the cyclone, we’ve lost a lot of our whānau who couldn’t come back to the marae,” she says.
Category 2C
These marae are now classed as Category 2C by the Crown and Hauraki says it’s time for government agencies to see what’s happening.
“The government needs to look at, this is a treasure. Takitimu and Tawhiti a Maru are treasures, and you lose these places - the people who carved it and weaved here, they’re held in high regard amongst master carvers, master weavers. You will never see the likes of anything like this built ever again.”
Asked for comment, Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs said in a statement. that there were 15 requests this round, seeking $25,875,256 for an available allocation of $8,544,121.
“The fund was approximately three times oversubscribed. The Oranga Marae programme is a contestable fund, with no guarantee of future funding due to current and anticipated demand.”
But Hauraki says she is confused as to why both Takitimu and Tawhiti a Maru weren’t given the access to the funding considering the state of the marae.
“Where is all this funding going to, who’s getting it and what is it for? If we’re going into the third round of funding and we don’t get any support, I think we need to go to the next level and ask them what’s going on with them.”
Mana of the marae not being upheld
Descendants of this marae have been waiting for the past 14 months to see their marae stand proud again and feel the prowess this marae holds, she says.
“We’ve been hit by the cyclone, so what is your issue? We want to give a message to the prime minster and the recovery minister, maybe you need to nip down to your building at Internal Affairs and ask them, ‘what’s up with this?’ Why is no support being given to Takitimu and Tawhiti a Maru in Wairoa to be rebuilt and restored,” Hauraki says.
Both marae have requested funding again and, if successful, whānau will look to finally repairing their ancestral houses.
“First off would be the demolition and that’s demolishing the areas that need to be demolished. Parts of them are specific and they have specialist requirements and that’s because of the asbestos, probably from the age of the building. Once we do that, then we’ve got to look at all of the infrastructure. That in itself is quite a huge task.”